The past few days have once again demonstrated in a literally “brutal” manner, and at a time when most countries were trying very hard to get over COVID finally, that the world needs to get used to extreme situations, abrupt distortions, and life-threatening challenges. When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of February 24, he not only brought war and suffering to millions of people but also unintentionally and unconsciously made us understand that many long-held beliefs and patterns of leadership aren’t working in an age which is also characterized by unreason, egocentricity, and aggression. A reality our leaders and us have tried – rather unsuccessfully as we know by now – to ignore for a long time as we hoped for world prosperity and democracy mainly fueled by technology, innovation, and collaborative work approaches.
Ukraine´s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a comedian turned president, and by now a leader turned legend, shows the world and many so-called leaders what “leading” actually means: Being decisive, courageous, servant, in the trenches with your team (literally), taking a visible position, and standing up for what one believes is the right thing based on strong ethical values and a clear moral compass.
The Necessity for a New Leadership Mentality
It has become apparent that a new type of leader is required to successfully navigate their ships together with their teams and allies through increasingly ambiguous and stormy seas. The maps and sailing practices of the past aren’t helpful any longer. This is true not only for political leaders but also for business and everyday life leaders.
My intention is not to blame former or current leaders or condemn the multiple worthwhile and life-altering achievements of the past decades and years, which have been realized with the help of and thanks to some of those leaders. Nor do I want to stipulate that from now on, every leader needs to vow to fight until the end with their people to be taken seriously and to receive the laurels of “heroic” leadership.
I argue and challenge, however, that we have idealized leadership in such a way that many leaders have forgotten about the fundamental role and obligation of their job – to lead!
This happened in politics, with heads of state trying for many years to appease Putin and other ruthless dictators versus putting them in limits. Also, in business when leaders and entrepreneurs all too often define and reduce good leadership as an approach of following their teams (versus leading them) by trying to “appease” them with free lunches, ping-pong tables, and avoiding having to give tough feedback even when it’s required.
A Comedian turned President shows us what Leadership means today
We all know that successful leaders should possess what I refer to as foundational leadership characteristics such as a growth mindset, vision, critical thinking, ownership, energy, self-awareness, empathy, flexibility, and strong communication skills. However, after everything that we have witnessed in the past days as a result of Russia’s outrageous war in Ukraine, and substantiated by my recent research on leadership, those aren’t sufficient any longer in a world of accelerating adversity, ambiguity, confusion, and aggressiveness. A new breed of successful leaders, as exemplified in a very inspirational manner by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (a former comedian), also share three additional qualities as outlined in this article. All of those center around the realization and notion that authentic leadership isn’t about accommodating everyone or winning a popularity contest. Instead, it’s about doing important work for the community by practicing Decisive Empathy, Positioning Oneself, and Being Courageous.
Practicing Decisive Empathy
I’m a fervent advocate of team empowerment, collaborative and dispersed leadership, kindness at work, empathetic communication, stimulating diversity in any form, and coaching (hurray!) to make employees feel comfortable demonstrating and developing the best version of themselves authentically. When team members know and feel that others on the team will not get embarrassed, rejected, or punished for speaking up and laying all of themselves on the line, then the real magic happens, and high-performance teams are born. To make – what has been coined “Psychological Safety” – work in the end, though, a leader must not only create engagement by asking good questions, empathetically listening, and acting on the feedback, but also speak up themself as an equal member of the team.
Psychological Safety, and here’s where many leaders get it wrong, is not about being nice, sharing out praise 24/7, or brushing quickly over complicated topics to help people feel better about themselves. It’s rather about creating an environment in which difficult conversations about problems, failure, or super bold ideas become part of the fabric of day-to-day teamwork. What I often observe, however, either in various coaching sessions or when being at my clients’ organizations, is that many teams are too “nice” to each other, that they don’t challenge each other, that they lower their quality standards, don’t hold each other accountable, and are afraid of ruffling some feathers or expressing audacious ideas because they’re scared. Leaders, who have done their homework and created a psychologically safe environment, are well-advised not to try to avoid deep and controversial discussions for the sake of politeness and superficial social cohesion. In the end, well-articulated and managed disagreement brings a team together, generates mutual understanding, and builds team spirit and a healthy culture.
To facilitate such a process, leaders should practice what I call “Decisive Empathy” as an evolution of the “Tough Empathy” concept, which was postulated some years ago by Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones in their seminal article “Why should anyone be led by you?” When leaders apply Decisive Empathy, they care deeply about their employees and create a culture and environment where everyone is encouraged to speak up freely and openly. Depending on the situation, these leaders give selflessly to their teams, know when to pull back, or when to challenge them to rise to the occasion and put forward their very best, especially when it’s required and counts the most. Decisive Empathy balances respect for the individual and the task at hand. In its purest form, it asks leaders to give people what they need, not what they want. It’s hard to practice as it requires a highly situational, adaptive, and well-balanced approach based on respect, critical self-reflection, the love for people, and authenticity.
