If you want to silence a room of executives, ask them: "Why would anyone want to be led by you?"
We've asked just that question for the past 10 years while consulting for dozens of companies in Europe and the United States. Without fail, the response is a stunned hush.
Executives have good reason to be scared. You can't do anything in business without followers, and followers in these "empowered" times are hard to find. So executives had better know what it takes to lead effectively -- they must find ways to engage people and rouse their commitment to company goals.
Everyone agrees that leaders need vision, energy, authority and strategic direction. But we've discovered that inspirational leaders also share four unexpected qualities, described below:
They selectively show their weaknesses.
When leaders reveal their weaknesses, they show us who they are -- warts and all. This may mean admitting that they're irritable on Monday mornings, are somewhat disorganized, or are even rather shy.
Such admissions work because people need to see leaders own up to some flaw before they participate willingly in an endeavour.
Sharing an imperfection is so effective because it underscores a human being's authenticity.
For example, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group PLC, is particularly effective at communicating his vulnerability. He is ill at ease and fumbles incessantly when interviewed in public. It's a weakness, but it's Mr. Branson. That's what revealing a weakness is all about -- showing your followers that you are human and humane.
Another advantage to exposing a weakness is that it offers a leader valuable protection. If you don't show some weakness, then observers may invent one for you.
That said, the most effective leaders know that exposing a weakness must be done carefully. The golden rule is never to expose a weakness that jeopardizes central aspects of your professional role. Consider the new finance director of a major corporation. He can't suddenly confess that he's never understood discounted cash flow. A leader should reveal only a tangential flaw -- and perhaps even several of them. Paradoxically, this admission will help divert attention away from major weaknesses.
They rely heavily on intuition to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions.
Inspirational leaders rely heavily on their instincts to know when to reveal a weakness or a difference. They are good situation sensors in that they can collect and interpret soft data. They can sense what's going on without having anything spelled out for them.
Franz Humer, chief executive officer of Swiss drug company Roche Holding AG, is a classic sensor. He is highly accomplished in detecting shifts in climate and ambience. He can read subtle cues and sense underlying currents of opinion that elude less perceptive people.
Mr. Humer says he developed this skill as a tour guide in his mid-20s, when he was responsible for groups of 100 or more.
"There was no salary, only tips," he explains. "Pretty soon, I knew how to hone in on particular groups. Eventually, I could predict within 10 per cent how much I could earn from any particular group."
However, while leaders must be great sensors, sensing can create problems. That's because in making fine judgments about how far they can go, leaders risk losing their followers. Think of mergers and acquisitions. Unless a leader can convince his followers in a timely way that the move is positive, value and good will quickly erode.
There is another danger associated with sensing skills. By definition, sensing a situation involves projection -- that state of mind whereby you attribute your own ideas to other people and things.
Even the most gifted sensor may need to validate his perceptions with a trusted adviser or a member of his inner team.
They practise tough empathy.
We do not believe that the empathy of inspirational leaders is the soft kind described in so much of the management literature. On the contrary, real leaders manage through tough empathy -- giving people what they need, not what they want.
The U.S. Marine Corps and certain consulting firms specialize in tough empathy. Recruits are pushed to be the best they can be; "grow or go" is the motto.
Chris Satterwaite, CEO of Bell Pottinger Communications and a former chief of several ad agencies, understands what tough empathy is all about. He adeptly handles the challenges of managing creative people while making tough decisions. "If I have to, I can be ruthless," he says. "But while they're with me, I promise my people that they'll learn."
Tough empathy also has the benefit of impelling leaders to take risks. When Greg Dyke took over at the British Broadcasting Corp., his commercial competitors were able to spend substantially more on programs than the BBC could.
Mr. Dyke realized that to thrive in a digital world, the BBC needed to increase its expenditures. He explained this openly to the staff. Once he had secured their buy-in, he began thoroughly restructuring the organization. Although many employees were let go, he was able to maintain people's commitment.
Mr. Dyke attributed his success to his tough empathy with employees: "Once you have the people with you, you can make the difficult decisions that need to be made."
One final point about tough empathy: Those more apt to use it are people who really care about something. And when people care deeply about something, they're more likely to show their true selves. They will not only communicate authenticity, which is the precondition for leadership, but they will show that they are doing more than just playing a role.
They dare to be different.
Inspirational leaders capitalize on what's unique about themselves.
In fact, using these differences to great advantage is the most important quality of the four we've mentioned.
The most effective leaders deliberately use differences to keep a social distance. This may mean having a distinctly different dress style or physical appearance.
But typically a true leader will move on to distinguish himself through qualities such as imagination, loyalty, expertise or even a handshake.
Take Sir John Harvey-Jones, former CEO of Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, once the largest manufacturing company in Britain. When he wrote his autobiography, a British newspaper advertised the book with a sketch of Sir John, complete with mustache, long hair and a loud tie. Everyone knew who it was.
Of course, Sir John didn't get to the top of ICI because of eye-catching ties and long hair. But he was very clever in developing differences that he exploited to show he was adventurous, entrepreneurial and unique.
One danger, of course, is that executives can overdifferentiate themselves in their determination to express their separateness and thereby lose contact with their followers.
Once they create too much distance, they stop being good sensors.
Leadership in action.
All of the qualities described here are necessary for inspirational leadership, but they must become or must already be part of an executive's personality.
No one can just ape another leader. So the challenge facing prospective leaders is for them to be themselves, but with more skill. That can be done by making yourself increasingly aware of the four leadership qualities and by manipulating these qualities to come up with a personal style that works for you. Robert Goffee and Gareth Jones are the founding partners of Creative Management Associates, an organizational consulting firm in London.