Harvard Business Review The Essential Guide to Leadership by Harvard Business Review

The Essential
Guide to

Leadership

eight Unique
Perspectives on

Becoming a
Stronger Leader

The Essential Guide
to Leadership

In this Special Article Collection:

1 Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life
by Stewart D. Friedman
15 Managing Oneself
by Peter F. Drucker
31 Putting Leadership Back Into Strategy
by Cynthia A. Montgomery
41 Seven Transformations of Leadership
by David Rooke and William R. Torbert
59 Leader’s Framework for Decision Making
by David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone
71 How Successful Leaders Think
by Roger Martin
85 Managing Multicultural Teams
by Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary C. Kern
99 What Great Managers Do
by Marcus Buckingham

© 2009 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved.

www.hbr.org

Traditional thinking pits work MANAGING YOURSELF
and the rest of our lives
against each other. But taking Be a Better Leader,
smart steps to integrate work, Have a Richer Life
home, community, and self
will make you a more by Stewart D. Friedman
productive leader and a more
fulfilled person. •

Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:

3 Article Summary
The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work

5 Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

13 Further Reading
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further
exploration of the article’s ideas and applications

Reprint R0804H page 1

MANAGING YOURSELF

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice

Life’s a zero-sum game, right? The more you Total Leadership helps you mitigate a range of problems that stem from making trade-offs
strive to win in one dimension (e.g., your among the different dimensions of your life:
work), the more the other three dimensions
(your self, your home, and your community) • Feeling unfulfilled because you’re not doing what you love
must lose. Not according to Friedman. You • Feeling inauthentic because you’re not acting according to your values
don’t have to make trade-offs among life’s • Feeling disconnected from people who matter to you
domains. Nor should you: trading off can • Feeling exhausted by trying to keep up with it all
leave you feeling exhausted, unfulfilled, or To tackle such problems using Total Leadership, take these steps:
isolated. And it hurts the people you care
COPYRIGHT © 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. about most. 1. REFLECT • Joining a club with coworkers could help
you forge closer friendships with them.
To excel in all dimensions of life, use For each of the four domains of your life—
Friedman’s Total Leadership process. First, work, home, community, and self, reflect on • Preparing for the week ahead on Sunday
articulate who and what matters most in how important each is to you, how much evenings could help you sleep better and
your life. Then experiment with small time and energy you devote to each, and how go into the new week refreshed.
changes that enhance your satisfaction and satisfied you are in each. Are there discrepan-
performance in all four domains. For ex- cies between what is important to you and 3. CHOOSE EXPERIMENTS
ample, exercising three mornings a week how you spend your time and energy? What is
gives you more energy for work and im- your overall life satisfaction? Narrow the list of experiments you’ve
proves your self-esteem and health, which brainstormed to the three most promising.
makes you a better parent and friend. 2. BRAINSTORM POSSIBILITIES They should:

Friedman’s research suggests that people Based on the insights you’ve achieved during • Improve your satisfaction and performance
who focus on the concept of Total Leader- your four-way reflection, brainstorm a long list in all four dimensions of your life.
ship have a 20%–39% increase in satisfaction of small experiments that may help you move
in all life domains, and a 9% improvement closer to greater satisfaction in all four do- • Have effects viewed as positive by the peo-
in job performance—even while working mains. These are new ways of doing things ple who matter to you in every dimension
shorter weeks. that would carry minimal risk and let you see of your life.
results quickly. For example:
• Be the most costly—in regret and missed
• Turning off cell phones during family din- opportunities—if you don’t do them.
ners could help you sharpen your focus on
the people who matter most to you. • Position you to practice skills you most
want to develop and do more of what you
• Exercising several times a week could give want to be doing.
you more energy.
4. MEASURE PROGRESS

Develop a scorecard for each experiment
you’ve chosen. For example:

Experiment: Exercise three mornings a week with spouse.

Life How I Will Implementation Steps
Dimension Experiment’s Goals Measure Success
• Get doctor’s feedback on
Work Improved alertness No caffeine to get exercise plan.
• Join gym.
and productivity through the day; more • Set alarm earlier on exercise
days.
productive sales calls • Tell coworkers, family, and
friends about my plan, how
Home Increased closeness Fewer arguments I need their help, and how it
with spouse with spouse will benefit them.

Community Greater strength to partic- Three 10K fundraising
ipate in athletic fundrais- walks completed by
ing events with friends end of year

Self Improved self-esteem Greater confidence

page 3

Traditional thinking pits work and the rest of our lives against each
other. But taking smart steps to integrate work, home, community, and
self will make you a more productive leader and a more fulfilled
person.

MANAGING YOURSELF

Be a Better Leader,
Have a Richer Life

by Stewart D. Friedman

COPYRIGHT © 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. In my research and coaching work over the past Scoring four-way wins starts by taking a
two decades, I have met many people who feel clear view of what you want from and can
unfulfilled, overwhelmed, or stagnant because contribute to each domain of your life, now
they are forsaking performance in one or more and in the future, with thoughtful consider-
aspects of their lives. They aren’t bringing their ation of the people who matter most to you
leadership abilities to bear in all of life’s and the expectations you have for one an-
domains—work, home, community, and self other. This is followed by systematically de-
(mind, body, and spirit). Of course, there will al- signing and implementing carefully crafted
ways be some tension among the different experiments—doing something new for a
roles we play. But, contrary to the common short period to see how it affects all four
wisdom, there’s no reason to assume that it’s domains. If an experiment doesn’t work out,
a zero-sum game. It makes more sense to you stop or adjust, and little is lost. If it does
pursue excellent performance as a leader in all work out, it’s a small win; over time these add
four domains—achieving what I call “four-way up so that your overall efforts are focused
wins”—not trading off one for another but increasingly on what and who matter most.
finding mutual value among them. Either way, you learn more about how to lead
in all parts of your life.
This is the main idea in a program called
Total Leadership that I teach at the Wharton This process doesn’t require inordinate risk.
School and at companies and workshops On the contrary, it works because it entails
around the world. “Total” because it’s about realistic expectations, short-term changes that
the whole person and “Leadership” because are in your control, and the explicit support
it’s about creating sustainable change to of those around you. Take, for instance,
benefit not just you but the most important Kenneth Chen, a manager I met at a work-
people around you. shop in 2005. (All names in this article are

