Bidiversity

A review of “The Leadership Code, Five Rules to Lead By” written by Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman (Originally published in the Financial Times)

When authors persuade distinguished colleagues to provide advance praise for their new book, it usually tells you either that the writers have genuinely come up with something new and different, or that they have an impressive network of loyal friends.This new book comes ready-wrapped with strong endorsements from academics, gurus and businesspeople. One offers a serious accolade: it is “not just another book on leadership”. Is this an accurate assessment?

At first sight, it appears a bit generous. The authors do not claim to have conducted original research. On the contrary, they explain that their intention is “to synthesise the existing frameworks, tools, processes and studies of leadership to define the rules that all great leaders follow”.

To do this, they adopted an efficient and practical approach. “Faced with half a million books on leaders and leadership, we turned to recognised experts in the field who had already spent years sifting through the evidence and developing their own theories,” they write.

After conversations with these experts, and drawing on their own significant experience (Dave Ulrich is arguably the world’s leading commentator on HR issues, and works with Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman for the consultancy RBL Group), the authors have drawn up a “leadership code” that contains five key elements. Follow this code, they say, and 60-70 per cent of the leadership challenge will be met. They are sensible and honest enough to admit that the remaining 30 per cent of leadership effectiveness has to do with how you deal with specific issues that will vary from organisation to organisation.

What is in the code? Its five rules are: “shape the future” (be a strategist), “make things happen” (be an executor), “engage today’s talent” (be a talent manager), “build the next generation” (be a human capital developer), and “invest in yourself” (work on your personal proficiency).

The first two are unexceptional. Leaders do not need to be told they should display a good strategic sense, or that they have to be able to make things happen. The chapters on these two rules are crisp and clear but do not set the heather alight.

Where the book gets interesting – not surprising, given Ulrich’s true area of expertise – is in the chapters discussing the other three rules, which all have to do with people.

To “engage today’s talent”, the authors stress the need for leaders to be first-rate communicators, adapting the message “for the boardroom and the lunchroom”, learning to succeed in both. “Sharing information is not enough,” they write. “People act on what they hear that appeals to their head and heart…you need to share your emotions and self, not just your intellectual ideas.” And the really tough part? “Expect to share a message 10 times for every one time that it will be heard and understood.”

To “build the next generation”, the authors advise leaders to be relentless in their pursuit of talent. “Once you’ve caught it, don’t let it go.” The authors like the writer Beverly Kaye’s idea of a “stay interview”: like an exit interview, only designed to get good people to stick with their current employer. What do you have to do to get them to stay?

To “invest in yourself”, first get to know yourself better and then bring your “signature strengths” – the things you like doing and are good at – to bear on the work in hand. “You need to build on your strengths that strengthen others.”

The final chapter makes another important point. Companies must establish a clear theory of leadership so that people within the business know how they can expect to be led. The authors’ five rules form a useful framework, which can be built on.

So: “not just another book on leadership”? Yes, and no. Leaders do need help right now and Ulrich, Smallwood and Sweetman have provided it.

As another of the supporting quotes has it, they have described “practical ideas, insights, and activities designed to grow great leaders at all levels in organisations”. The quote comes from a senior director at Royal Bank of Scotland, which is now majority-owned by the UK government.

Source: Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/09061d6e-dcdb-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1