Positioning Oneself
Good leaders know that it’s not about them but their team, organization, and customers. Yet, some of them have misunderstood the underlying concept of “servant leadership” which has become popular and embraced with good reason by many. As we know, a servant leader puts the needs of their employees first, eats last, shares power, and helps others to grow and succeed. The serve-first mindset puts the traditional and fortunately outdated organizational hierarchy upside-down with the leader now at the bottom and serving their employees above them. Although I’m a big fan of servant leadership, I’ve also seen its risks and shortfalls and partially experienced them myself. There’s an army of well-meaning servant leaders out there who would spend almost all of their time helping a few while not focusing on their business, broader team, and tasks at hand. Worse, and again often witnessed and substantiated by various research, many servant leaders are obsessed with wanting to constantly “lead from behind,” not to interfere, and not having to position themselves.
In consequence, they might get overlooked, ignored, lose authority, and become (almost) non-existing. This is a major issue, for example, in crisis situations when “leading from the front” is demanded by taking a firm stance and tackling major threats or challenges head-on. It’s a (leader’s) fact of life that there will always be differences of opinion, limited resources, and pressure. Now and in the future more than ever before. A good leader can only make progress and succeed if they can stand being comfortable with being uncomfortable, including the thought of upsetting some people from time to time if and when required within the context of having to lead by example.
In summary, there are times to lead from the back and direct people and resources accordingly. More frequently, though, the best future leaders will be at the front leading the charge — side by side with their teams, in the trenches, and as one among equals.
Being Courageous to be vulnerable AND to be strong
Fortunately, it’s a thing of the past when “leadership” was associated with outdated and often silly attributes such as “bravery,” “fighting,” or “victory.” Rightly, many of today’s leaders comprehend and are courageous enough to demonstrate “vulnerability” by not pretending to know everything and to be invincible. Vulnerability does not mean being weak or submissive. It rather implies the courage to be yourself. Vulnerable leadership encourages openness in the workplace and with others. These leaders admit “I don’t know” or say, “Please help with this.” In other words, they are not too proud of asking for advice and support.
It’s equally valid, though, that while employees appreciate a leader who’s willing to discuss their concerns and challenges openly with them, they also look for their leader to guide, advise, and direct in extraordinary and difficult times. For example, when the team doesn’t succeed at arriving at a mutually supportive outcome, when the pressure to deliver is too high, when the team lacks to understand the fundamentals of a particular task, or when there is a substantial risk of unfolding danger or harm. To either the team, the business, or other stakeholders. Putting it in simple terms, all of us have certainly been in meetings when we would have hoped for decisiveness and clarity, for a strong and courageous leader to recognize when the time for debate is over and to make a decision.
A decision that might not have been popular or supported by everyone but provided a needed framework and platform to move on. However, the trick is for the leader to apply such behavior only in exceptional circumstances and not allow it to become their standard modus operandi. And only taken after thoughtful deliberation and with the leader’s awareness of having to bear the consequences. Whatever the eventual outcome and result will be. Employees can easily decode when a manager puts their people first, cares, understands the challenge at hand, and knows what has to be done. That’s when the manager has earned the right to become a leader in their eyes.
Leadership Reinvented
Although being a prerequisite, effective leadership has never been able to rely solely on good intentions. In most instances in the past, however, a leader could succeed by following the playbook of foundational leadership. In times of significant and increasingly highly complex and demanding challenges such as aggressive hyper-competition, crisis, or severe conflicts, the so-called foundational leadership characteristics need to be enriched and strengthened by three additional qualities: Practicing Decisive Empathy, Positioning Oneself, and Being Courageous.
On a final note – For the People of Ukraine and all Protectors of the Free World
President Zelenskyy has behaved with incredible courage, resilience, decisiveness, and authenticity in the dark hours since Russia’s military offensive began in the early morning of Thursday, February 24. He has impressively shown leaders worldwide what it means to lead in an unpredictable and aggressive world. In his case, it’s a very hostile and life-threatening world. Now, it’s up to each of us to be a leader, step up, and do whatever we can to support the Ukrainian people and their remarkable President and to protect our Free World. And to embrace and implement the lessons we can draw for our everyday leadership.
I’m looking forward to receiving your feedback and continuing the discussion based on your comments, etc. In case you’re thinking about how best to evolve as a leader, please also feel free to reach out to me https://andreasvonderheydt.com. I’m here to help!
Kind regards,
Andreas von der Heydt, @avonderheydt
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