harvard business review • april 2008 page 5

MANAGING YOURSELF•••Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

Stewart D. Friedman (friedman@ pseudonyms.) His professional goal was to While hundreds of leaders at all levels go
wharton.upenn.edu) is Practice become CEO, but he had other goals as well, through this program every year, you don’t
Professor of Management at the which on the face of it might have appeared need a workshop to identify worthwhile
University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton conflicting. He had recently moved to Phila- experiments. The process is pretty straightfor-
School in Philadelphia. He is the found- delphia and wanted to get more involved ward, though not simple. In the sections that
ing director of Wharton’s Leadership with his community. He also wished to follow, I will give you an overview of the
Program and of its Work/Life Integra- strengthen bonds with his family. To further process and take you through the basics of
tion Project, and the former head of all of these goals, he decided to join a city- designing and implementing experiments to
Ford Motor’s Leadership Development based community board, which would not produce four-way wins.
Center. He is the author of numerous only allow him to hone his leadership skills
books and articles on leadership (in support of his professional goal) but also The Total Leadership Process
development, work/life integration, have benefits in the family domain. It would
and the dynamics of change, including give him more in common with his sister, a The Total Leadership concept rests on three
Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have teacher who gave back to the community principles:
a Richer Life, forthcoming from Harvard every day, and he hoped his fiancée would
Business Press. participate as well, enabling them to do some- • Be real: Act with authenticity by clarify-
thing together for the greater good. He would ing what’s important.
feel more spiritually alive and this, in turn,
would increase his self-confidence at work. • Be whole: Act with integrity by respecting
the whole person.
Now, about three years later, he reports
that he is not only on a community board • Be innovative: Act with creativity by
with his fiancée but also on the formal succes- experimenting with how things get done.
sion track for CEO. He’s a better leader in all
aspects of his life because he is acting in ways You begin the process by thinking, writing,
that are more consistent with his values. He and talking with peer coaches to identify
is creatively enhancing his performance in your core values, your leadership vision, and
all domains of his life and leading others to the current alignment of your actions and
improve their performance by encouraging values—clarifying what’s important. Peer
them to better integrate the different parts of coaching is enormously valuable, at this stage
their lives, too. and throughout, because an outside per-
spective provides a sounding board for your
Kenneth is not alone. Workshop partici- ideas, challenges you, gives you a fresh way to
pants assess themselves at the beginning and see the possibilities for innovation, and helps
the end of the program, and they consistently hold you accountable to your commitments.
report improvements in their effectiveness, as
well as a greater sense of harmony among the You then identify the most important
once-competing domains of their lives. In a people—“key stakeholders”—in all domains
study over a four-month period of more than and the performance expectations you have
300 business professionals (whose average age of one another. Then you talk with them: If
was about 35), their satisfaction increased by you’re like most participants, you’ll be sur-
an average of 20% in their work lives, 28% in prised to find that what, and how much, your
their home lives, and 31% in their community key stakeholders actually need from you is
lives. Perhaps most significant, their satisfac- different from, and less than, what you
tion in the domain of the self—their physical thought beforehand.
and emotional health and their intellectual
and spiritual growth—increased by 39%. But These insights create opportunities for you
they also reported that their performance to focus your attention more intelligently,
improved: at work (by 9%), at home (15%), in spurring innovative action. Now, with a firmer
the community (12%), and personally (25%). grounding in what’s most important, and a
Paradoxically, these gains were made even more complete picture of your inner circle, you
as participants spent less time on work and begin to see new ways of making life better,
more on other aspects of their lives. They’re not just for you but for the people around you.
working smarter—and they’re more fo-
cused, passionate, and committed to what The next step is to design experiments and
they’re doing. then try them out during a controlled period
of time. The best experiments are changes
that your stakeholders wish for as much as, if
not more than, you do.

Designing Experiments

To pursue a four-way win means to produce a

page 6 harvard business review • april 2008

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life•••MANAGING YOURSELF

change intended to fulfill multiple goals that At first blush, conceiving of experiments
benefit each and every domain of your life. that produce benefits for all the different
In the domain of work, typical goals for an realms may seem a formidable task. After all,
experiment can be captured under these if it were easy, people wouldn’t be feeling so
broad headings: taking advantage of new much tension between work and the rest of
opportunities for increasing productivity, their lives. But I’ve found that most people re-
reducing hidden costs, and improving the alize it’s not that hard once they approach the
work environment. Goals for home and com- challenge systematically. And, like a puzzle, it
munity tend to revolve around improving rela- can be fun, especially if you keep in mind that
tionships and contributing more to society. experiments must fit your particular circum-
For the self, it’s usually about improving stances. Experiments can and do take myriad
health and finding greater meaning in life. forms. But having sifted through hundreds
of experiment designs, my research team and
As you think through the goals for your I have found that they tend to fall into nine
experiment, keep in mind the interests and general types. Use the nine categories de-
opinions of your key stakeholders and anyone scribed in the exhibit “How Can I Design an
else who might be affected by the changes Experiment to Improve All Domains of My
you are envisioning. In exploring the idea of Life?” to organize your thinking.
joining a community board, for instance, Ken-
neth Chen sought advice from his boss, who One category of experiment involves
had served on many boards, and also from the changes in where and when work gets done.
company’s charitable director and the vice One workshop participant, a sales director
president of talent. In this way, he got their for a global cement producer, tried working
support. His employers could see how his online from his local public library one day
participation on a board would benefit the a week to free himself from his very long
company by developing Kenneth’s leadership commute. This was a break from a company
skills and his social network. culture that didn’t traditionally support em-
ployees working remotely, but the change
Some experiments benefit only a single benefited everyone. He had more time for
domain directly while having indirect benefits outside interests, and he was more engaged
in the others. For example, setting aside three and productive at work.
mornings a week to exercise improves your
health directly but may indirectly give you Another category has to do with regular
more energy for your work and raise your self-reflection. As an example, you might keep
self-esteem, which in turn might make you a a record of your activities, thoughts, and feel-
better father and friend. Other activities— ings over the course of a month to see how
such as running a half-marathon with your various actions influence your performance
kids to raise funds for a charity sponsored by and quality of life. Still another category
your company—occur in, and directly bene- focuses on planning and organizing your
fit, all four domains simultaneously. Whether time—such as trying out a new technology
the benefits are direct or indirect, achieving a that coordinates commitments at work with
four-way win is the goal. That’s what makes those in the other domains.
the changes sustainable: Everyone benefits.
The expected gains need not accrue until Conversations about work and the rest of
sometime in the future, so keep in mind that life tend to emphasize segmentation: How
some benefits may not be obvious—far-off do I shut out the office when I am with my
career advancements, for instance, or a con- family? How can I eliminate distractions and
tact who might ultimately offer valuable concentrate purely on work? But, in some
connections. cases, it might be better to make boundaries
between domains more permeable, not
Identify possibilities. Open your mind to thicker. The very technologies that make it
what’s possible and try to think of as many po- hard for us to maintain healthy boundaries
tential experiments as you can, describing in a among domains also enable us to blend them
sentence or two what you would do in each. in ways—unfathomable even a decade ago—
This is a time to let your imagination run free. that can render us more productive and more
Don’t worry about all the potential obstacles fulfilled. These tools give us choices. The
at this point. challenge we all face is learning how to use

harvard business review • april 2008 page 7

MANAGING YOURSELF•••Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

How Can I Design an Experiment to
Improve All Domains of My Life?

