'Leadership must have a to-be list, not just a to-do list'

It is the quiet, qualitative leadership which is solving community problems. It’s not interested in vanity, financial rewards, status or scale. It is completely different from the quantitative leadership we see every day. This measures by size, money and status. As such, it is quiet but revolutionary in its approach. These people often don’t even describe themselves as leaders or even entrepreneurs. But there’s a great deal that can be learnt from the efficient use of resources they make.

Q. Leaders need to “read the math as well as the mood”. What do you mean here? 

Increasingly, we have a standardised education system which rewards what can be measured. There’s a right answer and it’s at the back of the book. This system only ever rewards individual achievement. It doesn’t reward collaboration, development or consistency. In real leadership, however, there may be many right answers. There also may be ambiguity. Our leadership currently has experience, knowledge, and resources, but it lacks imagination. This creates a deficit both in threat recognition and opportunity—for example, why didn’t our leaders anticipate and prepare for the pandemic, financial collapse, and war in Europe? The reverse side of the great change we have seen is also opportunity. Change benefits challengers. They tend to be more agile.

Q. Who makes an effective leader based on this perspective? 

An effective leader isn’t always the one delivering the largest short-term financial profit. The best examples are where they are adding long-term value. This style of leadership is one based on a wide field of vision. It’s not enough to be able to see the problems that affect you personally. It’s important to see the wider picture to develop ‘situational fluency’. In a complex world, there are more interactions to understand, and they are not all logical. For instance, politics and activism are less likely to be based on fact and more likely to involve belief.

Also read: 'Temperance most crucial to manage in a divisive world'

Q. ‘To Be’ versus ‘To Do’. Please elaborate.

Every leader we interview in business has a to-do list. Very few have a to-be list. Leaders tend to concentrate on getting things done, but that’s a management task. It’s been said that management is doing things right. Leadership is about doing the right things. The musician plays the notes on the page. The leader plays the notes that aren’t there. Leadership is about vision and by its nature, this is invisible to most people. Leaders must understand that all the most important leadership qualities go with the verb ‘to be’, not ‘to do’—for example, you can’t ‘do’ inspiration, reassurance, consistency, balance, etc. These are only things you can ‘be’. The problem with a to-be list is that you can’t tick the item off as being achieved because the next day the values will require demonstrating again. 

Q. ‘Being in the flow’ and creativity—what’s the connection?

When you ask people where they are and what they are doing when they have their best ideas, they seldom say “at work”. They usually report three characteristics. They are most often on their own, not at work, and most interestingly, not trying. They are in a state of ‘flow’—completely absorbed with a task to the point that they have lost track of time and other things going on around them. This state is experienced by most people several times a day, when they are exercising, commuting or otherwise, in a routine.

Q. Is modern leadership evolving to break down stereotypes, particularly around gender?

Not just gender, but race, disability, and education. It’s not the case that you need a university degree to be successful. Now, it all comes down to attitude. This is one of the many characteristics that are not taught in school. Why is diversity important? Politicians will say for social justice and that’s true, but there’s a highly operational performance aspect, too. Different people worry about different things. In Thomas Premuzic’s book Why do so many incompetent men become leaders, he explains that men tend to have more confidence than skill. Women tend to be the other way around. His research indicates that men will, for instance, apply for a job with as little as 25 percent of the skills required. Women will not apply unless they have 75 percent of the skills or above.

Q. Power of teams in the future workplace and a leader’s role in building them…

No leader can afford to discriminate against real talent on the basis of its provenance. In any collective enterprise, leaders must harness everyone irrespective of their background. The world relies upon complex inter-relationships, in-supply chains, defence, medicine, social care, education, industry, and commerce. This can easily be destroyed by careless communication, a lack of empathy or understanding. `

Workplaces of the future are likely to require a lot more flexibility. And it’s unlikely that teams will perform well for leaders that have no empathy or understanding of their problems.

Q. How crucial is intergenerational mentorship, particularly for tackling issues like stress in Gen-Z or poor social skills in Gen Alpha?

Gen Alpha doesn’t always have poor social skills. They are just different. Gen Alpha has no interest or ability to understand Gen-X or millennials (and neither did those generations at this stage). It’s up to the leadership to understand how to communicate when the most precious commodity on Earth is attention. Gen A does not consume news or facts in the same way as Gen-X. For instance, a tiny fraction of Gen A consumes news from linear TV. They get it online from sources like Tik Tok. Most Gen-Xers are not even on the platform. 

Each generation is likely to have strong preferences for how they consume information. Gen-X will likely read a notice. Gen A might prefer video or animations. Certainly, international audiences are far more likely to consume information if it’s in video with or without subtitles. Life for Gen A has changed fundamentally to that of Gen-X. Older generations don’t know what they don’t know. Gen-X needs to be prepared to learn.

It’s also important to understand that Gen-Z and A have been one of the most disrupted generations partially by technology but certainly by the pandemic. This has left them less connected and at greater risk of mental illnesses caused by isolation. They do have qualities that previous generations lack. They have a stronger sense of social and environmental equality and often, a social cause is as important as a career choice. Many of the basics that previous generations sought are in any case, not available to them—for example, cars and houses have less attraction to them for many reasons not least of which is cost.