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This Land of Strangers - Robert E Hall

This Land of Strangers

"..the most important book of the decade." — Richard Boyatzis, co-author of best seller Primal Leadership

Relationships, in all their varied forms, have been the lifetime study of Robert Hall. He brings a rare combination of experience as a researcher, consultant, writer, teacher and CEO in dealing with the real-world relationship challenges of modern organizations. When coupled with a decade of hands-on experience in the gritty world of inner-city homeless families it translates into a tapestry of vivid stories, well-researched and oft startling facts, and strategic insights that weave together the yet untold narrative of society's gravest risk and most stellar opportunity.

The Year Leadership Died

At a time when, from India to America, democracies have never had more big decisions to make … this epidemic of not deciding is a troubling trend. – Thomas Friedman, “Who’s the Decider,” The New York Times, November 16, 2011

• • •

It is good to say good bye to 2011 which could surely go down as the year that leadership died. The litany of leaders who are not faring well is large and growing: President Barack Obama’s job approval according to Gallup just dipped below that of former President Jimmy Carter and is now the lowest for any president at this stage in his tenure. The collapse of a long list of Republican presidential candidates, including Michele Bachman, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain, has been breath-taking.

Related failures include the bipartisan Congressional Super-Committee charged with debt reduction. Certainly corporate CEOs as a group are rated at near all-time lows. American Airlines filed for Chapter 11 and their CEO resigned. Certainly, it is not just a U.S. problem. The leadership turnover and turmoil in places like Greece, Italy, and Egypt fit a pattern where political leaders are failing and fleeing at unprecedented levels.

Just as telling is a group of leaders who are revered but are not available. The outpouring of adulation for the late Steve Jobs has surely caught everyone by surprise for a CEO whose company produced incredible products and profits but who by most everyone’s assessment was a holy terror to work for, outsourced over 700,000 jobs to China and had more idle cash than God — or at least the U.S. Treasury. He and his were clearly a part of the reviled 1%. Then there is Hilary Clinton who lost out to Barack Obama in the 2008 primary but is now viewed as all but sainted and a shoo-in for president if only she were running. And of course the group of Republican candidates who could not be arm-twisted into running like Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, and Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida are now widely viewed as far superior to those actually running. It seems the way to be really highly regarded as a leader is to, well, not be in a prominent role of leadership.

The question is: what have we learned that gives us hope that 2012 might be better? This is not an easy question and yet it warrants examination.

It is hard to explain why all of the leaders we have look so weak, while the ones we can’t have look so attractive. Is there a shortage of available leaders or have we lost the herding (following) instinct that leadership requires? It is not accidental that at a time when there is so much talk about bottom-up, de-centralized, participative leadership and the democratization of information, that leadership seems to have fallen on bad times. There are three key changes that have changed the relationship between the leader and the herd.

First, the herd is much more informed. Historically the leader had much better access to information but in recent years that balance has materially shifted. Now when we go to our doctors we may have more information about symptoms, diseases and possible cures than they have — even if we may lack the skill to interpret it. In politics we know more about the latest news or at least gossip from places like Drudge and Politico. In business our insight on finance, deals and business news from places like Dealbook greatly changes the balance. “Leader knows best” has been replaced by, “Herd knows much better if not best.”

Second, the herd has much more power. Information is power and as leaders have lost the information advantage they have given up control to influence and even to decide. The herd — stakeholders such as customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, competitors — can access and distribute information worldwide instantly. The herd has become very powerful in influencing, shaping and even overturning decisions and actions that are counter to available information. As I referenced in last month’s column, decisions by CEOs to change pricing at Netflix and exit the personal computer business at H-P, and the decision to support football coach Joe Paterno by the President at Penn State all point to just how quickly decisions and leaders can be rescinded. The herd morphs into a mob in a matter of nano seconds, overpowering formerly powerful leaders.

Third, leaders preside over divided herds. Herds historically were more unified partially because of limited and homogeneous information, highly controlled by leaders. While we hear members of today’s herd pine for the good ole days of unity, they do so without a hint of desire to become less informed. Accordingly, empowered herds pull leaders in very different and often mutually exclusive directions.

What we can conclude is the act of leading in today’s highly democratized informational world plants the very seeds for disillusioned herds and disparaged and deposed leaders. Never have leaders had such powerful communication tools to tell their story and yet never have they existed in a world of so many varied stories and opinions by their stakeholders.

The words of Rudyard Kipling ring true:
Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back —
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Somehow the leader and the pack (herd) have fallen out of sync. Leadership is the force that brings the two together but it also requires followership that is willing to be led. If in a democratic and capitalistic society, we get the leadership we deserve, then leadership must be revived but so must followership. That is a worthy and urgent goal for 2012.

(Column appeared originally in ABA Bank Marketing magazine – January-February 2012)

By ROBERT E. HALL

Not to be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved. © Copyright Robert E. Hall 2012

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