Our research has revealed that most (smoking, drinking) about different aspects of life, you
successful experiments combine • Make time for reading a novel demonstrate respect for the whole
components of nine general catego- • Engage in activities that improve person.
ries. Thinking about possibilities in
this way will make it easier for you to emotional and spiritual health Examples
conceive of the small changes you can (yoga, meditation, etc.) • Have weekly conversations about
make that will mutually benefit your
work, your home, your community, Appreciating and Caring religion with spouse
and yourself. Most experiments are • Describe your vision to others
a hybrid of some combination of Having fun with people (typically, by • Mentor a new employee
these categories. doing things with coworkers outside
work), caring for others, and appreci- Time Shifting and “Re-Placing”
Tracking and Reflecting ating relationships as a way of bond-
ing at a basic human level to respect Working remotely or during different
Keeping a record of activities, the whole person, which increases hours to increase flexibility and thus
thoughts, and feelings (and perhaps trust. better fit in community, family, and
distributing it to friends, family, and personal activities while increasing
coworkers) to assess progress on per- Examples efficiency; questioning traditional
sonal and professional goals, thereby • Join a book group or health club assumptions and trying new ways to
increasing self-awareness and main- get things done.
taining priorities. with coworkers
• Help your son complete his home- Examples
Examples • Work from home
• Record visits to the gym along work • Take music lessons during your
• Devote one day a month to com-
with changes in energy levels lunch hour
• Track the times of day when you munity service • Do work during your commute

feel most engaged or most le- Focusing and Concentrating Delegating and Developing
thargic
Being physically present, psychologi- Reallocating tasks in ways that in-
Planning and Organizing cally present, or both when needed to crease trust, free up time, and develop
pay attention to stakeholders who skills in yourself and others; working
Taking actions designed to better matter most. Sometimes this means smarter by reducing or eliminating
use time and prepare and plan for the saying no to opportunities or obliga- low-priority activities.
future. tions. Includes attempts to show more
respect to important people encoun- Examples
Examples tered in different domains and the • Hire a personal assistant
• Use a PDA for all activities, not need to be accessible to them. • Have a subordinate take on some

just work Examples of your responsibilities
• Share your schedule with some- • Turn off digital communication
Exploring and Venturing
one else devices at a set time
• Prepare for the week on Sunday • Set aside a specific time to focus Taking steps toward a new job, career,
or other activity that better aligns
evening on one thing or person your work, home, community, and self
• Review e-mail at preset times dur- with your core values and aspirations.
Rejuvenating and Restoring
ing the day Examples
Attending to body, mind, and spirit so • Take on new roles at work, such as
that the tasks of daily living and work- Revealing and Engaging
ing are undertaken with renewed a cross-functional assignment
power, focus, and commitment. Sharing more of yourself with others— • Try a new coaching style
and listening—so they can better sup- • Join the board of your child’s day
Examples port your values and the steps you
• Quit unhealthy physical habits want to take toward your leadership care center
vision. By enhancing communication

page 8 harvard business review • april 2008

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life•••MANAGING YOURSELF

them wisely, and smart experiments give you the plan because she believed that the focus Typically, two
an opportunity to increase your skill in doing required by the training and the physical out- experiments turn out to
so. The main point is to identify possibilities let it provided would make Lim a better be relatively successful
that will work well in your unique situation. father. The family also had a strong tradition and one goes haywire.
of athleticism, and Joanne herself was an
All effective experiments require that you accomplished athlete. Lim was training with
question traditional assumptions about how his boss and other colleagues, and all agreed
things get done, as the sales director did. It’s that it would be a healthy endeavor that
easier to feel free to do this, and to take inno- would improve professional communication
vative action, when you know that your goal (as they thought there would be plenty of
is to improve performance in all domains and time to bond during training).
that you’ll be gathering data about the impact
of your experiment to determine if indeed But as her delivery date approached,
it is working—for your key stakeholders and Joanne became apprehensive, which she
for you. expressed to Lim as concern that he might get
injured. Her real concern, though, was that
Whatever type you choose, the most useful he was spending so much time on an activity
experiments feel like something of a stretch: that might drain his energy at a point when
not too easy, not too daunting. It might be the family needed him most. One adjustment
something quite mundane for someone else, that Lim made to reassure Joanne of his
but that doesn’t matter. What’s critical is that commitment to their family was to initiate
you see it as a moderately difficult challenge. another experiment in which he took the steps
needed to allow him to work at home on
Choose a few, get started, and adapt. Thursday afternoons. He had to set up some
Coming up with possibilities is an exercise in new technologies and agree to send a monthly
unbounded imagination. But when it comes memo to his boss summarizing what he was
time to take action, it’s not practical to try out accomplishing on those afternoons. He also
more than three experiments at once. Typi- bought a baby sling, which would allow him
cally, two turn out to be relatively successful to keep his new son with him while at home.
and one goes haywire, so you will earn some
small wins, and learn something useful about In the end, not only were Joanne and their
leadership, without biting off more than you baby on hand to cheer Lim on while he ran
can chew. Now the priority is to narrow the the marathon, but she ended up joining him
list to the three most-promising candidates by for the second half of the race to give him a
reviewing which will: boost when she saw his energy flagging. His
business unit’s numbers improved during the
• Give you the best overall return on your period when he was training and working at
investment home. So did the unit’s morale—people began
to see the company as more flexible, and they
• Be the most costly in regret and missed were encouraged to be more creative in how
opportunities if you don’t do it they got their own work done—and word got
around. Executives throughout the firm began
• Allow you to practice the leadership skills to come up with their own ideas for ways to
you most want to develop pay more attention to other sides of their em-
ployees’ lives and so build a stronger sense of
• Be the most fun by involving more of community at work.
what you want to be doing
The investment in a well-designed experi-
• Move you furthest toward your vision of ment almost always pays off because you
how you want to lead your life learn how to lead in new and creative ways in
all parts of your life. And if your experiments
Once you choose and begin to move down turn out well—as they usually, but not always,
the road with your experiment, however, be do—it will benefit everyone: you, your busi-
prepared to adapt to the unforeseen. Don’t ness, your family, and your community.
become too wedded to the details of any one
experiment’s plan, because you will at some Measuring Progress
point be surprised and need to adjust. An ex-
ecutive I’ll call Lim, for example, chose as one The only way to fail with an experiment is to
experiment to run the Chicago Marathon. He
had been feeling out of shape, which in turn
diminished his energy and focus both at work
and at home. His wife, Joanne, was pregnant
with their first child and initially supported

