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Talking Technology By Steve Burns, Capital News contributor In our continuing series on the Leadership Summit put together by The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada (www.growingleadership.com), we are looking more closely at the leadership teachings of Steven Sample, author of The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. I have been enjoying Sample's counterintuitive leadership lessons. This week we will look more closely at one of his key principles for leaders—shoot your own horse. Hopefully Sample's concept won't offend readers with the analogy but basically what Sample is talking about is this. As a leader, we have many things that we can delegate. Sample even talks about how to be an effective delegator. He would prefer you to never make a decision that someone else in your organization could have made. A great leader allows others to make mistakes and learn from them. Sample also often refers to the process that a leader follows to determine whether or not a decision is yours to make in the first place. This is an interesting technique that ensures that others in your organization are testing their own leadership skills in real time. As I have been writing these articles on leadership and pondering different leadership styles, I have a confession to make. Yes, I do watch The Apprentice. Actually, I can't really believe that I do, as I think of Donald Trump as everything that a leader shouldn't be—arrogant, self-centered and obnoxious—the real opposite of the Servant Leader. Yet, everyone can't wait to hear those words on America's hottest reality show—“you're fired.” What a poor excuse for a leader. However, you can't really fault Trump for being decisive. He gathers a little bit of input from his colleagues and then quickly makes the firing decision every time. Another interesting point is that Trump seems to always do the dirty work himself, which is exactly what Sample says that a leader should do. Contrarian leaders never force others to do their dirty work. One of the best insights that Sample ever gained in this arena came from the farm, not from the classroom or the boardroom. Sample describes it this way: “When I was a kid, we lived on a farm in Missouri. My father was really a city boy, so we had this farm, but he still worked in town and he really didn't know much about how farms worked. So he always turned for help to our neighbour, Percy Gillette, who was a real farmer. “Every now and then, we had to dispose of one of the animals, some of the stock on the farm, and dad would call up Percy and Percy would say, ‘No problem, Howard, just bring him over here,' and Percy would dispatch that calf or that hog or that goat or whatever. “One day one of our riding horses broke its leg and the vet came out and said to my dad, ‘Howard, this horse has to be destroyed.' So Howard, my dad, went to Percy and he said, ‘Can you help me out?' “Percy said, ‘Good Lord, Howard, of course not. I couldn't shoot your horse for you. A horse is different. Besides, if I shot that horse for you, you could never hold your head up around these parts.' “He said, ‘Howard, a man has to shoot his own horse because he owes it to the horse.' So while the rest of us cowered in the living room, dad took a shotgun—dad, the city boy who'd never shot a living thing in his life, and went out and dispatched the horse. “One of the hardest things I ever saw my father do. The lesson is still with me. A man has to shoot his own horse because he owes it to the horse.” Sample's point is that the world is full of squeamish leaders when it comes to getting rid of people. Many leaders simply cannot bring themselves to look an employee in the eye and tell them that they have to go. The contrarian leader knows that doing the firing themselves is the right thing to do. The contrarian leader is brutally honest, never insincere or condescending, and full of compassion. The contrarian leader never humiliates a person in the process or sends bad news through an intermediary. As you might have guessed, although Trump does the firing and truly does “shoot his own horse” on the show, he demonstrates no compassion, cares only about himself and his image and has the leadership style of a dictator. I really don't care how rich he is as no one deserves to get away with treating others like dirt. Why is our society so bent on idolizing such poor leadership? Creating Trump-like leaders is a brutal price to pay for “making money” and “being successful.” While it might all appear as fun and games and, after all, it is just a reality show, no amount of money is worth the verbal abuse that Trump dishes out. According to Mr. Leader, Bradford is stupid, Jenn needs to shut up and Ivana is incompetent. Regardless of whether you agreed with Trump or not, I just couldn't believe that Trump was so condescending, especially to women and in particular Jenn, who I thought should have walked out after being told to shut up four times. I just couldn't believe that Jenn would then apologize to Trump for speaking up. Why would anyone lower themselves to work for this guy? So Sample's leadership lesson is that not only should you step up to the plate and take ownership of “shooting your own horse,” but you need to do so with compassion and care. I am confident that if you take a contrarian leadership position to Trump, while you might not ever become a gizillionaire, you will become a great leader that others respect and follow. Next week we will continue to dig further into these leadership lessons. And yes, unfortunately, I will be watching the next Apprentice episode—if for no other reason than learn how not to lead. Steve Burns, CA, CMC, CFP, is the president and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. (www.burnsinnovation.com) and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant (www.steveburns.ca), which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716. |
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