Section I

Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership
Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership

How to Become an Effective Executive
James G. S. Clawson
Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership:
How to Become an Effective Executive
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2021.
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First published in 2021 by

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Description
What does it take to become an effective executive?
Anyone with that dream goal will want to know the answers to the six
questions around which this book is organized: Who are you? What’s
your strategic story? Can you sell your story? Can you organize to help
not hinder? Are you a Change Master? Can you transform intangible asset
pools into tangible financial results?
For easy apprehension, this unusual volume presents 140 concepts, one
per short chapter each with an explanation, examples, visual diagrams,
and challenging questions. Participants in 200+ three to five day seminars
worldwide (US, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and the
Middle East) have been energized by these concepts and their applica-
tions to their careers and personal lives. Check out the Table of Contents
and see if you aren’t engaged by multiple titles.
Keywords
leadership; human behavior; strategic thinking; organizational design;
change; balanced scorecard; organizational culture; problem solving;
management; executives
Contents
Preface��xiii
Acknowledgments�� xvii
Section I Basics�� 1
1. Leading Strategic Change��2
2. Levels of Human Behavior��5
3. Leadership Point of View��10
4. Seeing What Needs To Be Done��13
5. Understanding All the Forces at Play��16
6. The Courage to Act��21
7. Leadership and Problems��24
8. What’s a “Problem?”��27
9. The Problem with Problems��31
10. Leader as Creator��35
11. Power and Leadership��38
12. The Diamond Model of Leadership��43
13. Choice and Obligation��47
14. Inside-Out or Outside-In��49
15. Buy-In��52
Section II Who Are You?�� 55

16. The Northern Ball: Who Am I?��56
17. Early Childhood Development��58
18. The Most Important Question in Life��62
19. Intelligence��65
20. Self-Awareness��68
21. The Rational-Emotive-Behavior Model��71
22. Leadership and Self-Deception��74
23. Self-Concept��76
24. Career Concepts��79
25. Develop Your Opinions��83
26. Balancing Your Life��87
viii Contents
27. Balancing Your Focus��90

28. Decision Making��92
29. Decision-Making Pyramid��95
Section III The Unexplored Linkage Between Feel

and Performance�� 99
30. Feel and Performance��100
31. Connecting Feel and Performance: Flow��103
32. What Do You Think of Flow?��105
33. The Resonance Model��107
34. Managing Your Energy: External and Internal Dreams��109
35. Preparation��112
36. Obstacles��115
37. Revisiting the Dream��118
Section IV Global Business Leaders�� 123

38. The Importance of Global Business Leaders��124
39. Cultural Tolerance��127
40. Humility to Learn��131
41. Honesty��134
42. Patient Impatience��137
43. Well Spoken��139
44. Presence��142
45. Determination��145
Section V What’s Your Strategic Story?�� 149

46. The Eastern Ball: Strategic Thinking: What’s Your Story?��150
47. Hope Is Not a Strategy��154
48. Ansoff’s Model of Strategic Growth��156
49. Porter’s Five Forces Industry Analysis��159
50. Value Chain��162
51. Boston Consulting Group Model��165
52. Design Thinking��168
53. The Ecological Model��172
54. Strategy as Revolution��175
55. The Experience Economy��181
56. The Innovator’s Dilemma��185
Contents ix
57. Good to Great Model��188

58. Strategy Maps��192
59. Scenario Planning��196
60. Chart Your Course��199
61. Mission Statements��204
62. Vision Statements��210
63. Values Statements��214
64. Strategy��217
65. Short-Term Operating Goals��221
66. The Importance of Having a Story��224
67. Analyzing Ethics��227
68. Ethical Leadership��230
69. Leadership and Diversity��234
Section VI Can You Sell Your Story?�� 239

70. The Western Ball: Can You Sell Your Story?��240
71. Control��243
72. What Is Trust?��245
73. The Language of Leadership��248
74. Level One Techniques��251
75. Level Two Influence Techniques��253
76. Level Three Influence Techniques��256
77. The Relationship between Leadership Style and Buy-In��259
78. Identifying VABEs��261
79. A Formula for Mediocrity��265
80. Influencing at Level Three VABEs��268
81. The Dark Side of Level Three Influence with VABEs��272
82. Active Listening��275
83. The Language of Execution��280
84. Developing the Next Generation of Leaders��284
85. You Teach What You Tolerate��288
86. The Language of Influence��291
87. Team Life Cycles��293
88. Team Activities and Team Life Cycles��296
89. Distributed Leadership��300
90. Empowerment��304
x Contents
91. Getting the Right People on the Team��307

92. Key Roles in Effective Teams��310
93. Dialogue Technique��314
94. One World-Class Team��317
95. Planned Team Obsolescence��321
Section VII Organizational Architecture : Can You

Organize to Help Not Hinder?�� 325
96. The Southern Ball: Can You Organize to Help Not Hinder?��326
97. Pyramid Organization: The Common Structure��330
98. M-Form Organization��332
99. The Matrix Organization��335
100. Organizational Control��338
101. A General Model of Organizational Architecture��341
102. Background Factors��343
103. Leadership Design VABEs��345
104. Design Decisions��348
105. Human Resource Related Systems��350
106. Systems Theory and Organizational Behavior��352
107. Recruitment and Selection��355
108. Job Design��359
109. Performance Appraisal��362
110. Reward Systems��366
111. Learning Systems��369
112. Organizational Culture��373
113. System Alignment��376
114. Organizational Glue��378
115. Organizational Life Cycles��380
Section VIII Mastering the Change Process:

Are You a Change Master?�� 383
116. The Southeast Axis: Leading Change��384
117. The Anti-Change Bowstring��386
118. Change Roles��388
119. Types of Change��390
120. Resistance to Change��392
Contents xi
121. Kurt Lewin’s Model��394

122. Mike Beer’s Model of Change��397
123. John Kotter’s Model of Change��399
124. Tim Gallwey’s Model of Change��402
125. The MIT (Nevis) Change Model��404
126. Change Is Like Dying Little Deaths��406
127. The Many Faces of Denial��410
128. Prochaska’s Model of Change��412
129. Peter Senge’s Model of Change��414
130. The Five P’s��416
131. The GE Model of Change��418
132. Susan Campbell’s Model of Change��420
133. Jim Clawson’s Model of Change��422
134. Managing Mergers and Acquisitions��426
135. Results of the Leadership Diamond��431
136. Human Capital��436
137. Social Capital��437
138. Organizational Capital��439
139. Core Capabilities��441
140. Customer Value Proposition��443
141. Tangible Financial Results��445
Section IX Conclusion�� 449

142. Zoysia Grass��450
143. Be the Captain of Your Ship��455
About the Author��457

Index��459
Preface
What does it take to become an effective executive? Trait theory has long
since been discredited. Intelligence has many faces and it seems obvi-
ous that the smartest person may not be the best leader. Experience is
important, yet age is no guarantee of wisdom. Legal authority carries
with it some power yet title is no guarantee of effective leadership. So are
there any commonalities in the skill sets of effective executives? Can those
skills be taught and learned? Are they transportable from one situation to
another?
Yes and yes are the answers I have gleaned from over forty years of
study, teaching, researching, consulting, and writing. During that time,
I have continuously updated and revised my understanding of what it
takes to make an effective executive and assembled them here. I never
thought that any one person or model was accurate or comprehensive
enough to hang your hat on. Consequently, you will see here broad inclu-
sion of the ideas of many others along with my own. I believe in integrat-
ing and building on what we already know about various topics rather
than asserting a narrow personal view—which I also include. Some of
the chapters provide summaries of major works in each section, by which
I simply introduce those frameworks and invite the serious student to
read the original sources.
Some of the concepts here might be familiar to you—in my experi-
ence, that usually means “I’ve heard the term before” but does not extend
to explaining it cogently without coaching. Often I will ask you your
opinion on a thing and leave space for you to note it. If you don’t do
that and after reading say, “I knew that” I invite your serious reflection
on what it was that you already knew. I have taught these principles to
CEOs, C-level executives, company presidents, division heads of business,
managers, supervisors and students of business at the MBA and doctoral
levels. And done that all over the world from the United States to China
to Japan to Australia to India to South Africa to Bahrain to Egypt to Italy
to Germany to Sweden to Brazil and Costa Rica and many countries
xiv Preface
in between. The concepts are tried and true in the crucible of active
debate among business executives at every level in every region of the
globe in a variety of industries.
In my experience, executives vary widely in the amount of reading
they do. Further, all the other books I have seen, with the exception of
the works of Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson (One Minute Manager
series, Who Moved My Cheese?) and John Kotter’s Our Iceberg is Melting,
have required long bouts of focus wading through multiple examples and
verbiage chapter after chapter. No metaphors here, just short, focused
two to five page chapters each presenting one concept, an example, a
visual diagram, and a series of challenges. My goal, that is, every chapter
will provide readers with a clear, powerful idea, and stimulation to think
about its application to your life, work, and career.
The ~140 concepts presented here are organized around a flexible,
powerful model of leadership I developed while at the Harvard Business
School. Here are the questions that form a diamond shaped framework
for this model:
1. What are the basic concepts that we must understand in order to get
the rest of the book.
2. Who are you? Do you understand why people including yourself
behave the way they do?
3. What is your strategic story? How does one develop a strategic story
that one can offer to would-be followers?
4. Can you sell your story? Do you know how to influence people, who
are influencing others, and can you improve your abilities to sell your
story to others?
5. Can you organize to help not hinder? Do you understand how to
organize people in ways that energize them rather than suck energy
out of them?
6. Are you a Change Master? Do you understand how the change
process works? Or are you doing the best you can with what you
know?
7. Finally, can you convert intangible asset pools into tangible results?
How does one recognize the essential intangibles like people,
relationships, and processes, and transform them into financial

returns?
Preface xv
My hope is that you will find a significantly valuable idea in every

chapter. If so, this volume will provide a valuable introduction and
reference for executives, managers, and business students worldwide. The
format allows one to pick and choose what they want to read or assign
to be read without extraneous verbiage. One man responsible for sales in
half a continent encountered one of the ideas here and immediately left
the program saying “I’ve been searching for this idea my whole career.
I can’t take any more!” I hope you find such an experience in this book.
James Clawson
Charlottesville, VA
January 2021
Acknowledgments
This book presents the research and ideas of hundreds of people in
academe and practicing business organizations. They all have contributed
to the ideas in this book. I have tried to acknowledge them throughout
in the text, diagrams, and endnotes. For quotations, I have almost always
tried to include a public domain photograph of the person quoted so
readers can see the person they are listening to.
I am especially indebted to Ed Schein’s work and conversations; he
is one of my heroes, a man with a broad scope of influence, great pro-
ductivity, and provocative insights. He introduced me to the example of
Central American pyramids. These, the pyramids, were physical artifacts
of ethereal rituals that were conducted there based on a culture’s underly-
ing beliefs. And that single triplet of ideas spawned in me a profound set
of thoughts that affected my entire career. This book is the last of some
two dozen books that explored that triplet and as such is the culmination
of my life’s work. I dedicate this book to Ed Schein and offer my thanks
to him for his generosity of intellect that he shared with us all.
My deep gratitude to the professionals at Business Expert Press
(BEP), to Mike Provitera for his encouragement and enthusiasm, to
Scott I senberg for his trust, to Charlene Kronstedt for her guidance and
excellent support, to Sheri Dean for her marketing skills and to Exeter
Premedia.
Finally, I thank my patient wife for tolerating my work habits
and extended isolations while working, recently and throughout our
wonderful (for me) 44 years together.
Section I
Basics
This section introduces some basic concepts that apply throughout the
other sections of the Level Three Leadership framework. Consider these
the basic building blocks upon which we will build going forward.
1. Leading Strategic Change
Concept
People want to talk about leadership, but before long they, or we, have to
ask, “Leadership to what end?” Where are we going? And that’s the strat-
egy question. I asked a CEO once what his strategy was and his answer
was, “Our strategy for the next six months is cut costs.” I waited, but he
was done. It didn’t seem strategic, certainly not long term, and surely
omitted many areas of important concern.
So, to talk about leadership requires one to talk about strategy, or
its component, vision. Who decides where we are going and what we
should emphasize? Without clarity about direction or end point, how do
we know how to lead? So, I say, you cannot talk about leadership without
talking about strategy.
What about leaders who are implementing someone else’s strategy?
These people are “managers” unless they have a bigger view of what’s
going on and how they can inspire their people to work to that end.
If you ask “to what end,” the implication is we are going from here
to there. Strategy demands an answer to the “there” question, so strategic
thinking is a key leadership skill set.
Further, “going from here to there” implies the change question, “how
are we going to get there?” So really, when we talk about leadership, neces-
sarily we are talking about three things, direction or end point, leadership,
and managing change, or more briefly, “leading strategic change.” One
very successful CEO of a $30B business, once told me, “I’m a change
master. You ask me to maintain an organization in its current state, I can’t
play there. I always think there’s a better way.” I was impressed with his
comment.
We call the people who maintain things the way they are “bureaucrats.”
They certainly aren’t leading strategic change. In this view, would-be lead-
ers need to know and manifest a lot about leadership and also strategy
formulation, and they also need to be “change masters.” While this is a
book on leadership, you will find elements of all three in this volume.
Visual Capitalist (on 11/30/18) displayed a chart of what CEOs do.
In sum, they reported that Chief Executive Officers spent about 25 percent
of their time on people and relationships, 25 percent on business unit
reviews, and 21 percent on strategy. Those data give us a good overview
Leading Strategic Change 3
of what three-fourths of an executive’s day/week/year looks like: people,