harvard business review • april 2008 page 9

MANAGING YOURSELF•••Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

fail to learn from it, and this makes useful met- the top of the page, write a brief description of
rics essential. No doubt it’s better to achieve it. Then record your goals for each domain in
the results you are after than to fall short, but the first column. In the middle column, de-
hitting targets does not in itself advance you scribe your results metrics: how you will mea-
toward becoming the leader you want to be. sure whether the goals for each domain have
Failed experiments give you, and those around been achieved. In the third column, describe
you, information that helps create better ones your action metrics—the plan for the steps you
in the future. will take to implement your experiment. As
you begin to implement your plan, you may
The exhibit “How Do I Know If My Experi- find that your initial indicators are too broad
ment Is Working?” shows how Kenneth Chen or too vague, so refine your scorecard as you go
measured his progress. He used this simple along to make it more useful for you. The
chart to spell out the intended benefits of his main point is to have practical ways of measur-
experiment in each of the four domains and ing your outcomes and your progress toward
how he would assess whether he had realized them, and the approach you take only needs to
these benefits. To set up your own scorecard, work for you and your stakeholders.
use a separate sheet for each experiment; at

How Do I Know If My Experiment Is Working?

Using this tool, an executive I’ll call Kenneth Chen systematically set out in detail his various goals, the metrics he would use to measure his
progress, and the steps he would take in conducting an experiment that would further those goals—joining the board of a nonprofit organiza-
tion. Kenneth’s work sheet is merely an example: Every person’s experiments, goals, and metrics are unique.

A Sample Scorecard:

Work EXPERIMENT’S GOALS HOW I WILL MEASURE SUCCESS IMPLEMENTATION STEPS

To fulfill the expectation that executives will give Collect business cards from everyone I meet on ❏ Meet with my manager, who
back to the local community the board and during board meetings, and keep has sat on many boards and can
track of the number of professionals I meet provide support and advice
To establish networks with other officers in my
company and other professionals in the area After each meeting, regularly record the ❏ Meet with the director of
leadership skills of those I would like to my company’s foundation to
To learn leadership skills from other board emulate determine my real interests and
members and from the organization I join to help assess what relation-
See whether Celine gets involved in the board ship our firm has with various
Home To join a board that can involve my fiancée, Celine community organizations
Record the number of conversations my sister
To have something to discuss with my sister and I have about community service for the next ❏ Discuss my course of action
(a special-education instructor) three months and see whether they have with my fiancée and see
brought us closer whether joining a board
Community To provide my leadership skills to a nonprofit interests her
Self organization Record what I learn about each nonprofit
To get more involved in giving back to the organization I research ❏ Sign up to attend the Decem-
community ber 15 overview session of the
Record the number of times I attend board Business on Board program
To feel good about contributing to others’ welfare meetings
To see others grow as a result of my efforts ❏ Assess different opportunities
To become more compassionate Assess how I feel about myself in a daily journal within the community and
then reach out to organizations
Assess the effect I have on others in terms of I’m interested in
potential number of people affected
❏ Apply for membership to
Ask for feedback from others about whether I’ve a community board
become more compassionate

Visit richerlife.tools.hbr.org for further work sheets and for blank versions to download. For a more comprehensive offering of online tools,
videos, and blogs, go to www.totalleadership.org.

page 10 harvard business review • april 2008

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life•••MANAGING YOURSELF

Workshop participants have used all kinds my company and my role in it.” There’s noth- You can say to people:
of metrics: cost savings from reduced travel, ing small about that. He felt he was missing a “Let’s just try this. If it
number of e-mail misunderstandings averted, sense of purpose. doesn’t work, we’ll go
degree of satisfaction with family time, hours back to the old way or try
spent volunteering at a teen center, and so Ismail designed practical steps that would something different.”
on. Metrics may be objective or subjective, allow him to move toward his large goal over
qualitative or quantitative, reported by you or time. His first experiments were small and
by others, and frequently or intermittently achievable. He introduced a new method that
observed. When it comes to frequency, for in- both his colleagues and his wife could use to
stance, it helps to consider how long you’ll be communicate with him. He began to hold
able to remember what you did. For example, sacrosanct time for his family and his church.
if you were to go on a diet to get healthier, in- As he looked for ways to free up more time,
crease energy, and enhance key relationships, he initiated delegation experiments that had
food intake would be an important metric. the effect of flattening his organization’s
But would you be able to remember what you structure. These small wins crossed over
ate two days ago? several domains, and eventually he did indeed
transform his company and his own role in it.
Small Wins for Big Change When I spoke with him 18 months after he’d
started, he acknowledged that he’d had a
Experiments shouldn’t be massive, all- hard time coping with the loss of control over
encompassing shifts in the way you live. tactical business matters, but he described his
Highly ambitious designs usually fail because experiments as “a testament to the idea of
they’re too much to handle. The best experi- winning the small battles and letting the war
ments let you try something new while mini- be won as a result.” He and his leadership
mizing the inevitable risks associated with team both felt more confident about the
change. When the stakes are smaller, it’s firm’s new organizational structure.
easier to overcome the fear of failure that
inhibits innovation. You start to see results, •••
and others take note, which both inspires you People try the Total Leadership program for a
to go further and builds support from your variety of reasons. Some feel unfulfilled be-
key stakeholders. cause they’re not doing what they love. Some
don’t feel genuine because they’re not acting
Another benefit of the small-wins approach according to their values. Others feel discon-
to experiments is that it opens doors that nected, isolated from people who matter to
would otherwise be closed. You can say to them. They crave stronger relationships, built
people invested in the decision, “Let’s just try on trust, and yearn for enriched social net-
this. If it doesn’t work, we’ll go back to the old works. Still others are just in a rut. They want
way or try something different.” By framing to tap into their creative energy but don’t
an experiment as a trial, you reduce resistance know how (and sometimes lack the courage)
because people are more likely to try some- to do so. They feel out of control and unable to
thing new if they know it’s not permanent fit in all that’s important to them.
and if they have control over deciding
whether the experiment is working according My hunch is that there are more four-way
to their performance expectations. wins available to you than you’d think. They
are there for the taking. You have to know
But “small” is a relative term—what might how to look for them and then find the sup-
look like a small step for you could seem like port and zeal to pursue them. By providing a
a giant leap to me, and vice versa. So don’t get blueprint for how you can be real, be whole,
hung up on the word. What’s more, this isn’t and be innovative as a leader in all parts
about the scope or importance of the changes of your life, this program helps you perform
you eventually make. Large-scale change is better according to the standards of the most
grounded in small steps toward a big idea. So important people in your life; feel better in all
while the steps in an experiment might be the domains of your life; and foster greater
small, the goals are not. Ismail, a successful harmony among the domains by increasing
50-year-old entrepreneur and CEO of an engi- the resources available to you to fit all the
neering services company, described the goal parts of your life together. No matter what
for his first experiment this way: “Restructure your career stage or current position, you

