Authentic Leaders

Leading any organization is no easy task. It can be lonely at the top. Leaders are pulled in many different directions, yet must keep a clear vision of where they are headed.

Amory Houghton tells of his predecessor's advice as he became CEO of Corning Glass. “Think of your decisions being based on two concentric circles. In the outer circle are all their laws, regulations, and ethical standards. In the inner circle are your core values. Just be sure that your decisions as CEO stay within your inner circle.”

We are all aware of leaders who pushed beyond the outer circle and got caught, either by the law or by their financial failures. More worrisome are the leaders who moved outside their inner circles and engaged in marginal practices, albeit legal ones. Examples include cutting back your long-term investments just to make the short-term numbers, bending compensation rules to pay executives in spite of marginal performance, using accounting tricks to meet the quarterly expectations of security analysts, shipping products of marginal quality, and booking revenues before they are shipped in order to pump up revenue growth.

All leaders feel the pressure to perform. As CEO, I felt it everyday as problems mounted or sales lagged. I knew that the livelihood of thousands of employees, the health of millions of patients, and the financial fortunes of millions of investors rested on my shoulders and those of our executive team. I was also well aware of the penalties for not performing, even for a single quarter. No CEO wants to appear on CNBC to explain why his company missed the earnings projections.

Little by little, the pressures to succeed can pull us away from our core values, just as we are reinforced by our “success” in the market. The irony is the more successful we are, the more we are tempted to take shortcuts to keep it going. The rewards—compensation increases, stock option gains, executive perquisites, positive media, admiring peers—reinforce our actions and drive us to keep it going.

Five Qualities

I find that authentic leaders have five qualities. They:

1. Understand the purpose. Many people want to become leaders without giving thought to their purpose. They are attracted to the power and prestige of leadership positions and the rewards that go with them. But without a sense of purpose, leaders are at the mercy of their egos and vulnerable to narcissistic impulses. You can't adopt someone else's purpose and still be an authentic leader. The purpose for your leadership must be uniquely yours.

2. Practice solid values. Leaders are defined by their values and character, which are shaped by personal beliefs, developed through study, introspection, consultation with others, and a lifetime of experience. These values define the leader's moral compass. Ethical leaders know the “true north” of their compass, the difference between right and wrong, and have a deep sense of the right thing to do. Integrity is required in every leader. Integrity is not just the absence of lying, but telling the whole truth, as painful as it may be. Without complete integrity in your interactions, no one can trust you. If they can't trust you, why would they ever follow you?

When asked about their ethics, most leaders espouse solid values. Many of them meet regularly with their employees and implore them to practice these values or risk losing their jobs. Under pressure, these same leaders may behave differently, setting double standards.

3. Lead with heart. In recent decades, businesses have evolved from maximizing the physical output of their workers to engaging their minds. To excel, great companies go one step further by engaging the hearts of their employees through a sense of purpose. When employees believe their work has a deeper purpose, their results will vastly exceed those who use only their minds and bodies. This becomes the company's competitive advantage.

4. Establish enduring relationships. The capacity to develop close and enduring relationships is one mark of a leader. Unfortunately, many leaders of major companies believe their job is to create the strategy, structure, and processes. Then they just delegate the work to be done, remaining aloof from those doing the work. This detached style will not work. Today's employees demand more personal relationships with their leaders before they will give themselves fully to their jobs. They insist on having access to their leaders, knowing that it is in the openness and the depth of the relationship with the leader that trust and commitment are built.

5. Demonstrate self-discipline. Without self-discipline, you can't gain the respect of your followers. Most people profess to having good values but lack the discipline to convert those values into consistent actions. This is a hollow excuse. None of us is perfect, of course, but authentic leaders have the self-discipline to show their values through their actions. When they fall short, they admit their mistakes. They know that competing requires consistently high self-discipline. Being competitive is not a bad thing, but it needs to be channeled through purpose and discipline.

Heed the Wake-up Call

Looking back at the scandals, the stagnation in the economy, and the malaise in the stock market, we clearly have received a wake-up call. But “waking up” is not enough. Instead, we need to hear the clarion call, recognize the power we have, and use that power to be a force for good in the world.

What if all business leaders were committed to improving the lives of their customers, employees, and shareholders? Are we prepared:

To be motivated by our mission,not our money.
To tap into our values, not our egos.
To connect with others through our hearts, not our personas.
To live our lives with such discipline that we would be proud to read about our behavior in the newspaper.

What will be your legacy? Consider these challenges as you think about where to devote your passions:

Three-quarters of the world population has barely enough to survive.
Mental and physical abuse of the helpless is increasing.
Discrimination is still rampant.
We have great medical technology, yet the rate of disease continues to grow.
We abuse natural resources and contaminate rivers, open spaces, and cities.
We no longer feel safe or secure in our cities after dark.
Many leaders focus more on serving themselves than their customers.
We merge companies and then treat the people who made them like robots.
We treat quality of life as if it were a distraction from the real work of people.
We ignore the deeper meanings of life and the source of all joy.

As leaders, we can change some things, if we are true to our values, build enduring relationships,practice self-discipline, and lead with our hearts.

As much as we want to insure a happy, secure future for our families and ourselves, we have learned the hard way that money alone is insufficient to provide either security or happiness. But making a difference in the lives of others can bring unlimited joy. Leading a life of significant service can bring unlimited fulfillment. And sharing yourself with others authentically can bring unlimited love. At the end of the day, what is more important than joy, fulfillment, and love? LE