unit performance reviews (what do you measure?), and strategy. Leading
strategic change.
Example
Hans Von Luck was the German panzer commander assigned to defend the
critical bridges over the Orne River during D-Day, June 6, 1944. Later in
his career, he was assigned to defend against the Russian tide on the Eastern
Front. Without reinforcements, out of ammunition, and surrounded by
the Russian army, Von Luck assembled his troops and made this statement:
We are here now, and I think it is more or less the end of the
world. Please forget all about the Thousand-Year Reich. Please for-
get all about that. You will ask, “Why then are we going to fight
again?” I tell you, there’s only one reason you are fighting, it is for
your families, your grounds, your homeland. Always think about
what will happen when the Russians overcome your wives, your
little daughters, your village, our homeland.
Pegasus Bridge, Stephen E.
Ambrose, e-page 2255
Von Luck had a bigger p icture fed by his conversations with Rommel,
earlier in which Rommel declared in Africa, “the war is lost.” Von Luck
was not buried in the details, in the bogs, in the reeds, he could transcend
his immediate situation and see the broader picture and articulate a vision
that would more than motivate, rather inspire his troops.
Diagram
“Leadership” means ...
LEADING
STRATEGIC CHANGE
4 Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership
Challenge
1. In whatever leadership role you have or aspire to, think about what
that part of the organization is trying to accomplish.
2. What’s the purpose of that organization?
3. Where do you imagine it to be in 10 years?
4. What would be your strategy for getting there?
5. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on how well you understand and
can lead a change effort.
6. Create a time chart of how you spend your weekly time (164 hours)
on average especially with regard to time spent leading, strategizing,
and managing change.
2. Levels of Human Behavior
Concept
This is a very important chapter. To begin, may I ask you a short series of
important questions. First, how old are you? ___________ Thank you.
If this were a personal conversation, we could start with a bit of accurate
sharing, yes/no? I am 73 as of this writing, born in 1947.
Now, in your x years of experience, given all the people you have met
in your life, what proportion of people’s Visible Behavior (what you
can capture on film) would you estimate to be habitual? By habit-
ual, I mean “unthinkingly repetitive.” People express or show their habits
when they repeat behavior over and over again. Frequently, habits are so
ingrained that they too become semi- or pre-conscious.
What’s your personal estimate? How much of people’s Visible Behav-
ior is habitual?
WRITE YOUR ANSWER HERE: ______%
Now, in your experience, given all the people you have met in your
life, what proportion of the way people think would you estimate to be
habitual? We can’t see what people are thinking only as they reveal it to us
in their Visible Behavior. Yet, after a while, can you begin to predict what
someone will say? What’s your estimate? How much of the way people
think is mindlessly repetitive? _______%
Finally, consider what I will call “Level Three” our semi-conscious,
pre-conscious Values, Assumptions, Beliefs, and Expectations about the way
the world is or should be. We can call these VABEs (rhymes with babes)
for short. We say these are semi- or pre-conscious because we are often not
really thinking about them yet they emerge in our judgments, conclu-
sions, thoughts, and behaviors.
In your experience, given all the people you have met thus far in life,
what proportion of people’s VABEs are habitual, mindlessly repetitive?
WRITE YOUR ESTIMATE HERE: _______%
So, we can think of human behavior as occurring at three levels. Level
One is visible behavior, the things that people say and do that we can
capture on film. Level One behavior is available to us everywhere we turn
if we observe.
Level Two is conscious thought. Clearly, we all have conscious

thoughts. We are aware of our thoughts. Further, we choose whether
or not we will reveal our thoughts to others. Sometimes our thoughts
and emotions leak to others when we sigh, frown, smile, or roll our eyes.
Sometimes we choose to say what we are thinking and this becomes the
basis for honest communication. Level Two also includes our conclu-
sions, that is, our judgments about what’s happening around us, about
what others say and do and about events in the environment.
Level Three is our VABEs. VABEs are similar to the concept of
“memes” introduced by Richard Dawkins in the UK. He called them
units of cultural transmission, that is, how people, mostly children, learn
what’s right and wrong in a culture.
Genes are tangible packets of information passed around societies and
from generation to generation. Memes, by contrast, are intangible packets
of information passed around society and down generation after genera-
tion. John Brodie called memes “viruses of the mind” and asserted three
types: identity, value, and instrumental. Identity memes name something
or someone. “Virginia” and “Europe” are identity memes. Identity memes
can also label an ethereal concept like a stirrup, chair, or the wheel.
Value memes assign a moral value to a concept. “Stealing is bad” is a
value meme. So is “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Value memes relate
to what’s good or bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral. Instrumental
memes are “if-then” statements that label a cause-and-effect link. “Hard
work brings success” is a strategy meme. So is “if you eat properly, you
will lose weight.”
The emotional component of memes is clearer in the concept of
VABEs. The things we value by definition are what we prefer versus
what we don’t prefer. “Honest conversation” might be valued by one
person and not by another. Our assumptions include those linkages
or labels that we have come to accept without questioning. “Young
people should be seen and not heard” would be one such assumption.
Beliefs are closely linked to values and assumptions. “God loves me”
is an example of a belief. Expectations are equally as powerful as
values, assumptions, and beliefs. People have learned over the course
of their lives to expect certain things. “Polite people shake hands” or
Levels of Human Behavior 7
“polite people bow” or “polite people don’t touch you with their left
hand” are examples of expectations. We can think of Values, Assump-
tions, Beliefs, and Expectations as different windows into the same
core concept.
VABEs are semi- or pre-conscious because they are so familiar to
us, they are like water to a gold fish, we don’t think about them so
much unless we encounter a VABE-abrasion, that is, when something
happens that annoys, angers, or irritates us. Typically, our emotions
are reactions to almost instantaneous comparisons between what the
world is presenting to us and what our VABEs are. What we value,
assume, believe, or expect is in a broad sense what we “want.” What the
world presents to us, what is happening around us is what we “get.” So
moment by moment, we are constantly comparing what we have got
with what we want and if they match up, things are good. If they don’t
match up we will likely experience a VABE-abrasion—an irritation or
conflict with our VABEs.
Recent research into brain functioning has clarified the huge impact
our pre-conscious VABEs have on our decision making. (See Daniel
Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, Joshua Greene’s Moral Tribes, and
Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind.) Humans tend to make very fast
judgments about even large and important situations. The field of evo-
lutionary psychology explains why this might have been a Darwinian
advantage. If we are taught, for example, to be cautious of strangers with
weapons, that VABE can save one’s life. So when we observe and deal with
others, we can choose to, or not, pay attention to all three levels of human
behavior. Clearly, we can only “see” what’s happening at Levels Two and
Three by what we observe at Level One. Think of Level One behavior as
the tip of the iceberg and the surface of the water the boundary between
Level One and Level Two. You can see what’s above the waterline and
what’s at the waterline, but very little of what’s below.
Sometimes, but not always, people will tell us what their thoughts and
VABEs are. Those who do tell us may be authentically accurate, deceitful,
or lacking in self-awareness. Frequently we have to infer what people are
thinking or assuming by signals they send at Level One. Frowns, sighs,
rolling of the eyes, shouting, laughter, facial expressions in general, use
of words like “should, have to, good, and bad,” noises in general (grunts,
growls), all give us some insight into what people are thinking and feel-
ing. When people get angry or conflicted or emotional, they are often
reacting to a VABE abrasion and we may try to assess what the VABE
might be that caused that irritation or anger.
While the research to answer these questions would be difficult to
conduct, I have asked these questions to managers all over the world.
On average, they will say 75 percent, 85 percent, and 95 percent plus
respectively. Do those numbers match your experience? If we look at
Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Central African tribal conflicts, India
and Pakistan, US race relations, China and Tibet . . . Pick your part of
the globe, the lingering, residual, omnipresent influence of VABEs is
evident.
If those numbers are anywhere near reality, think of the implications.
What are the odds in any situation that a person will learn something
behaviorally, cognitively, or emotionally that will change their habits, their
lives? The answer would be somewhere between 25 and 0 percent. In the
vast minority. Which of course begs a major question: Are you open to
learning, that is, to changing some of your Level One, Level Two, and Level
Three habits?
William James once noted that “genius is the art of non-habitual
thought.” Hmmm.
Example
One person curses when someone else cuts in front of them in traffic.
Another person slows down and smiles. What’s the difference?
One person on his way in to work is thinking, “What do I have to
do today?” while another is thinking, “What am I going to create today?”
What’s the difference?
One person opens a present and sighs and frowns. Another opens a
present and is elated. What’s the difference?
One person always looks for what’s missing while another admires
what has been done. What’s the difference?
Levels of Human Behavior 9
Diagram
Levels of Human Activity HABITUAL?
1. VISIBLE BEHAVIOR 75%

2. Conscious Thought 85%
3. VABEs (Values, Assumptions,
Beliefs, and Expectations about 95+%
the way the world is or should be)
Source: https://gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tip-of-the-iceberg-royalty-free-
image/157509282?adppopup=true
Challenge
1. Observe carefully what others say and do. What VABEs are they
expressing? Try to identify another person’s VABEs and write them
down. Then, ask that person if they are accurate.
2. Listen for the “shoulds,” “have-to’s,” and judgments of other people.
Try to write down the underlying VABE. Don’t just do that in your
head. Write it down. There is a BIG difference between thinking you
know something and articulating it or writing it down. FIND the
words to accurately describe the VABEs of which you are vaguely
aware.
3. Write down a list of your top 20, most important VABEs. Then show
that list to someone who knows you well and see if they agree based
on your Level One behavior.
4. Develop a sensitive VABE radar. Be aware of the signals when other
people let you see a glimpse of their underlying VABEs.
3. Leadership Point of View
Concept
We introduced above the concept of human habituality. People manifest

over time their habitual points of view, that is, how they look at the
world. People may or may not be aware of their points of view. We intro-
duce here three common habitual points of view for your consideration.
Many people take what we could call a “Follower’s Point of View”
or FPV. We infer this from the things that people say and do, that is,
by observing their Level One behavior. People with an FPV tend to say
things like “What do you want me to do?” “How do you want me to do
it?” “When do you need it done by?” And so forth. They expect (the “E”
in VABEs) others to guide them, to tell them, to instruct them.
Other people take a “Bureaucratic Point of View” or BPV. Again, we
can observe this because people will repeatedly say things like “That’s not
my job.” “That’s not how we do things around here.” “That’s not in the
operating manual.” “That’s not acceptable practice.” Or “Have you filled
out the form yet?”
Some people have developed a “Leadership Point of View” or LPV.
They manifest three characteristics at Level One: they SEE what needs to
be done, they UNDERSTAND all the forces at play, and they have the
COURAGE TO ACT.
Have you ever noticed people who in conversation seem to have a
knack for cutting to the heart of an issue while others are milling around
in the peripheral weeds? They see what the real issue is. One popular exam-
ple would be Steve Jobs’s insight when he returned to Apple to become its
new CEO. Reviewing the company’s line of computer products, he saw
that the proliferation of models had dissipated the company’s develop-
ment efforts. He refocused efforts by recognizing the need to consolidate
and focus the company’s efforts and product lines.
People with the LPV understand all the forces at play in an organi-
zation not just their favorite ones. Many general managers still hold an
emphasis on the discipline of their past whether it be finance, marketing,
or operations. An effective general manager with the LPV is less likely
to be blindsided than a manager who remains focused on their original
discipline (finance, accounting, marketing) because he or she understands
Leadership Point of View 11
how all the elements are essential to organizational health. A senior level
manager in a $20B defense company once noted that people were sur-
prised that his boss who came out of a finance background did not drive
meetings from a financial point of view. Rather, he put emphasis where
it was needed when it was needed, serving customers, fixing operational
bottlenecks, ramping up marketing, or solidifying the company’s equity
structure.
Finally, I mention the courage to act. I say “courage” because it takes
courage to make decisions and then live with their consequences. In my
own experience as the CEO of a non-profit organization of 3,000 people,
I learned that while many people will be quick to offer advice, in the end,
someone must make a decision and if that person is the senior officer, he
or she likely has developed an LPV.
That is not to say that “followers” and “bureaucrats” don’t make it
to senior ranks, they do. I’ve observed CEOs who were followers and
relied on consulting reports and subordinate action to “administer.” Like-
wise, I have seen CEOs who were bureaucrats so that their decisions were
locked into the way things had been done historically—to the detriment
of their firms.
Some will say that “I’ll develop an LPV when I get the job that requires
it.” This is a mistake in my view. My own research into the relationship
between vision and organizational level showed no correlation. People
with vision had it early in their careers and kept it throughout. Likewise,
some people without vision made it to the higher ranks. This suggests that
one can and should develop the three skill clusters of the LPV early in a
career. If you don’t when the conversations turn to “what should we do”
the FPVs and the BPVs will likely be listeners in the conversation; they
will have nothing to say.
If you wanted to check your balance among these three skill sets, you
might take the simple self-assessment tool at this location:
http://virginia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_dnxICDUXE6QpbvL
Example
One CEO declares his dedication to staying the course and continuing
the policies and strategies of his predecessors. Another hires multiple
consultants to give her advice on what to do. Another thinks for a while
and declares a vision for where he wants the company to be in 10 years.
What’s the difference?
Diagrams
What’s Your Habitual Point of View?