harvard business review • april 2008 page 11

MANAGING YOURSELF•••Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

can be a better leader and have a richer life—
if you are ready and willing to rise to the
challenge.
Reprint R0804H
To order, see the next page
or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500
or go to www.hbr.org

page 12 harvard business review • april 2008

MANAGING YOURSELF

Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life

Further Reading

BOOK time, encourage employees to identify their
Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a concerns and goals outside the office. 2) Take
Richer Life time to learn about employees’ personal
by Stewart D. Friedman situations. Not only does this build trust, it
Harvard Business Press also creates opportunities to learn about
June 2008 other talents that employees could bring to
Product no. 3285 your business. 3) Continually experiment
with how work gets done. Streamlining
This book, on which the article is based, offers work processes can improve performance
additional ideas on how to perform well as a and give employees more time to pursue
leader, not by trading off one life domain for personal goals.
another, but by finding mutual value among
all four—work, home, community, and self. Success That Lasts
The author shows you how to achieve by Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson
these “four-way wins” as a leader who can: Harvard Business Review
Be real—act with authenticity by clarifying April 2004
what’s important; Be whole—act with Product no. 659X
integrity by respecting the whole person;
and Be innovative—act with creativity by These authors provide another process for
experimenting to find new solutions. The determining what matters most to you, a step
book includes more than 30 hands-on tools you take before designing experiments for
to help you produce stronger business re- change. First, imagine life satisfaction as
sults, find clearer purpose in what you do, feel consisting of four categories: happiness,
more connected to the people who matter achievement, significance (positively affect-
most, and generate sustainable change. ing those you care about), and legacy (help-
ing others find future success). Second, assess
ARTICLES the various categories of satisfaction you’ve
Work and Life: The End of the Zero-Sum already experienced. Third, notice patterns:
Game Are some categories meager? Others too
by Stewart D. Friedman, Perry Christensen, full? Are the patterns in line with your
and Jessica DeGroot goals? Fourth, identify which categories
Harvard Business Review need attention and which show “just enough”
July 2000 success so that you can focus your efforts on a
Product no. 4452 different category.

To Order Not only do successful leaders pay attention
to all dimensions of their lives—they encour-
For Harvard Business Review reprints and age their employees to do the same. Leaders
subscriptions, call 800-988-0886 or who treat employees’ work and personal lives
617-783-7500. Go to www.hbr.org as complementary, not competing, priorities
discover that employees respond with greater
For customized and quantity orders of effort and loyalty. To create a work environ-
Harvard Business Review article reprints, ment that supports all domains of employees’
call 617-783-7626, or e-mail lives: 1) Clarify what’s important. Be explicit
[email protected] about your unit’s priorities and your expecta-
tions for employees’ performance, but give
employees great autonomy over how to
achieve the goals you’ve laid out. At the same

page 13

www.hbr.org

Success in the knowledge BEST OF HBR 1999
economy comes to those who
know themselves—their Managing Oneself
strengths, their values, and
how they best perform. by Peter F. Drucker

•

Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:

17 Article Summary
The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work

19 Managing Oneself

29 Further Reading
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further
exploration of the article’s ideas and applications

Reprint R0501K page 15

BEST OF HBR 1999

Managing Oneself

The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice

We live in an age of unprecedented oppor- To build a life of excellence, begin by asking yourself these questions:
tunity: If you’ve got ambition, drive, and
COPYRIGHT © 2004 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. smarts, you can rise to the top of your cho- “What are my strengths?” “What are my values?”
sen profession—regardless of where you To accurately identify your strengths, use What are your ethics? What do you see as your
started out. But with opportunity comes re- feedback analysis. Every time you make a key most important responsibilities for living a
sponsibility. Companies today aren’t man- decision, write down the outcome you ex- worthy, ethical life? Do your organization’s
aging their knowledge workers’ careers. pect. Several months later, compare the actual ethics resonate with your own values? If not,
Rather, we must each be our own chief ex- results with your expected results. Look for your career will likely be marked by frustration
ecutive officer. patterns in what you’re seeing: What results and poor performance.
are you skilled at generating? What abilities do
Simply put, it’s up to you to carve out your you need to enhance in order to get the re- “Where do I belong?”
place in the work world and know when to sults you want? What unproductive habits are Consider your strengths, preferred work style,
change course. And it’s up to you to keep preventing you from creating the outcomes and values. Based on these qualities, in what
yourself engaged and productive during a you desire? In identifying opportunities for im- kind of work environment would you fit in
work life that may span some 50 years. provement, don’t waste time cultivating skill best? Find the perfect fit, and you’ll transform
areas where you have little competence. In- yourself from a merely acceptable employee
To do all of these things well, you’ll need to stead, concentrate on—and build on—your into a star performer.
cultivate a deep understanding of yourself. strengths.
What are your most valuable strengths and “What can I contribute?”
most dangerous weaknesses? Equally im- “How do I work?” In earlier eras, companies told businesspeople
portant, how do you learn and work with In what ways do you work best? Do you pro- what their contribution should be. Today, you
others? What are your most deeply held val- cess information most effectively by reading have choices. To decide how you can best en-
ues? And in what type of work environment it, or by hearing others discuss it? Do you hance your organization’s performance, first
can you make the greatest contribution? accomplish the most by working with other ask what the situation requires. Based on your
people, or by working alone? Do you per- strengths, work style, and values, how might
The implication is clear: Only when you op- form best while making decisions, or while you make the greatest contribution to your
erate from a combination of your strengths advising others on key matters? Are you in organization’s efforts?
and self-knowledge can you achieve true— top form when things get stressful, or do
and lasting—excellence. you function optimally in a highly predict-
able environment?

page 17

Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know
themselves—their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.

