Killers and Cornerstones

A year or so ago I was presenting at a conference in Florida. At the conclusion of my session a gentleman in the back of the room approached the microphone and asked a very simple question.

“In your experiences with coaching and developing organizational leaders have you observed a set of common behaviors that have a destructive impact on leadership?”

Speaking in front of large crowds and having intense leadership related discussions have taught me to think on my feet. However, this question hit me like a ton of bricks. I answered the question the best I could with a firm, and somewhat obvious, answer of “Yes!”

Understand this, I have studied the traits of effective leaders for many years and could provide you, on a moments notice, a list of traits and behaviors that you would agree are needed in order for a person to be an effective leader. Traits such as being kind, caring, responsible, accountable, and respectful are just a few that come to mind. However, to clearly identify behaviors that lead to failure… now that was a different question. And if they could be narrowed down, what would they be? And to simply flip the positive traits or behaviors to negative tense behaviors seems obvious, but it does not necessarily answer the question that was presented.

As I have reflected on this question during the last few months I have found myself asking “what have I have actually seen that reduces effective leaders from an authority-based leadership approach to one that is based on power and control?” Beyond that, “what have I actually seen that not only reduces effectiveness but demolishes it altogether?”

I feel certain that the answers will not surprise you. I strongly believe there are definitive, observable, and impacting behaviors that kill effective leadership. I know that each and every leader has particular, and in some cases peculiar, behaviors that may inhibit effectiveness at times. However, I am not talking about inhibitors; I am talking about leadership killers. These are behaviors that rapidly reduce a leader’s effectiveness to virtually zero. And, it takes only one.

After reflecting carefully over my personal experiences during the last decade, reviewing hundreds of pages of notes from sessions I have conducted, gathering data from reports, analyzing years of performance feedback, and simply watching leaders that I have worked for, coached or trained, I have composed a list of four outright leadership killers.

My next few articles will address each of them separately. But first I want to say that since we are all human, it is my belief that every leader wrestles with each one of them to some degree. I realize you may not agree with my belief, but none the less I believe it to be true. I have reached that conclusion based on the common threads I see in my experiences with leadership and organizational development.

Now consider this, on the flipside of each leadership killer is a cornerstone. A cornerstone is a foundational principle of leadership. These “cornerstones” are what create not only effective leaders, but exceptional leaders. Keep in mind that many people hold leadership positions and do not have all the cornerstones firmly in place. Hence, there are discrepancies amongst marginal, good, great, and exceptional leaders. In my estimation, the exceptional leader is the one who has cornerstones serving as foundational points to their philosophy. I assure you, if one of the cornerstones is compromised, both effectiveness and exceptionality are negatively impacted. However, unlike the leadership killer, it may not decimate the leader or the organization; it simply may reduce effectiveness and slow growth toward exceptionality. So with each killer I will also discuss a corresponding cornerstone. I do believe that if the killer is present, the cornerstone will disappear and will do so with great expediency.

In this article I simply intend to identity the killers and cornerstones. I am not going to elaborate on them as that will occur in my next few articles. However, I am going to challenge you, especially those of you who know me and my work, to answer a few questions at the end of this article about both the killers and cornerstones. View this as your own personal 360 degree survey.

Again, I do not think these will surprise you. They are very simple. I encourage you, especially if you are an organizational leader, to really reflect on these.

Leadership Killers	Leadership Cornerstones
Dishonesty	Trust
Hypocrisy	Authority
Unreliability	Dependability
Disreputability	Respect

So then, a leader that is dependable, trustworthy, respectable can lead with authority. And a leader who has lost respect, trust, and dependability cannot lead with authority but must instead lead by power.

In essence, there is a capstone, one prevailing principle that binds all this together. That capstone is integrity. It is integrity that creates the exceptional leader. In his book - “Integrity” - Dr. Henry Cloud ties the ideals and principles of personal integrity to what is needed in an exceptional leader.

As I close this article I am going to challenge you to consider a few thoughts about both the killers and cornerstones. Reflect on each of the statement below. Notice, there is yes or no. I have presented it in this manner because there is no place in exceptionality for words like “sometimes” or “often” or “not sure.”

I am reliable.	Yes – No
I am honest.	Yes – No
I am reputable.	Yes – No
I am sincere.	Yes – No
I am dependable.	Yes – No
I am trustworthy.	Yes – No
I give and take respect.	Yes – No
I lead with authority.	Yes – No
I keep my word, my promises and my commitments.	Yes - No

Now that you have considered these about yourself… ask these questions about each statement above:

As I close, consider journaling your thoughts down as journaling is a terrific tool for improvement.

As always, if you or your organization need my help with these ideals or principles, operators are standing by…