Point of View (POV) Things They Say …
What do you want me to do? By when? How do you want
Follower’s POV
me to do it? What’s my authority? And so on.
That’s not my job. That’s not our way. Let me refer you.
Bureaucratic POV
Have you filled out the form yet?
T he Leadership Point of View
1. Do you SEE what needs to be done?

2. Do you UNDERSTAND ALL of the forces at
play?
3. Do you have the COURAGE TO ACT to
make things better?
Challenge
1. Pay attention to your words as you react to assignments and

opportunities. Does your L1 language suggest an FPV, a BPV or an LPV?
2. Listen to the language of your leaders and managers. Which PoV is
suggested by their language?
3. Observe your colleagues. Which ones have an FPV? Which ones
have a BPV? Which ones have an LPV?
4. Reflect on your scores to the self-assessment tool above. Do they
suggest an FPV, a BPV or an LPV?
5. Other than the phrases offered above, what other indicators of FPV
or BPV or LPV can you imagine?
4. Seeing What Needs To Be Done
Concept
The first element in the Leadership Point of View is to see what needs to
be done. Managers and bureaucrats wait for someone else to clarify what’s
important and what we should do about it. Leaders have the ability to cut
through a fog of extraneous data and analysis and home in on the core
issues. Some people seem to have this ability innately, but I suppose that
virtually everyone has had to learn this skill. Clearly, toddlers cannot see
the bigger picture and don’t have the ability to cut to the chase.
The number of priorities that most organizations can deal with is
limited. Leaders who see 10 things to work on will likely dissipate their
energies and those of their people to the point that nothing gets done
particularly well. Focus is important. Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM,
in his book, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance, noted that “lack of focus is
the most common cause of corporate mediocrity.” The ability to find the
two to three key issues is a critical leadership skill.
Some people outsource “sight” to consulting companies. They ask
others to analyze their businesses and tell them what needs to be done.
One big danger here, beside the cost of this approach, is that many con-
sulting reports end up gathering dust on corporate credenzas because
the executives either don’t believe them or don’t have the courage to
implement them.
Sight is not easy to quantify. What is obvious to one is not to another.
Good leadership sight is a function of a lifetime of learning and experi-
ence gathering. One may begin to see patterns in analysis, even consultants’
analyses, in broader trends, and in one’s world view.
Sometimes, the right questions can bring sight. “Who are our biggest
competitive threats?” “What technology could disrupt our plans?” “What
is keeping us from delivering on our customer value promises?” “What
is the linkage between our people, our core capabilities, and satisfying
our customers?” “What are the links in our value chain and how can we
manage them better?”
Executives who have sight can see the way the organization works and
how it delivers value to customers. They must be able to see and describe
the transformation of intangible assets like human capital, social capital,
and organizational capital through corporate capabilities to customer sat-

isfaction that results in tangible assets that appear on income statements.
Any executive who cannot trace those linkages is flying blind.
Example
When Steve Jobs was hired back to Apple he was confronted with a long
list of problems and issues. The company had admittedly lost its way.
The number of products had proliferated diffusing organizational energy.
Jobs recognized this and in a meeting drew a simple 2x2 diagram with
“corporate” and “retail” on one axis and “laptop” and “desktop” on the
other. Then, he said, that the company would offer only one product
in each cell—and instantaneously focused the corporation’s consider-
able strength. Since then, Apple’s products and business ventures have
expanded, but at the time, Jobs’s ability to see the confusion that a broad
array of development projects was creating and his ability to focus the
company’s efforts were instrumental in Apple’s resurgence.
CORPORATE RETAIL
DESKTOP Mac Pro iMAC
LAPTOP MacBook Pro MacBook
At Coca-Cola, Bob Goizeuta was confronted with a management team

that was lamenting the company’s success. The company had been so
successful, they said, worldwide that they had succeeded themselves out
of ways to grow. They thought the market was saturated. And for a brand
recognized in more than 200 countries, it looked on the surface that they
had a good argument. Goizeuta responded with two simple questions.
“What is the average liquid intake of human beings worldwide? And
what is the average intake worldwide of our products?” No one knew the
answers, so they went off and did a little research. The answers came back
“64 fluid ounces and 4 fluid ounces.” It was clear to all that the com-
pany had enormous opportunity to raise that proportion by targeting the
60 fluid ounces (on average) that people were drinking that weren’t Coca
Cola products: 4/64 = 6 percent leaving a 94 percent market penetra-
tion opportunity. Now, let’s not suppose that everyone wants their babies
Seeing What Needs To Be Done 15
drinking sweet soft drinks, so this analysis also urged company executives
to find other products with which they could “refresh the world.”
Diagram
Do you SEE what needs to be done?

The greatest thing a human soul
ever does in this world is to see
something and tell what it saw in a
plain way. Hundreds of people can
talk for one who can think, but
thousands can think for one who
can see. To see clearly is poetry,
prophecy and religion, all in one.
John Ruskin
English critic, essayist, & reformer
(1819-1900)
Source: https://google.com/search?q=john+ruskin+images&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS910US910&s
xsrf=ALeKk01uv3auX_HCsZA7NUEkyGl_z_Awcw:1611766150061&tbm=isch&source=iu&
ictx=1&fir=NIkNGGhtbDg8xM%252CXKMweoD8FGn5TM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kR
GNX6Cz1_Gve812s9fqoqF-97Wfw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwii9dbmyLzuAhXEM1kFHetBC8g
Q9QF6BAgNEAE&biw=1366&bih=578#imgrc=NIkNGGhtbDg8xM
Challenge
Practice developing your insight by:
1. Putting every problem in a broader context and relating it to the

whole.
2. Clarifying inefficiencies of energy. “Where is energy being wasted in
our organization?”
3. Constantly asking, “What’s a faster, more efficient, more effective
way?”
4. Asking, “What single thing would give us the most leverage?”
5. Asking, “What technology could replace us or ours?”
6. Asking, “What is our customers’ perception of us?”
7. Asking, “How can I bring instant focus to this situation?”
5. Understanding All the Forces at Play
Concept
The second element of the Leadership Point-of-View (LPV) is “understand-

ing all the forces at play.” Many who are promoted out of a functional
leadership responsibility continue to see the world primarily from their
comfortable mental platform—their historical experience. Executives who
come from operations are likely to be most concerned about efficiencies,
productivity, fixed assets, and supply chains. Executives who come out of
finance are likely to focus mostly on balance sheets, equity, operating ratios,
stock price, and the economy. This will be exacerbated to the extent their
contracts emphasize stock price (stockholders’ interests). Executives who
came out of marketing are more likely to focus on brand image, marketing
campaigns, raising the top line (revenues), and advertising. Focusing on
revenue generation is not necessarily wrong, it’s just that more revenues
without profits aren’t worth much. Focusing on productivity isn’t wrong,
unless it is at the expense of generating more revenues. I know of companies
who have managed their productivity into bankruptcy.
All of this is natural. People tend to be creatures of habit. People are
more comfortable talking about and dealing with issues they have dealt
with before. But becoming a general manager, an executive, demands a
balanced perspective and attention on ALL of the key forces at play. Exec-
utives who rely too heavily on their experience are likely to be blindsided
by issues and problems that lie outside their historical expertise.
Obviously, one way to overcome this tendency is to recruit experts
in the areas that one is not strong in to be a part of the management
team. Some people are better at this than others. Some are too proud
to admit that they might not know what’s going on or have an inti-
mate feel for what’s happening in the functional areas outside their past
expertise.
This is one reason I am a strong advocate of the MBA degree for any
manager and for any professor of business. Understanding the key issues
and dilemmas of all the 10 or more functional fields in a business (finance,
operations, accounting, marketing, strategy, human resources, leadership,
ethics, economics, decision analysis, communications) is essential, in my
mind and experience, to understanding how they all work together in
Understanding All the Forces at Play 17
an enterprise. Managers and teachers who rely too heavily on their func-
tional field at the expense of an understanding of how they integrate do
themselves and their organizations a disservice.
Imagine you were a doctor in a hospital emergency room (ER). Without
warning, a gurney is pushed into your service bay. There is a human lying
on the gurney. You have no background information, no medical history,
nothing other than the person lying in front of you. What do you look for?
Readers are not likely medical doctors, nevertheless, you have a m ental
theory about what doctors look for. Write that down here. What is your
semi-conscious ER triage model? (Note: We ask you your view before we share ours
in several chapters. We are inviting you to do your best thinking BEFORE you read about
ours. It’s too easy to not do that and then say, “oh I knew that.” )
It turns out that there are 13 systems that together create a fully
functioning human being. Not all of these are critical for immediate
survival, but many of them are. ER doctors will look for several things
immediately:
1. Is it conscious and communicative? Can it talk to me?

2. Is it breathing?
3. Is it leaking blood? Any wounds?
4. Is the brain functioning? Eye and nerve responsiveness?
5. Is the heart functioning? Pulse and blood pressure?
6. Are the kidneys producing water?
7. Is the nervous system responsive?
Lesser systems like urinary tract function, glandular function, sexual

function, and so on are important and can be considered after the critical
ones have been attended to and confirmed.
What’s your “ER TRIAGE” template for a company? That is, if you
were assigned to be the new CEO of a company without any prior knowl-
edge, what would be your “priors” about how to assess the health of that
organization? Write that down here.
Having asked this question of managers all over the world, it’s clear to
me that active managers with significant responsibilities have widely vary-
ing implicit models. When asked to put those models on paper, the dis-
crepancies between peoples’ models becomes obvious. Even just sharing
with one neighbor, most managers find things they had overlooked—and
they modify their models.
As a budding executive, you have an implicit model in your head. You
wrote it down in the box above. Did it include the following?
1. Financial Status: profitability, balance sheet stability, income state-

ment health.
2. Customer Value Proposition: What do we promise? How well do
we deliver on those promises?
3. Corporate Capabilities: Do we have the key capabilities needed
to deliver on those customer promises? Raw Materials? Transfor-
mation processes? Channel management? Public Awareness/brand
management?
4. Human Capital: What is the imaginary sum of what your people
can do? A stack of resumes is a poor estimate of this pool.
Understanding All the Forces at Play 19
5. Social Capital: How well do your people work together? How

much are they ensconced in functional, location, or program walls
and fiefdoms?
6. Organizational Capital: Are you organized to unleash your Human
Capital potential or to dampen it? Is your IT system up-to-date and
enabling or obsolete and hindering? How much bureaucracy do your
people have to fight through to get things done?
7. Executive Team: Do you have a high-powered team who can all
explain and are enthusiastic about your organizational charter? Do
their talents and skills balance each other?
8. Leadership: Who can see all of these things and explain how they
fit together? Who can describe without notes your mission, vision,
values, strategy, and short-term operating goals?
Did your list include all of these essential business health factors?
Would you/did you add anything else not subsumed by these categories?
Example
Walt Disney and his older brother, Roy, were a formidable force in the
entertainment industry. Walt had the vision and values clearly in mind
and could provide creative direction. Roy was more business oriented and
practically focused. A former banker, he helped Walt channel his creative
juices into a financially solid and sustainable corporation that has become
a giant in the entertainment world.
Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa had a similar relationship
as the Disney brothers, but one that expressed itself in the Japanese
and global automobile industries. Honda was, like Walt, the creative
force behind Honda (properly pronounced Hone-da, not Hawn-da)
directing its engineering and product development functions. Fuji-
sawa managed the financial side of the business—one that grew into a
global conglomerate with products in automobiles, lawn care, motor-
cycles, and other segments. Fujisawa was known for his motto, “always
tell the customer the truth,” a VABE that many executives today do
not behave.
Diagram
What’s your corporate ER Triage Assessment Model?
FINANCES
CUSTOMER VALUE
PROPOSITION
CORE CAPATILIBIES
TECHNOLOGY
INTANGIBLE ASSET POOLS