BEST OF HBR 1999

Managing Oneself

by Peter F. Drucker

COPYRIGHT © 2004 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: tions, so unusual both in their talents and
If you’ve got ambition and smarts, you can rise to their accomplishments as to be considered
the top of your chosen profession, regardless of outside the boundaries of ordinary human ex-
where you started out. istence. Now, most of us, even those of us with
modest endowments, will have to learn to
But with opportunity comes responsibility. manage ourselves. We will have to learn to de-
Companies today aren’t managing their employ- velop ourselves. We will have to place our-
ees’ careers; knowledge workers must, effec- selves where we can make the greatest contri-
tively, be their own chief executive officers. It’s up bution. And we will have to stay mentally alert
to you to carve out your place, to know when to and engaged during a 50-year working life,
change course, and to keep yourself engaged and which means knowing how and when to
productive during a work life that may span change the work we do.
some 50 years. To do those things well, you’ll
need to cultivate a deep understanding of your- What Are My Strengths?
self—not only what your strengths and weak-
nesses are but also how you learn, how you work Most people think they know what they are
with others, what your values are, and where you good at. They are usually wrong. More often,
can make the greatest contribution. Because only people know what they are not good at—and
when you operate from strengths can you even then more people are wrong than right.
achieve true excellence. And yet, a person can perform only from
strength. One cannot build performance on
History’s great achievers—a Napoléon, a da weaknesses, let alone on something one can-
Vinci, a Mozart—have always managed them- not do at all.
selves. That, in large measure, is what makes
them great achievers. But they are rare excep- Throughout history, people had little
need to know their strengths. A person was

harvard business review • january 2005 page 19

BEST OF HBR 1999•••Managing Oneself

Peter F. Drucker is the Marie Rankin born into a position and a line of work: The gance is causing disabling ignorance and over-
Clarke Professor of Social Science and peasant’s son would also be a peasant; the ar- come it. Far too many people—especially peo-
Management (Emeritus) at Claremont tisan’s daughter, an artisan’s wife; and so on. ple with great expertise in one area—are
Graduate University in Claremont, Cali- But now people have choices. We need to contemptuous of knowledge in other areas or
fornia. This article is an excerpt from his know our strengths in order to know where believe that being bright is a substitute for
book Management Challenges for the we belong. knowledge. First-rate engineers, for instance,
21st Century (HarperCollins, 1999). tend to take pride in not knowing anything
The only way to discover your strengths is about people. Human beings, they believe, are
through feedback analysis. Whenever you much too disorderly for the good engineering
make a key decision or take a key action, write mind. Human resources professionals, by con-
down what you expect will happen. Nine or 12 trast, often pride themselves on their igno-
months later, compare the actual results with rance of elementary accounting or of quantita-
your expectations. I have been practicing this tive methods altogether. But taking pride in
method for 15 to 20 years now, and every time such ignorance is self-defeating. Go to work on
I do it, I am surprised. The feedback analysis acquiring the skills and knowledge you need to
showed me, for instance—and to my great sur- fully realize your strengths.
prise—that I have an intuitive understanding
of technical people, whether they are engi- It is equally essential to remedy your bad
neers or accountants or market researchers. It habits—the things you do or fail to do that in-
also showed me that I don’t really resonate hibit your effectiveness and performance. Such
with generalists. habits will quickly show up in the feedback.
For example, a planner may find that his beau-
Feedback analysis is by no means new. It tiful plans fail because he does not follow
was invented sometime in the fourteenth cen- through on them. Like so many brilliant peo-
tury by an otherwise totally obscure German ple, he believes that ideas move mountains.
theologian and picked up quite independently, But bulldozers move mountains; ideas show
some 150 years later, by John Calvin and Igna- where the bulldozers should go to work. This
tius of Loyola, each of whom incorporated it planner will have to learn that the work does
into the practice of his followers. In fact, the not stop when the plan is completed. He must
steadfast focus on performance and results find people to carry out the plan and explain it
that this habit produces explains why the insti- to them. He must adapt and change it as he
tutions these two men founded, the Calvinist puts it into action. And finally, he must decide
church and the Jesuit order, came to dominate when to stop pushing the plan.
Europe within 30 years.
At the same time, feedback will also reveal
Practiced consistently, this simple method when the problem is a lack of manners. Man-
will show you within a fairly short period of ners are the lubricating oil of an organization.
time, maybe two or three years, where your It is a law of nature that two moving bodies in
strengths lie—and this is the most important contact with each other create friction. This is
thing to know. The method will show you as true for human beings as it is for inanimate
what you are doing or failing to do that de- objects. Manners—simple things like saying
prives you of the full benefits of your “please” and “thank you” and knowing a per-
strengths. It will show you where you are not son’s name or asking after her family—enable
particularly competent. And finally, it will two people to work together whether they
show you where you have no strengths and like each other or not. Bright people, espe-
cannot perform. cially bright young people, often do not un-
derstand this. If analysis shows that some-
Several implications for action follow from one’s brilliant work fails again and again as
feedback analysis. First and foremost, concen- soon as cooperation from others is required, it
trate on your strengths. Put yourself where probably indicates a lack of courtesy—that is,
your strengths can produce results. a lack of manners.

Second, work on improving your strengths. Comparing your expectations with your re-
Analysis will rapidly show where you need to sults also indicates what not to do. We all
improve skills or acquire new ones. It will also have a vast number of areas in which we have
show the gaps in your knowledge—and those no talent or skill and little chance of becom-
can usually be filled. Mathematicians are born, ing even mediocre. In those areas a person—
but everyone can learn trigonometry.

