Real Leaders Don't Boss (4 page)
Read Real Leaders Don't Boss Online
Authors: Ritch K. Eich
True and real leadership is a way of life that can and does make the difference in corporate bottom lines (both in good economic times and in bad), in competitive environments, and in the face of external or internal personnel challenges. For proof, look around at those businesses that have remained strong and have even grown during the recent recession. Chances are good that a real and genuine leader who subscribes to the Eight Essentials of Effective Leadership was at the top. Here's a sampling of contemporary leaders across a broad range of industries, each with his or her own unique style, and each a great example of living leadership:
Vicki Arndt, principal of the California-based Eagleson Arndt Financial Advisors. Arndt is a leader who inspires by her high degree of integrity, incredible personality and sense of humor, knowledge, and her deep sense of service as manifested in the many ways she shows she cares about people. Arndt has led her local Community Leaders Association and Rotary Club and is actively involved in polio eradication. Her leadership style is open, inclusive, and highly motivating.
David Robinson, retired basketball star, NBA Hall of Famer, and one of the greatest basketball centers of all time. Robinson excelled as a student at the U.S. Naval Academy and led the Midshipmen to three consecutive NCAA basketball tournaments. He was
Sporting News'
College Player of the Year in 1987 and he holds two Olympic gold medals. “The Admiral,” as he is known to many, has done plenty off the court, too, especially for inner-city youth. He and his wife, Valerie, founded and provide multi-million-dollar funding to Carver Academy in inner-city San Antonio to help build tomorrow's leaders. Located on property that was occupied by a string of crack houses a decade ago, the school provides an education to mostly low-income children from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. Carver Academy inspires students to exemplify leadership, discipline, initiative, integrity, service, and faithâthe characteristics Robinson embodied at the Naval Academy and throughout his NBA career.
Pat Riley, a New Yorker, a legendary NBA coach, and the current president of the Miami Heat. Riley has long been recognized for excellence in
leadership. The author of
Showtime: Inside the Lakers Breakthrough Season
(Warner Books, 1990), Riley has played with or coached six NBA championship teams. What accounts for Riley's phenomenal success? Though he was an average player during his league career, he became an inspirational coach and a superlative motivator, and is famous for his ability to magically and passionately guide million-dollar players to success.
Richard Rush, president of California State UniversityâChannel Islands. As a leader, Rush fosters remarkable optimism among faculty, students, and the community, despite a constant onslaught of budget cuts by the California legislature. Amid tough economic cutbacks, Rush has kept his university nimble while building a firm foundation of academic excellence. He has done so by developing innovative programs that include public-private partnerships. One such partnership is a collaborative nursing degree program with Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California.
Susan Murata, currently executive vice president of Silver Star Automotive Group in Southern California. In the middle of a recession, amid the coast-to-coast carcasses of lesser-led car dealerships, Murata exhibits tremendous business acumen and commitment to people and the community. She is an attentive listener and skilled strategist who has a knack for cutting through needless bureaucracy. Other organizations turn to her for enlightened leadership. She has held top leadership positions for her local Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and many service organizations. Among the secrets to her success are the
strength of her personality, her work ethic, and her commitmentânot only to volunteerism, but to whatever she finds herself involved in.
Howard S. Holmes was a real leader, both in his communityâsoutheast Michiganâand for his family-owned company, Chelsea Milling Company, which produces the grocery staple Jiffy Mix. In her book,
Jiffy, A Family Tradition,
Cynthia Furlong Reynolds writes, “Howard and Dudley [his twin brother] steered the company through family tragedy, the Depression, World War II, major ups and downs in the economy and the boom-days of the package-mix industry.”
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Howard Holmes had none of the bluster, egocentric characteristics, or false bravado of some chief executives. Instead, he had an innate comfort in his abilities and shortcomings that enabled employees and colleagues alike to relate to him. His humanity was one of the qualities that distinguished him from being a boss. He never made his employees feel they were inferior or less important. Once he even called me to say he would be a few minutes late to one of our informal breakfast get-togethers. I later discovered the reason why: after a problem in the mill, he had rolled up his sleeves alongside his employees and resolved it. Howard often referred to his employeesâhis second familyâas “knuckleheads,” a term they were proud to be called. I don't think the word
boss
was even in his extensive vocabulary.
Nonetheless, times change. His son, Howdy Holmes, faced considerable challenges when he assumed the reins of his family's company, but to his credit, he made changes incrementally and sensitively, reinforcing the core values of Chelsea Milling's culture, teaming
openness with interdependence. Under Howdy's leadership as CEO, many suitors have been desirous of purchasing the Jiffy brand, but it is not for sale.
Howdy had to guide Chelsea Milling into the 21st century. That included building new facilities, developing a stronger and larger management team, and establishing an online presence. He did all that while maintaining a tight connection to his employees with the help of what he had learned from his mentorsâirreproachable values and personal attention to employ-eesâto which he added calculated risk-taking, management acumen, and strategic thinking.
The logic behind my Eight Essentials of Effective Leadership is deceptively simple. Many of us in business have heard it before: treat people right and do what's right for them, and the business will prosper. The concept seems easy enough. Yet in application, those in leadership roles often fall far short. Most talk about or around the various attributes, but few actually follow through with the understanding, direction, drive, and commitment necessary to be a real leader. True leaders put service above self; empower, don't control; and serve rather than demand to be served. Though making people a priority may not be a popular business model today, it's the only one I can enthusiastically endorse. Throughout my career, I have seen firsthand that the best CEOs subscribe to this approach, and the worst do not.
Real leaders don't dodge opportunities to impact change; they take the challenges head on. Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.
certainly did just that. He led the Navy at a very tumultuous time in the 1970s as then-President Richard Nixon's Chief of Naval Operations. In the Vietnam War era, our country and the military were torn by racism, tension, and turmoil. The Navy faced race riots and sit-down strikes on the docks. Yet Zumwalt saw beyond it all. He was a visionary and a reformer with passion, understanding, resolve, and communications mastery. He transformed operations because he empathized with his young troops' problemsâwhether they were financial, marital, or caused by long deployments. He was committed to the rights of women and minorities, and knew how to expedite communications and get the job done. And he did it all amid strong opposition from the staid Navy establishment. Nixon appointed Zumwalt over dozens of more senior officers. Many of them had a tough time getting over that. Some never did.