HC + SC + OC
Challenge
1. Start now to expand your understanding of the various forces in a

business, don’t wait until you hope to get promoted, do it now so
you are prepared and seen to be prepared.
2. Clarify your “take charge” map. Make sure it’s complete; test it with
others.
3. Use your “take charge” map with every new assignment. Analyze all
the factors in play and get into the habit of assessing them all in every
job even if you are assigned a narrow functional job. Refine your
map with every experience.
4. Identify people who understand the various elements of your “take
charge” map better than you do. Cultivate their wisdom by asking
them questions and for explanations of their answers.
5. Press yourself to understand so that you can explain easily the link-
ages between and among all of the elements in your take charge map.
Your ability to see how one function/system affects the whole will be
critical to your ability to manage a whole enterprise.
6. Don’t fake it. When you don’t know, say so, then go find out, then
add that insight to your box of wisdom. Remember, age is no guar-
antee of wisdom or judgment. Only those who learn from their
“happenings” in life are adding to their reservoir of wisdom.
6. The Courage to Act
Concept
The third step in the Leadership Point of View is the courage to act. There
are many people who can see what needs to be done. Most of them we call
journalists. They are out there every day writing about all the problems
they see and believe need attention. And there are many people out there
who are studying all the forces at play. We call most of them professors.
They are researching all kinds of issues and problems and reporting on
their findings in a vast number of journals and books.
But people who have the courage to act are not so common, and the
reason is the fear of rejection. Humans have had really only one major
form of punishment throughout our history: exclusion. When people
misbehave, we generally remove them from our society. We send our kids
to their rooms. We send thieves to jail. We excommunicate people who
don’t follow the church’s rules. We ignore those not in our clique. We
meet in secret.
Over the millennia, humans have learned to conform or be excluded.
We banded together to survive and thrive. And every group had rules.
Every group today has rules. Things you can do and things you cannot do
and still maintain your membership in the group. So we all have learned
to do what is expected of us or risk being put out of the group. We will
address this more in the chapter on Living Inside-Out versus Outside-in.
For now, though, realize that many—if not most—managers are
afraid. They are afraid of censure and doing something that will offend the
group. Some, a few, are so unconcerned about the judgment of others that
they behave so unusually or outrageously as to not attract many followers.
The effective executive has cultivated an inner boldness in which he or she
can stretch the boundaries of what has been expected and accepted in the
past while still maintaining enough traditional behavior as to not offend
the majority of followers.
That said, no one can predict the exact outcomes of their attempts to
lead. Leaders must believe in what they do—in fact, deep down, they all
believe in what they do or they wouldn’t do it. And we never know for sure
that what we do will work out, will win the day, or lead the organization
to success.
This is a great and powerful dilemma for executives: if you don’t

act, you will be seen as a past-promoting bureaucrat. If you act and fail,
you will be seen as a bad leader. Effective leaders have the courage to
overcome the fear of rejection, what some call the fear of failure, and
act. They are not paralyzed by their analyses of all the forces at play,
rather they are galvanized by them. Analyses give them greater confi-
dence in their decisions.
Of course, deciding and implementing are two different things. But
the decision to act must come first. Skill and wisdom in the how’s of
implementation are also important—a topic for another chapter.
Pause and think about how much you fear the judgments of others.
And which others. Is your fear high medium or low? I doubt that it is
non-existent. Some concern for the acceptance of others is essential to all
good leaders. And in the end, effective leaders recognize that they must
overcome whatever trepidation they may have about the uncertainty of
the future and act. They do everything they can to gather the information
they need to make reasonable judgments, they consider all of the options,
and at last, they must exercise courage and do something.
Finally, note that bluster, impulsiveness, and foolhardiness are not
the same as courage. Fools may indeed rush in where wise men fear to
tread. Wise men will have done their homework, prepared, analyzed,
utilized all their skills, and the skills of their advisors, and then with
the odds stacked in their favor, proceed with confidence in the face of
possible failure.
Example
Vijay Singh, the professional golfer once said that confidence doesn’t
come from winning, rather confidence comes from hard work and win-
ning comes from confidence. His point is a powerful one. To have cour-
age, one must have done one’s homework and believe that that homework
(whether it’s mental or physical) has prepared them to perform. If you
are untrained in martial arts and walking down the street, you may be,
rightfully, fearful. If you have trained for years and are confident in your
skills, you can walk down the street with some confidence. This confi-
dence radiates from your being; people can sense it.
The Courage to Act 23
Diagram
Risk Rejection
or Not
?
COURAGE
Challenge
Courage is difficult to assess in the absence of a history of decisions. And

it is something one can develop. Perhaps these exercises will help.
1. Consider how much of your life you live in fear of rejection. How
much does how you dress, speak, and act reflect your own desires or
the expectations of others?
2. Consider how much of your self-esteem depends on the judgments of
others. How much do you define your value and worth by the feed-
back you get from others? If you care too much, you will be paralyzed.
If you care too little, you will be seen as marginal and be rejected.
3. Identify people in your organization who you think have the right
balance of conformity and innovation. How do they behave? How
do they dress? What is different about them? What can you emulate
and learn from them?
4. What is your weakest aspect? What can you do to make it a strength?
Are you willing to do that?
5. What are your greatest fears? What would it take to overcome them?
Again, are you willing to do that?
7. Leadership and Problems
Concept
What is the job of a leader? Take a minute, think about that question and
note your answer.
For a long time, leaders were expected to solve problems. They were
thought to be better educated, better prepared, better able to figure out
what needed to be done.
As organizations became more complex, the problem became find-
ing the problems. Then, the issue for leadership was how do I found
out what needs to be fixed before it becomes a big problem? Internal
information systems, that is, the ones the leaders used were critical to
this effort. If the systems didn’t capture or highlight issues that would
become problems, however, the leaders might not know about the budding
problems.
When leaders identified and tried to fix problems, they often ran
into a bigger problem—resistance of the organization to the intended
solutions. Habits, in the aggregate as organizational culture, often
resisted making changes in the way we do things.
As organizations became larger and larger and the importance of
the momentum of organizational culture became better understood,
Hal Leavitt at Stanford and others suggested that maybe the job of
leadership was to create problems. In other words, if the times are
Leadership and Problems 25
changing and the organization is not responding, perhaps leaders

needed to help their organizations realize and respond to problems,
creating perhaps significant emotional events (SEEs) as described by
Morris Massey (The People Puzzle) half a century ago.
For many manager-leaders, this was a disturbing thought. How can
my job be to create problems for my people? How can I turn a herd of
buffalo from one direction to another? (Flight of the Buffalo) Standing at
the back and shouting won’t do it.
Did you think of the leader’s job in terms of problem finding, solving,
and creating? If so, you’re not alone. Many others have the same view,
even today.
But do you even know what a problem is? More on this in the next
chapter.
Example
Mike Beer, a colleague at the Harvard Business School, once wrote, “…

the starting point of any effective change effort is a clearly defined business
problem.”
If leaders and managers couldn’t find and solve problems, what else
would they do?
Diagram
Problems:
One Source of Change
“…the starting point of any effective change effort
is a clearly defined business problem.”
Beer, Eisenstadt , Spector – Why change programs don’t produce change. HBR
What problems do you SEE?

What kind of problem is strong enough to motivate
you to initiate change?
Source: https://hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6421
Leadership and Problems
LEADERSHIP ACTIVITY Questions Answers
Problem Solving Old New
Problem Finding New Old
Problem Creating New New

Source: Adapted from Pathfinding by Harold Leavitt, Stanford GBS, 1995
https://google.com/search?q=images+hal+leavitt&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjniprKybzuAhW
HK98KHW4WCmMQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=images+hal+leavitt&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoC
CAA6BQgAELEDOgYIABAIEB5QscIEWI_cBGC3ggVoAHAAeACAAT-IAfMEkgECMT-
GYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=VpoRYOeHL4fX_AburKiY
Bg&bih=578&biw=1366&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS910US910#imgrc=AYhPmgFHEHReIM
Challenge
1. Review your description of the leadership job with the text and make
some notes about the differences.
2. What do you think a leader should do if not find and solve problems?
3. What’s your definition of a problem? Write that down.
4. Reflect on how much of your time at work is spent on finding and
solving problems. (If you are in customer complaints/service, this
may be really simple.)
8. What’s a “Problem?”
Concept
If you believe that leadership has something to do with finding, solving,

and creating problems, then, I guess, you should understand what a problem
is. What’s your definition?
Hmmm. So, if you said something like “an obstacle to what you
want,” consider first “who’s the you?” That is, if you asked the CEO, the
VP of HR, the SVP of Marketing, and the CFO what the problems in
the company were, would they agree? Probably, not. There would be vari-
ation in their answers. So the first challenge in identifying problems is to
identify the key players in a situation. Can you list the stakeholders in a
situation? Not 20 or 30 people, but the five or six people or groups of
people who have an investment in the issue. This is an important part of
seeing what needs to be done as described earlier.
The second step in identifying problems is figuring out accurately
what those stakeholders want. In my experience, it turns out that “what
do you want?” is a very difficult question. I once taught a second year
MBA elective titled “What Do You Want?” to help graduating students
figure out, before they hit the 40 year grind, what they were working
for: Wealth? Power? Fame? Happy Family? Salvation? Good Health?
Big Houses? Fine Cuisine? And so on. Most people struggle with that
question—and believe that it will change from decade to decade. How
well do 10 year habits change, I ask?
If you don’t know what some key players want, perhaps you should go
ask them. It’s a good way to build relationships, offer your help, and fill
out your organizational understanding—realizing of course that (a) they
may not know and (b) they may not tell you the real things.
Then, you can construct a simple T-account sheet for each stakeholder
and list out their problems. The WANTS are the debit side and you can
note their GOTs on the credit side. If there is no gap between what one
wants and what one has, then there’s no problem. Only where there are
want-got gaps are there problems. Yes/no?
Thus, problems are want-got-gaps for somebody.
Problems can be big ones, little ones, false ones, red herrings … there
are all kinds of problems. We want to see the big and relevant ones to the
business situation we are in, yes?
Example
Here are a couple of simple examples. George wants to be on budget, but

by the end of the third quarter, he’s $20,000 behind. We could diagram
it like this:
GEORGE
WANTS GOTS
To be on budget -$20,000
Likewise, Mary wants to be promoted but the job went to someone

else:
MARY
WANTS GOTS
To be promoted Sandra got the job
You can see how we could easily develop these little T-accounts one
for each stakeholder and analyze their situation and how it is contributing
to our current situation.
This exercise requires one to see the world through other people’s eyes.
We have to let go of what we think they should want or what we would
What’s a “Problem?” 29
want and see the other persons’ points of view. This also enhances our
ability to see what needs to be done described earlier.
Finally, there is always the universal or Providential or consultant’s
point of view. We can look at a situation and try to think what an expert
with total information would want in this situation.
ABC Consulting
WANTS GOTS
Client to have strong leadership Weak leader
You can get a quick topographical map of your team’s problems by

using this technique making one T-account sheet for each person. And
you may need to practice the empathy needed to make an accurate d
isplay
as shown in the second diagram below.
Diagram
The Structure of Problems:

Want-Got Gaps for Someone
1. Stakeholder
2. WANT 3. GOT
Gap?
What are the problems here?

