The Leadership Journey

How to Master the Four Critical Areas of Being a Great Leader

Gary Burnison

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781119234876
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Master the essential skill set of the truly effective leader

The Leadership Journey charts a course through four critical areas of being a great leader. Written by Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison, this book brings world-renown people and talent development expertise to bear in a discussion about 'good' versus 'great' leadership. Successful leadership at any level is about getting results, but how do the best of the best manage to consistently deliver bigger and better things? This book shares the 'secret sauce' of successful leadership, and provides an actionable framework for discovering—and developing—your own leadership skills and potential. Anyone can have the right hands-on skills, but true leadership finesse lies in the much tougher realm of developing self-awareness to lead yourself first ('Look in the Mirror'); navigating by a fixed point of personal and organizational purpose ('Embody Purpose'); journeying with others who want to follow you ('Don't Walk Alone'); and plotting a course that's beyond the line of sight of what everyone sees ('Navigate Beyond the Horizon'). By distilling the broad and complex topic of leadership into highly accessible points and discussions, The Leadership Journey is perfect traveling companion for everyone along the leadership path.

Effective leaders help people do more—and become more—than even they ever thought possible. This book gives you a practical framework for becoming the kind leader your team needs to succeed.

• Master the key elements of great leadership
• Understand why hard skills aren't enough
• Learn how to motivate and lead others
• Achieve more by helping others inspire and empower themselves

Grounded in practical and proven real-world experience, this invaluable guide packs a powerful punch. When it comes to great leadership, reaching your destination requires a precise, well-planned journey that covers all critical ground. The Leadership Journey gives you a clear roadmap with expert direction and world-class advice.

The journey is never about the leader, but it starts with the leader. Along the way, the leader is the motivator, navigator, and guide: charting the course, setting the pace, and changing direction when necessary. As a shepherd, the leader keeps others aligned, sometimes by walking in front, sometimes behind, and sometimes beside. The leader's focus is always on others.

By taking a good look in the mirror at the start of each morning, you reflect, assess, and recommit to continual improvement, always asking yourself, “What can I do to make—and be—the change I want to see in the world?”

Undertaking the leadership journey requires self-awareness on the part of the leader. It bears repeating: It's not about you, but it begins with you—who you are as a person and the behaviors and attitudes that you model for others.

Leading Others Begins by First Leading Yourself

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Measure Yourself Before You Measure Others.

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Take a Humble Look in the Mirror.

To lead others, you must continually measure yourself—not overestimating your strengths, and not underestimating your weaknesses. To do so, you must be able to look humbly in the mirror. After all, self-awareness and honesty go hand in hand. Let others illuminate your blind spots as you improve yourself and, by extension, the organization.

The Accountability You Want to see in Others Starts with You.

I once engaged my senior team in a live assessment of my leadership strengths and blind spots. I gathered them from all over the world in a hotel conference room to rate me using remote control “clickers” to ensure anonymity. After each question, the results were immediately displayed at the front of the room. It was intense, to say the least. As insightful and appreciated as the feedback was, that wasn't the real purpose of this exercise; it was to demonstrate a willingness to be vulnerable.

As the leader, I wanted to model for my team the vulnerability of being willing to look in the mirror—in this case, publicly and transparently. That's why, at the end of the three-hour session, I gave each person a small mirror as a reminder that a leader can only inspire and motivate others if he or she is willing to undertake an honest self-assessment. Only by looking in the mirror can they ask themselves such things as whether they were truly willing to be vulnerable around soliciting and accepting feedback.

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As the leader, you are responsible for what goes on in your organization.

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As the leader, you are responsible for what goes on in your organization. Model the leadership behavior that empowers others. The changes and accountability that you want to see at every level start with you. Your attitude and actions cascade throughout the organization, creating followership. So believe it, say it, mean it, and act it. Consistency is paramount.

Survival of the Self-Aware.

Leading others on a long journey (literal or metaphoric) demands many capabilities, traits, experiences, and skills. You must be smart and have the required expertise—all the things that got you to a leadership position in the first place. In addition, you must possess an array of other skills and attributes—the motivation to lead, the interpersonal skills to connect and communicate with others, the ability to inspire other people, and so forth. Without this palate of competencies, your leadership journey will probably be a very short jaunt.

What's the secret ingredient for leadership success over the long term? Self-awareness. As Korn Ferry has found in its extensive research and work with senior executives, self-awareness is a crucial, make-or-break trait. Why? Without self-awareness you will not see your blind spots—and virtually all leaders (nearly 80 percent by our assessments) have them. Blind spots amount to overestimates of skills. You think you're this, but you're really that. You think you are very good at inspiring and motivating people, but they don't feel it. You think you're exceptional at strategy, but others don't perceive you that way.

Having a mirror to reflect who you are is great. But you need to be able to see it clearly. Self-awareness clears the fog.

You are the Face of the Organization.

As an operating officer, you can be “one of the guys.” Even though you've been promoted several levels from where you started out, other than having increased responsibilities, the shift in how you are perceived probably doesn't change all that much as you climb the pyramid toward the top of the organization. Then you approach the pinnacle. Once you step over that threshold from the number-two level to number one, everything changes.

Standing at the top, the apex of the pyramid, you experience a colossal difference. As “the” leader you are viewed as a function first—the CEO—and a person second. It's not about you (it never is, don't forget). It's about the job that you represent.

I learned the “you are a function” lesson as a newly promoted CEO when I attended a formal dinner in South America. It started late, as is the custom. It seemed to go on and on until we were three hours into the event. It was well after 11 o'clock, and I was jetlagged and exhausted from traveling. Yet no one had left yet. I didn't want to appear rude to the hosts, so I waited for others to get up. No one did. Finally, as it approached midnight, I mentioned this to someone sitting next to me. “Nobody has gotten up to leave as yet because you haven't,” he explained. It was my first taste of the truth that, as the CEO, when people looked at me they didn't see “Gary,” they saw “the CEO”—the role that I occupied.

Find a Confidant/CONFIDANTE for Your “Gray Days.”

When people view you through the lens of the leadership function, you no longer have the same freedom you once had. You are the face of the organization. Because of that, the people around you will begin reading your mood like tea leaves. If you seem worried or preoccupied, then people will wonder if they should be worrying, too! On those “gray days” you can't radiate your doubts, worries, and concerns. However, you do need confidants/confidantes to help and advise you, ideally someone who has walked the same path: a CEO for a CEO, a coach for a coach, and so forth. With these trusted advisers who understand what it means to occupy a leadership position, you will have help and guidance as you fulfill your obligation to be “on” 24/7.

The Job is not Yours Forever.

Here is the paradox: As the leader, you must fully and totally embody that function as a steward of the organization, the role model of the purpose and vision, and a shepherd of the team. As all-encompassin...