Over the past few weeks, I have found myself in various conversations with several friends, most of whom are currently leading companies or large teams and the topic of “Leaders leading leaders” keeps coming up. In one of those conversations, I was asked if I had written an essay on this topic, and if so, could I shoot it over. After a quick check of the 285 essays that are up online (hard to imagine that I am creeping up on 300!!) while I have covered the topic of “Leadership” a ton, I have NEVER explicitly talked about the unique reality/responsibility of “Leaders leading leaders.” As one grows in their career, you often start as an individual contributor, having your personal impact in your assigned role, building skills and understanding about the role, the organization, etc. Over time, you might be promoted to a team leader… leading individual contributors and starting to build your craft as a leader. The reality is with success, team leaders advance and start becoming leaders of larger teams, departments or organizations and ultimately starting to become “leaders of leaders.” This dynamic is a crucial and important step and is often fraught with challenge and often failure… I hope that the following three ideas/concepts may help you navigate this career progression step with grace and impact.
Looking back over my archive of essays on leadership, there are three that I want to utilize as foundational to the idea of being successful as a “leader of leaders.”
Authenticity: The foundation of a leader. Let’s go back to 2009 and the lessons from my old boss from Kimberly-Clark, Bruce Paynter. Bruce was diagnosed with ALS in 2008, and I have the chance, and the honor to spend a lot of time with him and his family in 2009 up until his passing that July. Bruce had a huge impact on me when I worked for him in the mid 80’s and those months/weeks and days I had with him before he passed are still fresh for me and alive with insights. Just a few weeks before he passed, I was in a hospice facility with him, and he wanted to talk about this idea… that “Authenticity” was the foundation of a successful leader. You can read more about that moment in the essay from 2009 (https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2009/06/authenticity-foundation-of-leadership.html) but in my experience, this idea is so deeply true. First and foremost, as a leader YOU need to work hard on YOUR authenticity… ensuring that your words and actions are aligned along the “rail of authenticity” that Bruce described. Then, and only then, can you help your direct reports who are leaders find THEIR own authentic voice, help them align their words and actions closer to the “rail of authenticity, helping them with the work of being open and authentic broadly to their organizations.
Leader as teacher: Over my 40-year career (another “hard to believe” number) I have had the chance to work with some very impactful and inspiring leaders across organizations… and this lesson comes from a former CEO of The Coca- Cola Company… Neville Isdell. In 2004 as he returned to the company, he led an effort that he called “The Manifesto for Growth,” working to re-energize the company and the broader global bottling system into a period or rejuvenation and “growth!” I had the chance to be part of that process, working with about 100 other Coke execs from across the globe… it was an intense, exhausting and energizing ( yes those two ideas go together) process; the output was excellent and very productive. In one specific session, Neville pushed us as leaders to not wait to be told what to do… but to have a unique point of view. He stopped himself in mid-sentence… correcting himself to say no, not just a point of view… I need leaders who have a “teachable point of view!!!” you can read more here (https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2009/05/teachable-point-of-view.html) but this idea of “leaders as teachers” is the second concept that I want to highlight. As you grow in your career, wanting to have a broader and stronger impact, your role as a leader is actually limited by your physical capacity for output if you think of yourself as a singular communication point. If you think of your leadership model as a teacher… touching/teaching/impacting a multitude around you it allows your impact to grow exponentially…. Especially if you start affecting the leaders around you to be “teachers” as well.
Three impact points of leadership: My final concept to help “Leaders of leaders” is based on a very simple principle depicted here.
The idea that as a leader you are ALWAYS working the “three impact points” (https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2009/03/three-impact-points-of-leadership.html) but they are not always in this order! Sometimes focusing more on inspiration, sometimes more on education, sometimes more on direction. An effective leader is ALWAYS toggling this triangle and rethinking each of the impact points for every interaction. “Leaders of leaders” do this on two levels… in one vector you are approaching your team, your reports and your organization and determining the focus areas and the needed alignment of the three impact points. You are also helping your direct reports who are leaders think through THEIR use of the three impact points…. THEIR approach to THEIR teams… coaching them on ways to “inspire/educate/direct” that are authentic for THEM!!
As “leaders of leaders,” I hope you can use these three ideas with your teams. As I reflect across my career, I often go back to these three concepts (Authenticity/ Leader as teacher/Three impact points of leadership) as foundational lessons for me as a leader … and core ideas that help me be a better “Leader of leaders.” My hope is that these ideas are helpful to you and that you can bring them to life so that they are productive for you and your organizations today!