(LPV #1. Do you SEE what needs to be done?)
Boss Subordinate Work Associates Family
Want Got Want Got Want Got
Want Got
Universal “US”
Want Got
Challenge
1. Make a T-account list of your problems

2. Make a T-account list of your boss’s problems
3. Make a T-account list of your significant other’s problems
4. Make a T-account Providential list of your company’s problems
5. If you are in a team or leading a team, make a list of your team
member’s problems as best you know them. What’s missing? What
do you need to learn?
9. The Problem with Problems
Concept
Wait a minute! There is a problem with problems. The problem with

problems is that if you view your job, consciously or unconsciously, as
finding and solving problems you are living outside-in. Someone else is
driving your agenda. In this mode, you are in a reactive frame of mind,
responding to issues that others have created.
Problem response is not all bad. Clearly, we have to deal with obstacles
to what we want. And some problems are potentially lethal. Being able to
sort out, to see, the difference between small problems and big problems
is important. But how does one make those judgments? If we make those
judgments based on our elephant, our Level Three VABEs, we may be
making dysfunctional decisions.
But the big issue with problems is that a focus on them put us in a
reactionary, outside-in frame of mind. And in that, we yield to the world
around us the driving focus of our work.
The other issue with problem solving is that a focus on the problem
often leads to short-term results that don’t attend to the deeper sources
of the problem. This short-term perspective can lead to a false sense of
security. Take dieting for example. The problem is we want to be lighter
(deeper, feel better), so we diet. We lose a few pounds and we are hungry.
We fight the feelings, and for most of us, we think, “Ah, I’ve lost a few
pounds, one piece of toast with honey won’t matter THAT much.” We
don’t notice any change, so we have another piece of toast. Or a bit of ice
cream. Then we gain weight, and we are back where we started. Efforts to
change have a certain negative resiliency—we tend to spring back to our
former comfort zone.
This oscillation, back and forth, is a characteristic of efforts to solve
problems: we work on them for a while, show a little results, feel good
about it, relax, and go backward. In business, I have seen oscillations as
companies swing back and forth from growth versus contraction, product
focus versus customer focus, internal versus acquisition growth, centralized
versus de-centralized, and more.
Example
Consider the company, let’s call them Super Satellite Corporation, who
built some of the world’s most sophisticated satellites. Their focus on
quality gave them a high cost structure. Eventually, that cost structure
eroded their profit picture. So the board hired a new CEO known for his
ability to manage costs. Immediately, the new administration began to
implement cost-cutting measures. These measures were draconian and
even included the requirement that cross-country flights would include
at least one stop in the mid-West in order to get cheaper tickets. Even-
tually, those cost cutting measures cut so much fat out of the company
that it couldn’t function—and it went bankrupt. Surely there were other
reasons for that result—and the focus on solving that one problem, the
high cost structure meant that other issues of greater importance were
neglected.
I know another organization that went back to its original organiza-
tion after five years of moving to a new organization. Can you imagine
the amount of energy and productivity that was lost by making those
changes?
Diagrams
There is a problem with Problem Solving:

OSCILLATION
Recognizing the problem leads to action to
solve the problem
Leads to less intensity of the problem
Leads to less action to solve the problem
Leads to the problem remaining
False sense of security: you know just what you
If you didn’t have problems, what would you
think about? How would you spend your time?
What drives the action is the intensity of the
problem REACTIVE OSCILLATION.
Source: Adapted from Robert Fritz, The Path of Least Resistance.

The Problem with Problems 33
Structural Conflict leads to Oscillation

TENSION RESOLUTION
Hunger Eat
Overweight Diet
Source: Adapted from Robert Fritz, The Path of Least Resistance.
Organizational Oscillation
drains energy
Centralize Decentralize
Customer Focus Geography Focus
Grow Contract
Acquire Organic Sales
Diversify Stick to Knitting
Challenge
1. Identify as many oscillations as you can in your own life. Include the
opposing end points of the oscillations.
2. Identify as many oscillations as you can in your organization. What
has been the impact on the organizational culture and energy level
of those oscillations?
3. Identify the main problems in your life. Note who created them.
4. Identify the main problems in your organization. Who do you think
created them?
5. How much of your time do you spend each day working on prob-
lems created by others? What percent of your time is devoted to
these problems?
10. Leader as Creator
Concept
As we noted in the last chapter, the problem with a problem-oriented

approach to leadership is that it is fundamentally reactive, outside-in.
When one takes a problem oriented approach to leadership one lets the
outside world set one’s agenda and strategy. There is some theoretic basis
for this. Organizations who can adapt to changes taking place in the
world around them are more likely to survive. Darwin noted that it’s not
the strongest organism that survives, it’s the most adaptable.
At the same time, depending on what problems that the world presents
to you that the leader responds to, one may be doing exactly the wrong,
and short-sighted thing.
The alternative, outlined by Robert Fritz in his book The Path of Least
Resistance, is to take the point of view of artists like authors, sculptors, and
painters—to create. Fritz’s compelling logic is that problem solving leads
to reactive oscillation, which we discussed in the last chapter.
Jung argued that none of the major problems in life could ever be
solved, they were only supplanted by other more important life forces.
This is a powerful idea. Rather than focusing on solving problems, why
not focus on creating a bigger, more powerful force?
The creative force is one such force.
Fritz’s approach begins with an accurate assessment of the situation at
the moment. This is akin to Jim Collins’s “confront the brutal facts” in Good
to Great. Jack Welch proposed a similar VABE in Control Your Destiny when
he wrote “accept reality as it is, not as it was nor as you wish it were.”
The second step in Fritz’s plan is to create a vision of where you want
to be. This is a key step. You cannot buy a vision. Well, you could perhaps
from a consulting firm. But then you wouldn’t be leading, you’d be the
executor, the implementer not the creator/author. Fritz’s notion here is
that like a composer, an artist, or a sculptor, you see in your mind’s eye
what you want to do, what you want to build, and then you begin to
make it happen.
Actually, Fritz would say, just let it sit there. If you want it bad enough,
it will grow on you and begin to shape your behavior. You will begin study-
ing how to make it happen. You will run into obstacles (problems), but
they won’t be much more than speed bumps. Like the aikido principle of
leading energy beyond the point of contact,1 you will be extending your
view beyond the immediate problems and with a direction and a focus.
So, one alternative to the problem-oriented leadership approach is the
creative approach. The core question here is “what do you want to cre-
ate?” If you can’t answer that question, with regard to your own life, your
current responsibilities or your organization, perhaps you’re not ready yet
for the leadership role.
Example
What is the energy difference between organizations that want to make as

much money as they can and those that seek to serve a particular customer base?
Consider, for example, the goal of Google, “to organize all the world’s
information.”2 Truck load after truck load of books checked out of
Stanford libraries being scanned into a gigantic database that will digitize
as much of the world’s written wisdom as possible. Here is one example
of a clear desire to create something: a digital, online available library of
all the world’s books.
PROBLEMS CREATION
Reduce Pollution Create a healthy living environment
Increase Profits Create a sustainable company
Hire (Fire) more people Create a flexible company
Gain Control Create a responsive company
Raise the Stock Price Create lasting contribution to society
Lay Brick Create a Cathedral
Increase Membership Create an attractive learning company
1
In aikido, one strives to meet (ai) or merge with the opponent’s energy or force
(ki), and then lead that force in a different direction. The point of contact between
opponents is often the focus in other martial arts like boxing or taekwondo. Focusing
on that point can produce lots of power and a more powerful opponent can then
win. By focusing beyond the point of impact, one can often turn the opponent’s
force in a new direction and ultimately throw them to the ground.
2
http://voanews.com/a/google-plans-to-put-all-the-worlds-books-online-
80427622/416834.html
Leader as Creator 37
Diagrams
“Problems” are Insolvable

“All of the greatest and most important
problems of life are fundamentally
insoluble…they can never be solved, but only
outgrown. This “out growth” proved on
further investigation to require a new level of
consciousness. One higher or wider interest
appeared on the patient’s horizon, and
through this broadening of his or her outlook,
the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was
not solved logically in its own terms, but
faded when confronted with a new and
stronger life urge.”
-- Carl Jung
Source: https://google.com/search?q=images+carl+jung&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjG75Hyy
bzuAhVxneAKHYJsDBIQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=images+carl+jung&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAz-
IGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB4yBggAEAgQHjoCCAA6BAgAEB46BggAEAUQHlCQmA
ZY9KMGYKCrBmgAcAB4AIABTogBqASSAQE5mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfA
AQE&sclient=img&ei=qpoRYMbyH_G6ggeC2bGQAQ&bih=578&biw=1366&rlz=1C1G
CEB_enUS910US910#imgrc=mn9mpBrw6BoPMM
Fritz’s Alternative to Problem Orientation:

Orient to the Creative Process
1. Describe accurately where you are
(Collins’ “confront the brutal facts”)
What do
2. Make a vision of what you want to create
with your life/work. you
Make sure it’s something you want so bad, you
are magnetically attracted to it. want
3. Formally choose the result you want.
to
create?
4. Move on (if you really want it, you will naturally
‘flow’ in that direction.)
Challenge
1. What are you trying to create in your life?

2. What are you trying to create at work?
3. Practice thinking every day on your way into work, “What am I
going to create today?”
11. Power and Leadership
Concept
There is, I say, a difference between power and leadership. All leadership
exerts power, but not all power is leadership. Power is the ability to get
others to do what you want them to do. So while leadership is to varying
degrees powerful, some people with lots of power are not leaders. I say
that because in my view leadership consists of the ability and the willing-
ness to influence others so that they respond voluntarily. Without a vol-
untary response, we cannot call it leadership. It may be the use of power,
or the abuse of power, but it’s not leadership.
In order to understand more about power and leadership and the
relation between them, let us first consider power and its sources.
French and Raven (1959) identified five sources of power: legitimate,
coercive, reward, expertise, and referent. Legitimate power means one
has the title, the legal authority to influence. Legitimate power accrues
to people who hold offices like chief executive, president, director,
bishop, don, or any other recognized title of leadership will have some
power simply because they hold the office, regardless of their personal
abilities. They may or may not be effective leaders. People who rely
on their titles to influence others are not developing their leadership
skills, they are simply exerting power given to their offices. The under-
lying assumption related to legitimate power is something like “You
must do what I say because I am the <fill in the box>.” When par-
ents say, do what I say “because I’m your father,” they are relying on
legitimate power.
Coercive power comes from the ability to threaten or hurt others so
that they are forced to comply or in looser terms, follow. People will do
what coercive people ask because they fear them. Threatening people with
bodily harm, financial harm, the loss of their jobs, harm to their families
or any other kind of harm are employing coercive power. The underlying
assumption for such people is something like “I can and will hurt you
unless you do what I ask.” Sadly, for many people, coercive power is their
primary means of influencing others.
Reward power refers to influence developed from exchange. If person
A offers person B something that person B wants, they have influence
Power and Leadership 39
over them. Most for-profit enterprises operate heavily on reward power,

offering employees wages to do things they otherwise might not do. Parents
often use this source of power too when they offer candy, toys, trips, or
money to their children when they perform in a particular way. Rewards
or exchanges only have influence when the “leader” offers something the
other person wants.
Expertise power flows from a person’s knowledge or skill in an area
that someone else admires or wants. We listen to experts when they
speak, and we listen more intently when they are experts in an area of
importance to us. We may admire experts in fields unrelated to our own
interests, but are not likely to model them. We are more likely to model
or emulate people who are experts in areas that we value whether it be
finance, sports, music, or careers.
Referent power is more ethereal. Referent power depicts the influence
a person has over another who wants to be like them. While this may
seem similar to expertise power, referent power has more to do with sta-
tus and condition than expertise. We allow famous people or rich people
or celebrity people to influence us because internally we want to be like
them, to join their clubs, to go out in their circles, to bask in their pres-
ence, and in some sense feed off their beings. We may not want to do
what they do or even know how they do it (expertise power), but we do
want to be included in their circles.
TRADITIONAL BASES OF POWER

LEGITIMATE Based on you “legal” title, position of office (bureau)
COERCION Based on your ability to hurt, intimidate, inflict pain, or punish
EXPERTISE Based on your knowledge and expertise
REWARD Based on your ability to give people something they want
REFERENT Based on your status, fame, position, and the adoration of others
As suggested, power is not a necessary or sufficient condition for the

emergence of leadership. Here, we distinguish power from leadership
in the following ways to help shed insights into relationship between
the two.
Power is not leadership. The five sources of power as articulated above
are an example of one of the three identifiable forms of power: power-over.
The other two forms of power refer to power-to3 and power-from4 respectively.
Power-over usually derives from an individual’s position in a time and place
that is regarded as superior over others (see Hollander and Offermann
1990). The basis for this form of power is also defined as the more or less
enduring relationship between the leader and the led, which gives rise to the
power in the first instance (e.g., French 1956). Power does not require goal
compatibility. It only requires dependence. A leader’s dependence on this
form of power can lead to the undermining of relationships with followers.
This form of power also takes as its starting point the notion of goal incon-
gruence between leaders and followers: that the person with power and the
person subject to it have incompatible objectives (Tjosvold, Andrews, and
Struthers,5 Group and Organizational Management, September 1, 1991).
Leadership in my view has three components: ability, willingness,
and a voluntary response. Leadership ability refers to the capacity for
influencing others. Leaders use a variety of, a mix of, power sources to
influence others. People have different skills sets and may employ at dif-
ferent times and in different ways and in different strengths various mixes
of legitimate, coercive, reward, expertise, and referential influences. The
larger one’s overall mix of influence skills is, the more powerful they are.
That does not mean in my experience that everyone with those skills
will be eager, willing, to use them. I have met many people who would
make good leaders but just don’t want to do it. The reasons they offer
include “not wanting to play god and muck around in people’s lives,”
“fear of doing the wrong thing,” “timid personality,” and others. The pres-
ident of our university once stated that he was looking for a new dean
for one of our schools and had two candidates, one who did not want
the job. It seemed obvious to him and to us that while a person might be
well equipped to lead, they may or may not want to be put in a leadership
position. Again, note that those in formal positions of authority have
3
Power-to suggests the empowerment of followers or the sharing of power with
followers.
4
Power-from is the ability to resist the power of others by effectively fending off
their unwanted demands. It can also be seen as having the ability to protect oneself.
Power and Interdependence in Work Groups: Views of Managers and
5
Employees,
Power and Leadership 41
some legitimate authority but may or may not be effective overall lead-
ers. Incumbents we can call accurately and conservatively authoritors.
Whether they are or can develop into leaders is an open question.
In leadership, rights are voluntarily conferred. This implies that leaders
must be able to elicit voluntary response in others. As such, if a person has
the skill set and the willingness to apply that skill set, the final element
of real leadership is whether or not the intended followers choose to fol-
low. Without that choice, how can we say the person is in fact leading as
opposed to dictating? Are dictators leaders? Looking through historical and
power lenses, perhaps. In the modern world, in my view, unless there’s a
voluntary response, you cannot call it leadership.
Power
is the
ability to get
others to do
what you want
them to do.
(outside-in)
Leadership is …
1. The ability to influence others, and
2. The willingness to influence others
3. So that they respond voluntarily.
(inside-out)
4. with positive energy!