Third, discover where your intellectual arro-

page 20 harvard business review • january 2005

Managing Oneself•••BEST OF HBR 1999

and especially a knowledge worker—should who had been his admirers held President It takes far more energy
not take on work, jobs, and assignments. One Eisenhower in open contempt. He never ad- to improve from
should waste as little effort as possible on im- dressed the questions, they complained, but incompetence to
proving areas of low competence. It takes far rambled on endlessly about something else. mediocrity than to
more energy and work to improve from in- And they constantly ridiculed him for butcher- improve from first-rate
competence to mediocrity than it takes to im- ing the King’s English in incoherent and un- performance to
prove from first-rate performance to excel- grammatical answers. excellence.
lence. And yet most people—especially most
teachers and most organizations—concen- Eisenhower apparently did not know that
trate on making incompetent performers into he was a reader, not a listener. When he was
mediocre ones. Energy, resources, and time Supreme Commander in Europe, his aides
should go instead to making a competent per- made sure that every question from the press
son into a star performer. was presented in writing at least half an hour
before a conference was to begin. And then
How Do I Perform? Eisenhower was in total command. When he
became president, he succeeded two listeners,
Amazingly few people know how they get Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Both
things done. Indeed, most of us do not even men knew themselves to be listeners and both
know that different people work and perform enjoyed free-for-all press conferences. Eisen-
differently. Too many people work in ways that hower may have felt that he had to do what his
are not their ways, and that almost guarantees two predecessors had done. As a result, he
nonperformance. For knowledge workers, How never even heard the questions journalists
do I perform? may be an even more important asked. And Eisenhower is not even an extreme
question than What are my strengths? case of a nonlistener.

Like one’s strengths, how one performs is A few years later, Lyndon Johnson destroyed
unique. It is a matter of personality. Whether his presidency, in large measure, by not know-
personality be a matter of nature or nurture, it ing that he was a listener. His predecessor,
surely is formed long before a person goes to John Kennedy, was a reader who had assem-
work. And how a person performs is a given, bled a brilliant group of writers as his assis-
just as what a person is good at or not good at tants, making sure that they wrote to him be-
is a given. A person’s way of performing can be fore discussing their memos in person. Johnson
slightly modified, but it is unlikely to be com- kept these people on his staff—and they kept
pletely changed—and certainly not easily. Just on writing. He never, apparently, understood
as people achieve results by doing what they one word of what they wrote. Yet as a senator,
are good at, they also achieve results by work- Johnson had been superb; for parliamentari-
ing in ways that they best perform. A few com- ans have to be, above all, listeners.
mon personality traits usually determine how
a person performs. Few listeners can be made, or can make
themselves, into competent readers—and vice
Am I a reader or a listener? The first thing versa. The listener who tries to be a reader will,
to know is whether you are a reader or a lis- therefore, suffer the fate of Lyndon Johnson,
tener. Far too few people even know that whereas the reader who tries to be a listener
there are readers and listeners and that peo- will suffer the fate of Dwight Eisenhower. They
ple are rarely both. Even fewer know which will not perform or achieve.
of the two they themselves are. But some ex-
amples will show how damaging such igno- How do I learn? The second thing to know
rance can be. about how one performs is to know how one
learns. Many first-class writers—Winston
When Dwight Eisenhower was Supreme Churchill is but one example—do poorly in
Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, he school. They tend to remember their school-
was the darling of the press. His press confer- ing as pure torture. Yet few of their classmates
ences were famous for their style—General remember it the same way. They may not have
Eisenhower showed total command of what- enjoyed the school very much, but the worst
ever question he was asked, and he was able to they suffered was boredom. The explanation is
describe a situation and explain a policy in two that writers do not, as a rule, learn by listening
or three beautifully polished and elegant sen- and reading. They learn by writing. Because
tences. Ten years later, the same journalists schools do not allow them to learn this way,

harvard business review • january 2005 page 21

BEST OF HBR 1999•••Managing Oneself

Do not try to change they get poor grades. was America’s top troop commander. Yet when
yourself—you are Schools everywhere are organized on the as- he was proposed for an independent command,
unlikely to succeed. Work General George Marshall, the U.S. chief of
to improve the way you sumption that there is only one right way to staff—and probably the most successful picker
perform. learn and that it is the same way for everybody. of men in U.S. history—said, “Patton is the best
But to be forced to learn the way a school subordinate the American army has ever pro-
teaches is sheer hell for students who learn dif- duced, but he would be the worst commander.”
ferently. Indeed, there are probably half a
dozen different ways to learn. Some people work best as team members.
Others work best alone. Some are exception-
There are people, like Churchill, who learn ally talented as coaches and mentors; others
by writing. Some people learn by taking copi- are simply incompetent as mentors.
ous notes. Beethoven, for example, left behind
an enormous number of sketchbooks, yet he Another crucial question is, Do I produce re-
said he never actually looked at them when he sults as a decision maker or as an adviser? A
composed. Asked why he kept them, he is re- great many people perform best as advisers
ported to have replied,“If I don’t write it down but cannot take the burden and pressure of
immediately, I forget it right away. If I put it making the decision. A good many other peo-
into a sketchbook, I never forget it and I never ple, by contrast, need an adviser to force them-
have to look it up again.” Some people learn by selves to think; then they can make decisions
doing. Others learn by hearing themselves talk. and act on them with speed, self-confidence,
and courage.
A chief executive I know who converted a
small and mediocre family business into the This is a reason, by the way, that the num-
leading company in its industry was one of ber two person in an organization often fails
those people who learn by talking. He was in when promoted to the number one position.
the habit of calling his entire senior staff into The top spot requires a decision maker. Strong
his office once a week and then talking at them decision makers often put somebody they trust
for two or three hours. He would raise policy into the number two spot as their adviser—
issues and argue three different positions on and in that position the person is outstanding.
each one. He rarely asked his associates for But in the number one spot, the same person
comments or questions; he simply needed an fails. He or she knows what the decision should
audience to hear himself talk. That’s how he be but cannot accept the responsibility of actu-
learned. And although he is a fairly extreme ally making it.
case, learning through talking is by no means
an unusual method. Successful trial lawyers Other important questions to ask include,
learn the same way, as do many medical diag- Do I perform well under stress, or do I need a
nosticians (and so do I). highly structured and predictable environ-
ment? Do I work best in a big organization or
Of all the important pieces of self-knowledge, a small one? Few people work well in all
understanding how you learn is the easiest to kinds of environments. Again and again, I
acquire. When I ask people, “How do you have seen people who were very successful in
learn?” most of them know the answer. But large organizations flounder miserably when
when I ask, “Do you act on this knowledge?” they moved into smaller ones. And the re-
few answer yes. And yet, acting on this knowl- verse is equally true.
edge is the key to performance; or rather, not
acting on this knowledge condemns one to The conclusion bears repeating: Do not try
nonperformance. to change yourself—you are unlikely to suc-
ceed. But work hard to improve the way you
Am I a reader or a listener? and How do I perform. And try not to take on work you can-
learn? are the first questions to ask. But they not perform or will only perform poorly.
are by no means the only ones. To manage
yourself effectively, you also have to ask, Do I What Are My Values?
work well with people, or am I a loner? And if
you do work well with people, you then must To be able to manage yourself, you finally
ask, In what relationship? have to ask, What are my values? This is not a
question of ethics. With respect to ethics, the
Some people work best as subordinates. Gen- rules are the same for everybody, and the test
eral George Patton, the great American military is a simple one. I call it the “mirror test.”
hero of World War II, is a prime example. Patton
In the early years of this century, the most

