Leadership in the Era of Jobs

With the tragic death of Steve Jobs Wednesday, American business lost one of its greatest ever leaders. Jobs was not just a brilliant innovator, but in the words of Apple, "a visionary and creative genius." He had the unique qualities that can inspire others towards success. I had the great privilege to meet him a few years ago and to spend time at Pixar during the visit of His Majesty the King of Jordan. Steve inspired the King to develop a 3D movie animation industry in his country from scratch, and to create jobs (it was a very successful project). He had the same effect on Israeli entrepreneurs.

This is a time when leadership is particularly important. We lack strong leadership in business and in politics; yet we need inspiration and direction more than ever before. What if the specter of the double recession is all down to a lack of leadership?

Corporations are doing much better than in 2008, it is true. More cash is available and the outlook for many industries has improved. But there is not trust and no conviction that the issues which we face (Greece, creation of jobs, etc.) are being well managed. People think that our leaders have personal and political agendas.

Historically, great leaders have revealed themselves during periods of crisis. The Greek general, Pericles, defined the spirit of Athenian democracy in 431BC in a speech over the graves of soldiers who had been slain by Athens' enemies. Two millennia later, at the start of World War 2, Winston Churchill gave his first, stirring address to the British House of Commons: "I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

We know that exceptional leaders have charisma, and tend to be speakers who can seduce a crowd. Who could forget Margaret Thatcher's declaration in 1980, when members of her party opposed her cuts to the public service? "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning!" And beyond rhetoric, these figures had another vital quality: to attain their vision they were unafraid of defying the wishes of those whom they led.

A few years ago, Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones explored the nature of leadership in the Harvard Business Review. Authenticity, they argued, is central to inspiring others: "Authentic leaders remain focused on where they are going but never lose sight of where they came from." In business, one famously authentic leader has been Jack Welch, a straight-talker who worked his way up from being a junior engineer to CEO at GE. At his meetings with managers, Welch would harangue them and listen to their views. "The [employees] see all of Jack here," one observer noted. "The management theorist, strategic thinker, business teacher, and corporate icon who made it to the top despite his working-class background. No one leaves the room untouched."

So which public figures possess this unique set of qualities today? Instead of feeling nostalgic for icons of the past -- for Eisenhower or De Gaulle or a business guru like Welch -- we need to seek out the people whom we can trust and admire. We are missing mentors, figures who are able to inspire. People voted for those whom they hoped would bring solutions or at least will fight hard on local and global issues. But they don't see real leadership.

There is, in public life, a lack of vision and inspiration. And all the more now so without Steve Jobs.

 

Comments

[Rita R]

05:10 PM on 10/08/2011

As a business consultant, I saw the moral, ethical, and intellectual capacities of corporate executives sink lower and lower over the past 12 years. The first sign of imminent down-turn was the lack of walk-around management. That disconnect went up and down the executive and management chains. More often than not, as a consultant, I was reiterating the wisdom and insights of the line workers in big corporations to men who thought I was brilliant, until I revealed the sources of that wisdom and those insights. True leaders seek and encourage those whom they lead. It's hand out to help and promote instead of hand slapping control.

[BuckCarson]

08:42 AM on 10/08/2011

Cain seems to fit the requirements - without a doubt.

[Overtone]

08:45 PM on 10/07/2011

WE FACE AN UNRECOGNIZED THREAT THAT IS WORSE THAN A TERROR ATTACK AND ORIGINATES IN POTENTIAL SOLAR SUPERSTORMS!

See the Aesop Institute website to understand what is at stake.

If leadership comes forward the nation can be united around this very real threat.

The result would reboot the economy, generate jobs and change the energy and political landscape.

[William50]

07:18 PM on 10/07/2011

For over a year I have been saying America lacks leadership and to state the very base line here it will not come from the picked political stage of stooges or the best educated and blind to what America needs CEO's.
For decades both groups have used the military program of advancement and this has lead to killing the new and innocvated who dared state that the leadership was wrong. Yet today, Average Americans, Angary Americans are looking that the leadership we are suppose to choose from and say STOp, your failures and your programs are failures to the America we love.
Today, out of the west is a growing roar that we the people own this great nation and we are going to take it back!
VIVA THE REVOLUTION!

[wbearl]

05:04 PM on 10/07/2011

Back in the late 70's big business had a major mental change in their idea of leadership. They stopped hiring and promoting people based on abilities and started paying much more attention to Education and which and how many degrees a person has. Big Business also turn away from a person making a decision and taking owner ship of a decision and moved to a Committee Mentality. The major down side to a Committee Mentality is no owners ship or accountability. Now 30 plus years later we have a whole generation of so called leaders with no leadership skills. The few people who have demonstrated leadership qualities are commanding top dollar as CEO's. Before my retirement I was working with people who had taken "Leadership" Classes in college. They were pathetic. My company tried to hire people to teach leadership to their college staff, it was pretty much a failure. One of the few joys I had before retiring was watching Blue Collar Workers run circles around their college graduate managers. As sad as it was I use to find the college graduate managers sitting in their offices crying because they were hopelessly lost. Leaders are born, like a rough diamond. They are modeled and polished into a great finished product. All the training and education can't make a leader if the ability isn't there to begin with.

[BuckCarson]

08:48 AM on 10/08/2011

BS. I am a tech founder. I do a lot of business in Europe. Recently, I brought into a large French corporation customer of ours - a candidate from France to manage our sales. The candidate has a PhD in Chemistry.

After meeting the CEO of our customer company, I asked our candidate what when on with all that French talk. He said: "The CEO was dumbfounded that I would be considered for sales" He further said: "I told him, remember this is an American company"

The ONLY thing we have getting our way today as Americans is the progressive mindset. Thank God it is on its last gasp.

[wbearl]

04:32 PM on 10/09/2011

About 15 years ago the company I retired from signed a contract to let GE Manage all our maintenance. Prior to this all first level manager in the company were promoted from within, most second level managers were promoted from within and about half senior mangers were promoted from within. GE didn't want any of our managers, brought in there own. Now our about 75% of our Managers were Indentured Journeymen, GE's managers were Engineers. Our Managers were paid $60,000 and up a year, GE paid theirs $36,000 and up to $50,000 year. I retired 3 years ago, I was one of the last Company Managers when I left. Last spring I was contacted by the Company, they kicked GE off the property because they weren't getting the job done and they were trying to get some retired managers to come back and train people promoted from with in the company. As far as I know all of the retired managers are still happily retired wishing the company the best of luck fixing their screw up.