Challenges
1. How do people exert power over you?

2. How do you exert power over others? Whom and how?
3. Which of the sources of power do you respect/admire the most?
4. Write down your list of favorite leaders—current and historical.
What kinds of power did they use?
5. What kinds of power did your parents use on you?
6. How has that affected your own influence style?
12. The Diamond Model of Leadership
Concept
What’s YOUR mental map of leadership? Do you have one? Take a

moment and draw out your current thinking about what leadership is.
What are the key elements? How do they relate to each other? Take a
clean sheet of paper and sketch out your current formed or fuzzy model
of leadership. C’mon, give me your best shot! After you do yours, I will
share mine. No cheating now. It doesn’t count if you say, “ah, I knew that”
after the fact.
Leadership, I think, has several key components. These include per-

sonal characteristics of the leader, personal characteristics of the follow-
ers, something about the challenges the leader faces, something about
the organizational context in which the leader is working, and, of
course, something about results. If we simplify for the sake of a diagram,
we have L for leader, E for employees/relationships/followers, S for
strategic story, O for organization, and R for results.
A few thoughts about each element and the linkages between them.
First, personal characteristics of the leader would seem to be obviously
important. How you present yourself, how you speak, how you think,
your priorities, your style, your beliefs about the way the world works, all
of these things and more will contribute to or detract from your ability
to influence others. Henry Mintzberg, a leadership guru, among others
thinks that reflection or self-knowledge is one of the most important lead-
ership characteristics. While we haven’t identified a set of personal traits
that define the effective leader (although many have tried for decades),
clearly who you are makes a difference in your ability to lead. The big
question here is “Who are you?”
Second, what do you believe you should spend your limited time and
energy on? From all the possible options in the world of things screaming
for your time and attention, which ones do you choose? How do you
make that decision? I call this vision in the sense that people will work on
things they think are important because they want to create something.
Leaders have visions of what they want to do. What are yours? The link-
age between you and your visions we could call your strategic thought
patterns. The answer to the question “what’s important to you to work
on?” defines your strategic story. People want to know, if they are going to
follow, “What’s your story?”
Third, what are the characteristics of the people you intend to lead?
What do you know about them? Where do they come from? What do they
want? How can you get energy out of them? A leader without followers is
of course no leader. So, now the question is, “Can you sell your story to
others?” You may have a good story, but if you can’t sell it, you won’t have
any followers. Further, if your story is weak, the bond between followers
and strategy will be weak and diffuse as will the energy of the followers.
The fourth element in my mental map is the organization. You may
know who you are, you may have a story to tell, and you may be good
at telling it, but if you are laboring in a moribund, contradictory energy-
draining organization, you won’t likely be able to accomplish your goals.
Also, if the organization if poorly designed, followers won’t bind to it,
loyalty will be low, and commitment will waiver. The importance of this
element in leadership implies that good leaders are organizational archi-
tects. They know how to mobilize and organize their followers so that
their energies are focused on the strategic vision. The question here is,
“What’s your design?”
All of these elements taken together—the leader, the vision, the
followers, and the organization—produce some kind of results, good,
The Diamond Model of Leadership 45
bad, or otherwise. Most people think only of financial results. Profits are
important, but they are not the only thing. In today’s inter-connected
world, results means we look not only at profits but also at long-term
profits and that means we have to consider the impact of the leadership
elements on the surrounding society, on the environment and on the
sustainability of the enterprise. You probably have strong feelings about
this assertion; most people do. If you’re interested, there are a number of
additional places you can look for more information.
The south-west axis represents the strength of the bond between
employees and the organization. That bond is a function of several things
including employee VABEs and organizational designs.
Finally, note that the south-east axis in the diamond shaped model
below indicates the need to lead change. By the time you have figured
out who you are, what your vision is, convinced others to follow you,
and designed the right organization, the world has moved, things have
changed. To lead, you have to be a leader of change. The mere fact of
having a vision means you have to get from here to there, and that’s
change.
Diagram
So, my basic mental map of leadership looks like this.
Elements in Effective Leadership

1. Who are ENVIRONMENT
3. Can you you?
“sell” your
2. What’s
story?
L your
“story?”
RESULTS
E S
4. Does your
organization
help or O 5. Can you 6. Can you convert
hinder? lead change intangible assets into
to keep up? tanigble results?
How does this compare with your mental map? What am I missing?
What are you missing? Are there ways we could combine our models into
a more accurate joint model?
Challenge
1. What things in your model must come together to produce good

leadership results?
2. Do you believe that who you are makes a difference in your ability
to lead?
3. Write a one sentence description of who you are.
4. Do you think a person can lead (not manage) without a strategic
story?
5. Where would you like to take people?
6. Can you sell your story? What methods would you use to convince
others to follow you?
7. Can you design an organization that will help not hinder your efforts
to accomplish your vision?
8. Can you lead change? Do you understand the change process? Are
you a change master?
13. Choice and Obligation
Concept
Imagine a continental divide between two lands, the Land of Choice and
the Land of Obligation. When a person goes from the Land of Choice to
the Land of Obligation, what happens?
What happens to energy level—up, flat, or down?

What happens to productivity—up, flat, or down?
What happens to innovation—up, flat, or down?
What happens to adaptability—up, flat, or down?
You pick your dimension, when people go from choice to obligation,
bad things happen.
Some will say, “Wait a minute, many of us choose our obligations, like
military service or marriage or children.” Yes, AND review in one’s mind
the current thoughts about those previous choices. When we go from “I
chose to do this” to “I have to do this,” what happens to our energy, pro-
ductivity, invention, and so on? Even though we made the choice, if we
forget why we made that choice and simply view an activity or condition
as an obligation, that mindset produces a reduction in positive emotions
and behavior. Yes/no?
Example
Now, pick a typical work day. On your way into work, what is your most
common, dominant thought?
Most people from my experience asking this question all around

the world will say, “What do I have to do today?” Notice the obliga-
tory nature of that thought. Doug Newburg first brought this to my
attention. I assert that this self-imposed obligation is an energy draining
event. It puts us in an obligatory mindset right at the beginning of the
day. Because this thought is so common and so pervasive, it has become
non-conscious for most people. This Level Two (Conscious Thought) habit
(unthinkingly repetitive) is an energy drainer.
What’s the alternative? “What do I want to do today?” or better
“What do I want to create today?” Merely shifting one’s thinking from
obligation to choice infuses more energy, creativity, and excitement into
our minds—and behavior.
Diagram
What happens when one crosses the

divide between choice and obligation?
Energy?
Productivity?
Creativity?
Innovation
Engagement?
Commitment?
Buy-In?
CHOICE
OBLIGATION
Challenge
1. I encourage you to think consciously about your thoughts at the begin-

ning of each day. Are you putting yourself mindlessly into an obligatory
mindset and perhaps unwittingly reducing your own energy level?
2. Can you develop a new and more productive habit of learning to
think habitually, “what do I want to create today?”
3. How much of your life do you live in obligation?
4. How do you reconcile your daily lifestyle and energy with the obliga-
tions that you chose? For example, marriage, parenting, mortgages,
military service, jobs taken, and so on.
14. Inside-Out or Outside-In
Concept
One question for would-be leaders to consider is “how much of your life
do you live outside-in?” The outside world is everything outside of you.
The inside world is everything inside of you. We live outside-in (OI) when
we censor what we do (Level One Visible Behavior) because of our con-
cerns about what others might think or say.
What others think and say is an important consideration. The ability
of humans to work together has been a major factor in the success of the
race. At the same time, living OI means fitting in, conforming, and obey-
ing the rules of the group. We obey the rules of the group because of the
fear of rejection. The fear of rejection is one of the main ways that humans
have had to control the behavior of others.
The alternative is obviously to live inside-out (IO). When we live
inside-out, we are willing to assert our point of view for the consideration
of others. Consider a scale of inside-outness (on the left in the accompa-
nying diagram) ranging from zero to 100 percent. At the bottom of the
scale lie cowards, doormats, spineless, wishy-washy people with no opin-
ions of their own, timid folks who always do what others say. At the top
of the scale are self-centered, ego-centric, narcissistic SOBs.
Now, I invite you to consider two questions. The first is, “how much
of your life do you live outside-in?” In other words, how often do you
consciously or semi-consciously think “they won’t like that” or “they
won’t approve of that” or “that’s not how we’re supposed to do things”
before you speak or act? I know it varies from situation to situation, AND
make an estimate on average how often you live outside-in. The inverse of
course is your average life pressure inside-out.
Second question: “if you wanted to be a leader in society, where
should your behavior be on the inside-out scale?” After some reflection
and discussion, most managers worldwide, in my experience, would say
in the third quartile, somewhere between 50 and 75 percent. By this they
mean that good leaders should be willing to listen to others and yet on
average are in the majority willing to assert their points of view.
I think that most people underestimate how much they live outside-in.
And that is not all bad. Living OI is after all the basis for society. Without
obedience to group norms, we couldn’t cooperate or form societies. We

rely on people to obey the law, to obey the speed limit, to listen to our
community leaders in order to expect that things will move along in an
orderly fashion. Those who don’t obey—we chastise, send to their rooms,
fine, imprison, or even kill.
Too much conformity however leads to a perpetuation of yesterday
and a lack of innovation and progress.
Example
James Joyce in his anthology, Dubliners, tells a short story entitled “Clay.”
The young woman in that story has no opinions of her own. Every group
she is in, every conversation she is in, she constantly tries to mold her
views to fit those of the people around her. She is a social clay. She is living
outside-in. I know a woman who lived her life like that. She was married
to a man who had strong, uncompromising VABEs. At lunch once, this
woman was sitting on the inside of the booth and asked her husband to
let her out to go to the bathroom. He said, “No, you can wait ’til I’ve
finished my lunch.” And she complied. This woman was also living her
life outside-in.
Diagram
The Conformity / Leader Dilemma

