Real Leaders Don't Boss (20 page)

An important aspect of a real leader's inspiration is his or her ability to recognize need in the community and respond through charity and volunteerism. This is not a uniquely American concept or the sole purview of real leaders, but true leaders unquestionably manifest and exude the humility and gratitude inherent in giving back. Where a boss's attitude may be “I've got mine; now you get yours,” a real leader says, “Let me share with you what I am fortunate enough to have.”

Two Americans I have long admired for their superb leadership, humanity, public service, and far-reaching contributions to countless persons and organizations are Dr. Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. and Mrs. Dolores D. Wharton. During just eight years as president and first lady of Michigan State University, the Whartons elevated the stature of the nation's first land grant university in a manner very few could. In addition to heightening the quality and breadth of the university's faculty, research programs, and community service, they also led the university's initial capital fundraising campaign, which ensured the university's success long after their tenure ended. Significantly, the Whartons' active involvement in the arts prompted the
university to build a state-of-the-art performing arts facility. The Whartons recognized that all the great universities made major commitments to the arts—music, drama, dance, and painting—with corresponding facilities, faculty, and programs. In 1982, MSU bestowed the ultimate honor upon them by naming their premier arts complex the Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for the Performing Arts.

Though much has been written about Clifton and Dolores Wharton's intellect, passion, foresight, and modesty, when you have the opportunity to speak with them it is impossible not to become caught up with how thoughtful and erudite they both are. Moreover, you're drawn closer to them through their unparalleled spontaneity, positive and upbeat demeanor, and charm. Here are two incredibly accomplished people—each a leader (Dolores Wharton has served on more than 30 corporate boards)—who continue to take an active role in each other's activities. They discovered that a genuine, enthusiastic interest in the other's work is a critical part of their individual achievements and one of the most important ingredients to a happy, successful marriage of more than 60 years.

As Dolores Wharton suggests, to lead others requires that one be knowledgeable and able to inspire. Her husband adds that leaders must be people with great integrity and honesty, and also be humane. Real leaders are “teachers” in the broadest sense. As an example, Clifton Wharton established a Presidential Fellows program at Michigan State that provides many with an opportunity to learn how to lead a university. Today, nearly a third of those who learned under his tutelage are presidents of colleges and universities.

In a diverse number of organizational settings—including leading a major university, international development, government service, and philanthropy—Wharton demonstrated time and again the virtues of listening attentively, empowering and
nurturing others, developing teams, and eschewing the power trap where leaders assume they have all the answers and where arrogance unravels prior successes.

If I could follow any two individuals for a concentrated period of time to sharpen my leadership skills, Clifton and Dolores Wharton would be at the top of my list. These two pioneers, social activists, and change agents are an American treasure.

Real leaders don't seek center stage; they seek success for others. On Thanksgiving Day 18 years ago, an Oxnard, California, father of a four-week-old boy was driving on the freeway with his wife to the San Fernando Valley. He happened to look at his son and noticed he had stopped breathing. The family quickly got off the freeway and noticed that a sporting goods store had several cars parked there so they stopped, and the mother ran into the store and yelled for help.

As fate would have it, a physician from Santa Paula had decided at the last minute to try to find a Ping-Pong table so he could play with his son, who was coming home from college. The physician was not just any physician, but Fran S. Larsen, MD, former director of the much-heralded Family Practice Residency Program at Ventura County Medical Center. Larsen ran to the couple's car and discovered that the baby had no pulse, was not breathing, and was, for all practical reasons, dead. Larsen administered CPR and chest compression, and miraculously the baby began to breathe again.

As the infant recovered and the family celebrated his renewed life, the family practitioner had silently departed. The family later uncovered the doctor's identity and had a special reunion in his medical office. They continued to bring in their son yearly so Larsen could see how he had grown. (He graduated from high school in 2011.)

A few years later, the immensely popular and highly regarded Larsen was chosen as “Physician of the Year” for his superb medical skills, humility, community service, compassion, training of innumerable residents, successful treatment of countless patients from the region, and donating time as an team physician for one of the high schools. The world is looking for more leaders that do not seek the limelight, but simply do what they are taught to do and do it well.
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Sports notables Charles Woodson and Dikembe Mutombo also are giants in their respective fields. Both are media-reticent, reserved men who share a common bond: to make the world a much better place for the less fortunate, and to focus the spotlight on people in need rather than on themselves. Those are signs of a real leader.

Woodson, a former University of Michigan All-American cornerback, is the only NCAA Division I-A football player to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy as a defensive player. Today he is a standout in the National Football League, and not just for his on-the-field performance. In 2007, Woodson donated $2 million to the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital. The publicity-shy Woodson earmarked his donation for pediatric research to help find cures for pediatric cancer, heart disease, kidney disorders, and autism.

In basketball, Dikembe Mutombo is a standout on the court and off. A native of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and a Georgetown University graduate, he once blocked 12 shots in a single game while he played for John Thompson's Hoyas basketball team. “Deke,” as he's known to friends, went on to become one of the NBA's most prolific shot blockers in his 16-year career and earned four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards. A leader who firmly believed in giving back long before he made millions of dollars, Mutombo
founded a state-of-the-art hospital and medical research facility in Kinshasa, Congo. It's a region in Africa where more than 500,000 children under the age of 5 die each year, most from preventable causes. Among other services, his hospital will train several hundred clinicians and improve treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.

Stronger leadership is an outgrowth of these individuals' inspirational giving back. By developing themselves as leaders, Woodson and Mutombo spark others around them to become real leaders, too. As you aspire to become a real leader, recognize that these torchbearers realize inspired leadership can be the fuel that helps others to achieve things they might not otherwise accomplish on their own. Real leaders also help those around them understand that upsetting the status quo is sometimes required to design a better future for their organization.

William J. Kearney, first vice president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and senior resident director of its Ventura Coast office, is another extraordinary executive who leads by example. He is a mentor, community leader, and competent financial confidant who has dedicated his professional career to helping others through his work and his involvement in the Ventura County region.

For the past three decades, Kearney has been the first in the office at 4:30 a.m., works all day, then usually heads to various board meetings in the evenings. Among the types of community organizations to which Kearney lends support and expertise are higher education (including the California State University–Channel Islands), families and children through Casa Pacifica, the United Way, and the arts. Another Merrill
Lynch executive had this to say of his leader: “He's always interested in finding the best answer for his clients' needs.”

Inspiring leaders advance their organizations to new heights every day through their actions on and off the court, on and off the field, in the workplace, and beyond. They lead from the top, but make sure people at every level of the organization are engaged. These are leaders who also ensure that their people are heard, involved, and trained to be more innovative in moving the company, the team, and their lives forward.

Finding your own passions and subsequent path to leadership in business and beyond requires a methodical approach punctuated by an abundance of patience and calm. We all dream of success, though everyone's dream differs. How we find our passions and accomplish our dreams depends on the effort we expend—not necessarily the money, but the work ethic. Each of us has to want it bad to achieve it. That's a part of what drives real leaders to find success. Too often in life, people—including the pseudo-leaders—“choke” under pressure because they're not passionate about what they are doing; they don't want it bad enough and are ill-prepared as a result.