100%
Assertiveness OUTSIDE
50%
FEAR OF
INSIDE REJECTION
0%
Inside-Out or Outside-In 51
Challenge
1. So, my invitation here is to reflect on how much you conform and

how much you assert your point of view (if you have one).
2. Of course, if you don’t have a point of view on any particular issue,
you will be consigned to the role of listener absorbing OI what
others have to say.
3. A key element in leading is the development of new thoughts, new
possibilities, and new action. That requires homework, study, reflection,
analysis, and conclusions.
4. And the willingness to test the boundaries of what others think is
right, correct, and acceptable.
5. How often do you strive to fit in as opposed to shape the environment
around you?
6. How often do you allow others to express their opinions? Are you
living too much inside-out?
7. Whose rejection do you fear?
8. Can one expect to live a life without rejection?
9. How should one handle rejection?
15. Buy-In
Concept
When you ask someone to do something, you could get a variety of

responses. These responses, what many business managers call buy-in,
range in analog not binary fashion from outright revolt to passionate
acceptance. Consider the following possibilities:
At level 7 (see chart below), people might respond to your request
with active resistance. This is the stuff of strikes, rebellion, revolt, and
active antagonism. People who fight what you want are resisting you.
They may organize a union, sue you, or do what they can in the market-
place to undermine you and your company.
At level 6, people might respond with passive resistance. They don’t
fight you, but they go slow, lose the paperwork, drop a wrench in the
gears, or drag their feet. Passive resistors are not willing to stand up and be
counted, but they are willing to slyly sabotage the works. Passive resistors
are a sea anchor drag on an organization.
At level 5, people can manifest apathy, they just don’t care what
you say or do. This often comes up in organizations where the senior
leadership changes regularly but the lower levels continue on, such as
large bureaucracies and civil organizations. They have seen leaders come
and go, they know that each is trying to make their resume look good,
and they know that “this, too, shall pass.” So, they just continue doing
what they have been doing, ignoring the leadership. Apathetic people
keep their heads down, do just what they need to get by, and create a
culture of mediocrity.
At level 4, we get a condition that I detest, compliance. Compliance
means that people say they will do what you ask and all the while they are
looking for ways around the rule or request. They say “yes,” and then they
look for ways to get around the rule. Compliant workers obey the letter
of the “law” but not the spirit.
At level 3 we have agreement where the person says, “I will do what
you ask me to do without reservation.” They may not be energetic or
enthusiastic, but they are willing to do the thing you ask.
At level 2, we have engagement where people not only agree to do what
you ask, but they are actively and positively disposed to do it. They have a
Buy-In 53
positive value for what you ask them to do. People with engagement want
to do what you ask.
At level 1, we have passion where the person says or thinks or believes
that what you ask them to do is the most important thing in life and they
will sacrifice evenings, weekends, exercise, relationships, and vacations in
order to strive to accomplish what you ask. They might even blow themselves
up for what you ask.
BUY-IN
1. Passion What you ask is the #1 thing in my life.
2. Engagement I want to do what you ask.
3. Agreement Okay. I will do what you ask.
I will do what you ask but I will be looking for loopholes
4. Compliance
and ways around it all the time.
I really don’t care what you ask one way or the other.
5. Apathy
Odds are I will be here after you’re gone.
I don’t like what you ask, so I will go slow, make
6. Passive Resistance
mistakes, maybe lose some paperwork.
I hate what you ask and I am going to fight you, maybe
7. Active Resistance drop a wrench in the works, sabotage you or form a
union.
We can think of this scale as an energy scale with the neutral line lying
between apathy and compliance. The responses above that line are levels
of increasing positive energy, the responses below that line are levels of
increasing negative energy. So, what a leader is really trying to do with
any endeavor is create, find, or release positive energy in those who are
responding. Getting buy-in is not a binary event, it is an analog event.
When you ask people to do something, pay attention to their level of
buy-in. Don’t assume because they say “yes” at Level One Visible Behavior
that they mean it. Watch their energy level. The observant leader will note
the levels of buy-in he or she is getting from others and adjust his style to
compensate. So, I note again, leadership is about managing energy, first in
yourself and then in those around you.
Diagram
Levels of BUY-IN
1. Passion (“What you ask is the #1 thing in my life.”) (+)

2. Engagement (“I want to do what you ask.”)
3. Agreement (“I will do what you ask.”)
4. Compliance (“Okay” but where are the loopholes?)
5. Apathy (“I just don’t care.”)
6. Passive Resistance (“Oops.”)
7. Active Resistance (“No way in hell.”) (-)
What’s in your wake?
Challenge
1. Every time you ask someone else to do something, ask yourself what
your level of buy-in is to that task and how important it is.
2. When you ask someone else to do something, try to see and measure
their level of buy-in to the request. If it’s low, ask yourself if the way
you delivered the request or the task itself contributed to their reaction.
3. Remember, in every conversation, you are affecting the energy level
of the other person.
4. What’s in your wake? What kind of energy level do you leave in the
people behind you?
Index
Acceptance, 406 Behavioral-emotional pendulum of
Action learning programs, 370 change, 408
Active listening Behavioral equilibrium, 387
active listener, 279 Behavioral set point, 387
directive to non-directive Beliefs, 6
techniques, 276–278 Big bang approach, 390
Rogerian technique, 275 Boston Consulting Group model
under-reaching, 275 Cash Cows, 165
Active resistance, 52 challenge, 167
Adaptive subsystem, systems Cola Wars, 166
theory, 352 market share and growth rate, 165
Ad-hoc team, 294 Matrix analysis, 165
Administrative Behavior, 169 Boundary spanning, systems
Adulthood, 59 theory, 352
Agreement, 52 Brain chemistry, 276
Air puff ball technique, 183 Bureaucratic maintenance, 300
Albert Ellis’s theory, 71 Bureaucratic Point of View (BPV), 10
Alliances, organizational life
cycles, 381 Calmness, 142
Anger, 406 Career concepts
Ansoff’s model of strategic growth expert type, 79
more customer-centric approach, linear type, 79
156–157 short questionnaire, 80
new customer finding, 156 spiral type, 79
new products and services transitory, 79–81
development, 156 Warriors, 80
share market growth, 156 Change agents, 388–389
suicide strategy, 157 Change designers, 388–389
trajectories, 158 Changees, 388–389
Anti-change bowstring, 386–387 Change leaders, 388–389
Apathy, 52 Change managers, 388–389
Appraisal system, 366 Change process
Apprenticeship, 357 anti-change bowstring, 386–387
Authoritarianism, 227 change model, 384
Authoritors, 41, 284 change types, 390–391
Autocratic decision making, 95, 96 Churchill’s practice, 384
Autonomy, Job design, 359 Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (EKR)
model, 406–409
Balanced scorecard, 192 General Electric model, 418–419
Balance model, 90 Jim Clawson’s Model, 422–425
Bargaining, 406 John Kotter’s model, 399–401
Beer’s Change Equation, 397–398 Kurt Lewin’s model, 394–396
460 Index
leading strategic change, 384 Corporate ER Triage Assessment

mergers and acquisitions, 426–430 Model, 20
Mike Beer’s model, 397–398 Courage to act, 11, 21–23
MIT (Nevis) Change Model, Creative approach, 36
404–405 Creative process, 37
Peter Senge’s model, 414–415 Creative vision, 212–213
Prochaska’s model, 412–413 Creativity, organizational life cycles,
P’s of leading change, 416–417 380
resistance, 392–393 Creator, 35–37
roles, 388–389 Cultural tolerance, 127–130
seminar participants and questions, Culture, 373–375
385 Culture of Discipline concept, 190
Susan Campbell’s model, 420–421 Customer value proposition (CVP),
Tim Gallwey’s model, 402–403 18, 432, 443–444
Change quotient (CQ), 66 Customized outside training, 370
Clarity of purpose, 256
Clarity of vision, 256 Daily cycles and dysfunctional
Clawson Charter model whirpools, 91
example, 201–202 Decision making
leadership, 201 autocratic, 95, 96
mission/purpose, 199 balancing decision forces, 96
short-term operating goals business decision elements, 92
(STOGs), 200–201 consensus, 96
strategy, 200 criteria, 94
values, 200 democratic/voting, 95
vision, 199–200 dictatorial decisions, 97
C-level executives, 388 dimensions, 95
Co-chairmen, 301 financial consequences, 93
Coercion, 259 legal and ethical, 93
Coercive power, 38 pyramid, 95–96
Collaboration, organizational life Delegation, organizational life cycles,
cycles, 381 380–381
Collective team based dialogue Democratic/voting decision making,
process, 315 95
Comanche program, 336 Denial, 406, 410–411
Commons, 445–446 Depression, 406
Compliance, 52 Design thinking
Confidence, 142 Administrative Behavior, 169
Confirmation conversation, 268 Brown’s process, 169–170
Conservatives, 445 effectiveness and efficiency, 169
Control, strategic story, 243–244 human-centered approach, 168
Control system IDEO design thinking process,
characteristics, 338–339 170–171
financial, 338 Determination, 145–147
LIBOR scandal, 339 Dialogue technique
Coordination, organizational life challenge, 316
cycles, 381 collective team based dialogue
Core capabilities, 441–442 process, 315
Corporate capabilities, 18 executive and foundation team, 315
Index 461
goal and process, 314–315 denial, 406, 410–411

legal team, 315 depression, 407
program and teaching team, 315 dichotomous life phase, 407
Senge’s, 316 near-death experiences, 406
Diamond Model of leadership phases, 406
components, 43 Emotional component, memes, 6
followers, 44 Emotional quotient (EQ), 65
fuzzy model, 43 Employee training, 433
mental map, 44 Empowerment, 304–306
personal characteristics, 43–44 Energy scale, 53
south-west axis, 45 Engagement, 52–53
strategic story, 44 Ethical decision, 93
Distributed leadership, 300–303 Ethical leadership, 230–233
Diversity & Inclusion Index (D&I), Ethics analysis
236 authoritarianism, 227
DRD2 gene, 412 careful analysis, 228
Dysfunctional phrases, 291–292 carpet manufacturer, 228
relativistic approach, 227
Early childhood development typical stakeholder analysis, 229
adult behavior, 58 Execution language
adulthood, 59 business unit, 283
brain cells and connections, 58–59 Dean’s annual review meetings,
fundamental questions, 59 281–283
genes, 58 prime Social Operating
physical characteristics, 58 Mechanism, 280
Ecological model strategy review, 280–281
busines s ecosystem domains, 173 Executive team, 19
organizational behavior, 173 Experimentation phase, 405
organizations, 172 Expertise power, 39
value chain model, 172 External and internal dreams,
Economic conditions, 343 109–110
Economic development
human economic activity, 181 Fairness, 230
Japanese haircut example, 182–184 FDA litigation, 246
Service Economy, 181–182 Feel and performance
Transformation Economy, 182 experience, 101
Effective phrasing, 291–292 external and internal dreams,
Effective teams role 109–110
creativity and practicality, 311 flow, 103–105
good team leader, 310 noon-time basketball game, 100
Managerial Grid, 310 resonance model, 107–108
observable roles, 312 Financial control system, 338
process function, 311 Financial status, 18
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (EKR) model “First Who, Then What” principle, 189
acceptance, 407 Follower’s Point of View (FPV), 10
adaptation, 407 Force Field analysis, 396
behavioral-emotional pendulum, example, 395
408 three-step model, 394–395
challenge, 409 VABE-based conflicts, 394
462 Index
Forming phase, team levels

development, 293 beliefs, 6
Fritz’s compelling logic, 35 expectations, 6–7
Functional leadership Level One behavior, 7
responsibility, 16 memes, 6
people’s visible behavior, 5
General Electric (GE) model of VABEs, 6–8
change, 418–419 opinion development, 83–85
Generic value chain, 161, 163 rational-emotive-behavior model,
Global business leaders 71–73
calmness, 142 self-awareness, 68–70
communication, 139–141 self-concept, 76–78
confidence, 142 work-life balance, 87–89
cultural tolerance, 127–130 Human capital, 18, 193, 436
determination, 145–147 Human habituality, 10
honesty, 134–136 Human resource related systems,
humility, 131–133 350–351
patient impatience, 137–138 Humility, 131–133
presence, 142–144 Hyundai, 186
sustainable trade, 230
tranquility, 230 Identity memes, 6
Good leadership, 13 IDEO design thinking proces,
Good to Great (GTG) model 170–171
Confront the Brutal Facts, 189 Informal groups, 300
Culture of Discipline concept, 190 In-house training, 370
“First Who, Then What” principle, Inner Game of Change, 402–403
189 In Search of Excellence model, 414
Hedgehog Concept, 189–190 Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Level Five Leaders, 189 (IWPR), 235
technology accelerator, 190 Institutionalization, 322
Greenland case, 317 Instrumental memes, 6
Greiner’s model, 380–382 Intangible asset pools, 430
Integrated product development team
Habituality, 386 (IPDT), 294
Hedgehog concept, 175, 189–190 Intellectual quotient (EQ), 65
Hiring proces Intelligence, 65–67
on-boarding, 357 Internal information systems, 24
recruitment, 355
selection, 355–356 Japanese culture, 137–138
Honesty, 134–136 Jim Clawson’s Model of change
Hope, 154–155 baseline behavior, 422
Human behavior comfort zones, 422
balance in life, 90–91 disconfirming data, 422–423
career concepts, 79–82 example, 423–424
decision making, 91–97 general change process, 424
early childhood development, 58–61 habitual behavior, 422
genes and VABEs transmission, search for alternative, 423
62–64 Jim Collins Good to Great (GTG)
intelligence, 65–67 model, 189–191
Index 463
Job design, classic model, 359 employee training, 433

John Kotter’s model of change, Human Capital, 436
399–401 intangible asset pools, 432–433
challenge, 401 leadership success, 431
change pitfalls, 399–400 NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
example, 400 Center, 433
transformation creation process, organizational capital, 439–440
400 profits, 431
Social Capital, 437–438
Key core capabilities (CC), 433 strategy planning research, 431
Kurt Lewin’s model, 394–396 tangible financial results, 445–447
Zoysia grass, 450–454
Language of influence, 291–292 Leadership Point of View (LPV)
Leaders challenge, 12
as creator, 35–37 characteristics, 10
next generation, 284–287 courage to act, 11, 21–23
Leadership followers and bureaucrats, 11
ability, 40 forces at play
buy-in, 52–54 disney brothers, 19
choice and obligation, 47–48 ER triage model, 17–18
components, 40–41 executives, 16
diamond model, 43–45 focusing, 16
and diversity, 234–237 functional fields in business,
elements, 45 16–17
inside-out/outside-in, 49–50 functional leadership
language, 141, 248–251 responsibility, 16
level one techniques, 251–252 implicit model, 18–19
level three influence techniques, general manager, 10–11
256–258 human habituality, 10
level two techniques, 252–254 needs to be done, 13–15
and power, 38–42 organizations, 13
and problems, 24–26 sight, 13–14
identifying, 27 Learning organization, 404
issues with, 31–34 Learning systems
organizational oscillation, 31–33 action learning programs, 370
short-term perspective, 31 culture creation, 371
structure, 29 customized outside training, 370
T-account sheet, 28, 30 executive hiring, 370
topographical map, 29 in-house training, 370
and self-deception, 74–75 off site education, 369
style and buy-in, 259–260 open enrollment outside training,
voluntary response, 41 370
willingness, 40 rotational assignments, 370
Leadership Diamond younger people hiring, 369
Captain Abrashoff’s concept, Legal decision, 93
454–456 Legitimate power, 38
core capabilities, 432, 441–442 Level one leadership, 251–252
customer value proposition, Level three influence techniques,
431–432, 443–444 256–258
464 Index
Level two techniques, 252–254 Obligatory mindset, 265

Life cycle model, 404–405 On-boarding, 357
Limp finger technique, 183 One world-class team, 317–320
Lines of authority, 330–331 Open enrollment outside training,
Lines of business (LOB) managers, 370
388–389 Open market design, 176–177
Organizational architecture
MAC model, 429 background factors, 343–344
Maintenance subsystem, systems bureaucracy, 326
theory, 352 City government of Mexico City,
Managerial Grid, 310 327–328
Matrix organization control system, 338–340
Comanche program, 336 culture, 373–375
difficulties, 335 design decisions, 348–349
functional manager, 335 economic conditions, 343
management skills, 336 glue, 378–379
vs. M-Form organization, 335 human resource related systems,
Mediocrity, 265–266 350–351
Memes, 6 job design, 359–361
Mergers and acquisitions labor markets, 343
example, 428 leadership design VABes, 345–347
MAC model, 429 learning systems, 369–372
post-merger integration, 428 life cycles, 380–382
process, 426–427 matrix organization, 335–337
M-Form organization, 332–334 M-Form, 332–334
Mike Beer’s model of change, Organizational Architecture Model,
397–398 341–342
Mission statements organization size, 343
automobiles, 206–207 performance appraisal, 362–365
clear mission statement, 204 pyramid organization, 330–331
energy and motivation, 205 recruitment and selection, 355–358
importance of purpose, 209 reward systems, 366–368
purpose in life, 206, 209 salesman, 326–327
value, 204 system alignment, 376–377
MIT (Nevis) Change Model, systems theory, 352–354
404–405 Organizational Architecture Model
Moral foundation, leadership, 232 (OAM), 341–342
More customer-centric approach, Organizational capital, 19, 193,
156–157 439–440
Moribund bureaucracy, 390 Organizational culture, 386
Moses model, 301
Pain, Purpose, Picture, Plan, and
Naturally emerging leader, 296–297 Personal Part, 416–417
Nevis’ MIT Phases of Change, Parroting, 275
404–405 Passion, 53
Next generation leaders, 284–287 Passive resistance, 52
Nominal groups, 305 Patient impatience, 137–138
Norming phase, team development, People’s Temple Agricultural Project,
293 273
Index 465
Performance appraisal, 362–365 energy and passion, 176

Performing phase, team development, experimentation risk reduction,
293 177–178
Personal Developmental Balance Hamel’s guidelines, 180
Wheel, 88–89 innovative revolution, 178
Peter Senge’s model of change, internal investment funds, 177
414–415 listen to new voices, 176
Planned team obsolescence, 321–323 open market design, 176–177
Porter’s Five Forces Model, 159–161 talent and organizational design, 177
Post-merger integration, 428 unreasonable expectations, 175
Power Reward power, 38–39
coercive, 38 Rewards-oriented businesses, 379
definition, 40 Reward systems, 366–368
expertise, 39 Robert D. Johnson, 124
legitimate, 38 Rogerian technique, 275
referent, 39 Role Play, 154
reward, 38–39 Rotating leadership, 301–302, 318
sources, 39–40 Rotational assignments, 370
traditional bases, 39 Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) strategic
Pre-commercial military GPS system, planning, 185
317 Rule-oriented organizations, 379
Problem-oriented leadership
approach, 36 Scenario planning
Prochaska’s model of change, Cartel scenario, 197–198
412–413 core processes, 195–196
Production subsystem, systems theory, future scenario, 195
352 RDS strategic planning, 195
Promise keeping, 230 vision statements, 211
Psychological testing, 356 Self-awareness, 68–70
Psychotherapy, 276 Self-concept, 76–78
Pyramid organization, 330–331 Self-correcting, 300
Self-deception, 74–75
Rational-emotive-behavior model, Self-knowledge, 68
71–73 Senge’s dialogue technique, 314–316
Referent power, 39 Senge’s model of change, 414–415
Re-forming phase, team development, Service Economy, 181–182
293 Set points, 386
Relativistic approach, 227 Sexual harassment, 288
Request for proposal (RFP), 294 Short-term operating goals (STOGs),
Resistance to change, 392–393 200–201, 221–223
Resonance, 319, 320 Shrinkage, 289
Resonance model Significant emotional events (SEEs), 25
dream, 107–108 Smart car, 185
obstacles, 115–117 Social capital, 19, 193, 437–438
preparation, 112–114 Social conflict planning, 318
revisiting the dream, 118–121 Socialization, 350, 357
Resting point, 386 Social Operating Mechanism, 280
Revolutionary thinking, 179 Social quotient (SQ), 65
business definition, 175–176 Social support, 318
466 Index
Standard operating manuals, 440 tolerance-as-teaching, 288–290

Starbucks, 194, 434 trust and trustworthiness, 245–247
Steel cap liquid closure business, 175 value chain, 161–163
Strategic change values statements, 214–216
change masters, 2 vision statements, 210–213
leadership, 3 Strategy maps, 192–195, 447
Strategic story SubQ stimulation procedure, 246
active listening, 275–278 Suicide strategy, 157
Ansoff’s model, 156–158 Super Satellite Corporation, 32
Boston Consulting Group model, Susan Campbell’s model of change,
165–167 420–421
bricklayers, 150–151 Sustainable profits, 445
challenge, 153 Sustainable trade, 230
charter, 224–225 Symbols, 256
concrete pipe team leader, 151 System alignment, 376–377
control, 243–244 Systems theory, 352–354
design thinking, 168–171
dialogue technique, 314–316 Tangible financial results, 445–447
ecological model, 172–174 Task identity, Job design, 359
effective and inspiring leader, 150 Team activities
effective teams role, 310–313 Camaraderie, 297
ethical leadership, 230–233 effective team builders, 296
ethics analysis, 227–229 forming phase issues, 296
execution language, 280–283 group and agenda item, 297
experience economy, 181–184 main activities, 298
Good to Great (GTG) model, mapping design issues, 299
189–191 naturally emerging leader, 296–297
hope, 154–155 program teams, 298–299
innovator’s dilemma, 185–187 Team life cycles
leadership and diversity, 234–237 functional teams, 294
leadership language, 248–251 group/team development, 294–295
mission statements, 204–209 integrated product development
next generation leaders, 284–287 team, 294
one world-class team, 317–320 and mapping design issues, 299
organization charters, 199–203 team activities, 296–299
planned team obsolescence, team development phases, 293
321–323 work groups and teams, 294
Porter’s Five Forces Model, Team member selection, 307–308
159–161 Technological innovation, 160
revolutionary thinking, 175–180 Technology accelerator, 190
short-term operating goals Thin slicing, 235
(STOGs), 221–223 Tim Gallwey’s model of change,
strategy, 217–220 402–403
strategy maps, 192–195 Tolerance-as-teaching, 288–290
team life cycles, 293–295 Trust and trustworthiness, 245–247
team member selection, 307–308 Truth-telling, 230
technique, 240–241 Types of change, 390–391
Index 467
Under-reaching, 275 mediocrity, 265–266

memes, 6
Vacuum sealed liquid radar, 72
closures, 175 self-concept, 76–78
Value chain analysis self-esteem, 269
customer satisfaction, 161 sequence for influence, 270
generic value chain, 161, 163 symbols, 269
Model T, 162 transmission, 62–64
vertical integration concept, 161 virtually every organization, 266
Value memes, 6 Values statements, 214–216
Values, Assumptions, Beliefs, and Vision statements
Expectations (VABEs) Creative vision, 212–213
abrasion, 7, 262 ideal self vision, 213
behavior, 73 individual level, 213
brain functioning, 7 long-term visions, 211
challenge, 9 Royal Dutch Shell company,
confirmation conversation, 268 211–212
cultural tolerance, 127–130 scenario planning, 211
defensiveness, 269 vision and goal, 210
facial expressions, 269
identification, 261–264 Win-win reward systems, 367
integrity, 262 Work-life balance, 87–89
irreconcilable difference, 262 Work-life integration, 87
level three influence, 272–274 “Work Out” initiative, 418

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Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership

Fundamentals of Level Three Leadership

Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2021.

Cover design by Charlene Kronstedt

Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

First published in 2021 by

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-040-9 (paperback)

Business Expert Press Human Resource Management and Organizational

Collection ISSN: 1946-5637 (print)

First edition: 2021

Section II Who Are You?��������������������������������������������������������������� 55

27. Balancing Your Focus����������������������������������������������������������������90

Section III The Unexplored Linkage Between Feel

Section IV Global Business Leaders������������������������������������������� 123

Section V What’s Your Strategic Story?���������������������������������������� 149

57. Good to Great Model��������������������������������������������������������������188

Section VI Can You Sell Your Story?������������������������������������������� 239

91. Getting the Right People on the Team�������������������������������������307

Section VII Organizational Architecture : Can You

Section VIII Mastering the Change Process:

121. Kurt Lewin’s Model�����������������������������������������������������������������394

Section IX Conclusion���������������������������������������������������������������� 449

About the Author��������������������������������������������������������������������������������457

My hope is that you will find a significantly valuable idea in every

of what three-fourths of an executive’s day/week/year looks like: people,

Level Two is conscious thought. Clearly, we all have conscious

Levels of Human Activity HABITUAL?

1. VISIBLE BEHAVIOR 75%

We introduced above the concept of human habituality. People manifest

What’s Your Habitual Point of View?

T he Leadership Point of View

1. Do you SEE what needs to be done?

1. Pay attention to your words as you react to assignments and

and organizational capital through corporate capabilities to customer sat-

LAPTOP MacBook Pro MacBook

At Coca-Cola, Bob Goizeuta was confronted with a management team

Do you SEE what needs to be done?

Practice developing your insight by:

1. Putting every problem in a broader context and relating it to the

The second element of the Leadership Point-of-View (LPV) is “understand-

1. Is it conscious and communicative? Can it talk to me?

Lesser systems like urinary tract function, glandular function, sexual

1. Financial Status: profitability, balance sheet stability, income state-

5. Social Capital: How well do your people work together? How

What’s your corporate ER Triage Assessment Model?

INTANGIBLE ASSET POOLS

1. Start now to expand your understanding of the various forces in a

This is a great and powerful dilemma for executives: if you don’t

Courage is difficult to assess in the absence of a history of decisions. And

changing and the organization is not responding, perhaps leaders

Mike Beer, a colleague at the Harvard Business School, once wrote, “…

What problems do you SEE?

Leadership and Problems

LEADERSHIP ACTIVITY Questions Answers

Problem Solving Old New

Problem Finding New Old

Problem Creating New New

If you believe that leadership has something to do with finding, solving,

Here are a couple of simple examples. George wants to be on budget, but

Section II Who Are You?�� 55

27. Balancing Your Focus��90

Section III The Unexplored Linkage Between Feel

Section IV Global Business Leaders�� 123

Section V What’s Your Strategic Story?�� 149

57. Good to Great Model��188

Section VI Can You Sell Your Story?�� 239

91. Getting the Right People on the Team��307

Section VII Organizational Architecture : Can You

Section VIII Mastering the Change Process:

121. Kurt Lewin’s Model��394

Section IX Conclusion�� 449

About the Author��457