page 22 harvard business review • january 2005

Managing Oneself•••BEST OF HBR 1999

highly respected diplomat of all the great pow- tion. The results of either strategy may be
ers was the German ambassador in London. pretty much the same. At bottom, there is a
He was clearly destined for great things—to conflict between a value system that sees the
become his country’s foreign minister, at least, company’s contribution in terms of helping
if not its federal chancellor. Yet in 1906 he physicians do better what they already do and a
abruptly resigned rather than preside over a value system that is oriented toward making
dinner given by the diplomatic corps for Ed- scientific discoveries.
ward VII. The king was a notorious womanizer
and made it clear what kind of dinner he Whether a business should be run for short-
wanted. The ambassador is reported to have term results or with a focus on the long term is
said,“I refuse to see a pimp in the mirror in the likewise a question of values. Financial ana-
morning when I shave.” lysts believe that businesses can be run for
both simultaneously. Successful businesspeo-
That is the mirror test. Ethics requires that ple know better. To be sure, every company
you ask yourself, What kind of person do I has to produce short-term results. But in any
want to see in the mirror in the morning? conflict between short-term results and long-
What is ethical behavior in one kind of orga- term growth, each company will determine its
nization or situation is ethical behavior in an- own priority. This is not primarily a disagree-
other. But ethics is only part of a value sys- ment about economics. It is fundamentally a
tem—especially of an organization’s value value conflict regarding the function of a busi-
system. ness and the responsibility of management.

To work in an organization whose value sys- Value conflicts are not limited to business
tem is unacceptable or incompatible with one’s organizations. One of the fastest-growing pas-
own condemns a person both to frustration toral churches in the United States measures
and to nonperformance. success by the number of new parishioners.
Its leadership believes that what matters is
Consider the experience of a highly success- how many newcomers join the congregation.
ful human resources executive whose com- The Good Lord will then minister to their
pany was acquired by a bigger organization. spiritual needs or at least to the needs of a
After the acquisition, she was promoted to do sufficient percentage. Another pastoral, evan-
the kind of work she did best, which included gelical church believes that what matters is
selecting people for important positions. The people’s spiritual growth. The church eases
executive deeply believed that a company out newcomers who join but do not enter into
should hire people for such positions from the its spiritual life.
outside only after exhausting all the inside pos-
sibilities. But her new company believed in Again, this is not a matter of numbers. At
first looking outside “to bring in fresh blood.” first glance, it appears that the second church
There is something to be said for both ap- grows more slowly. But it retains a far larger
proaches—in my experience, the proper one is proportion of newcomers than the first one
to do some of both. They are, however, funda- does. Its growth, in other words, is more solid.
mentally incompatible—not as policies but as This is also not a theological problem, or only
values. They bespeak different views of the re- secondarily so. It is a problem about values. In
lationship between organizations and people; a public debate, one pastor argued, “Unless
different views of the responsibility of an orga- you first come to church, you will never find
nization to its people and their development; the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
and different views of a person’s most impor-
tant contribution to an enterprise. After sev- “No,” answered the other. “Until you first
eral years of frustration, the executive quit—at look for the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven,
considerable financial loss. Her values and the you don’t belong in church.”
values of the organization simply were not
compatible. Organizations, like people, have values. To
be effective in an organization, a person’s val-
Similarly, whether a pharmaceutical com- ues must be compatible with the organiza-
pany tries to obtain results by making constant, tion’s values. They do not need to be the same,
small improvements or by achieving occa- but they must be close enough to coexist. Oth-
sional, highly expensive, and risky “break- erwise, the person will not only be frustrated
throughs” is not primarily an economic ques- but also will not produce results.

A person’s strengths and the way that per-

harvard business review • january 2005 page 23

BEST OF HBR 1999•••Managing Oneself

What one does well— son performs rarely conflict; the two are com- doing it. This is the way it should be struc-
even very well and plementary. But there is sometimes a conflict tured. This is the way the relationships should
successfully—may not fit between a person’s values and his or her be. These are the kind of results you should ex-
with one’s value system. strengths. What one does well—even very well pect from me, and in this time frame, because
and successfully—may not fit with one’s value this is who I am.”
system. In that case, the work may not appear
to be worth devoting one’s life to (or even a Successful careers are not planned. They
substantial portion thereof). develop when people are prepared for oppor-
tunities because they know their strengths,
If I may, allow me to interject a personal their method of work, and their values.
note. Many years ago, I too had to decide be- Knowing where one belongs can transform an
tween my values and what I was doing success- ordinary person—hardworking and compe-
fully. I was doing very well as a young invest- tent but otherwise mediocre—into an out-
ment banker in London in the mid-1930s, and standing performer.
the work clearly fit my strengths. Yet I did not
see myself making a contribution as an asset What Should I Contribute?
manager. People, I realized, were what I val-
ued, and I saw no point in being the richest Throughout history, the great majority of peo-
man in the cemetery. I had no money and no ple never had to ask the question, What
other job prospects. Despite the continuing should I contribute? They were told what to
Depression, I quit—and it was the right thing contribute, and their tasks were dictated ei-
to do. Values, in other words, are and should ther by the work itself—as it was for the peas-
be the ultimate test. ant or artisan—or by a master or a mistress—
as it was for domestic servants. And until very
Where Do I Belong? recently, it was taken for granted that most
people were subordinates who did as they
A small number of people know very early were told. Even in the 1950s and 1960s, the
where they belong. Mathematicians, musi- new knowledge workers (the so-called organi-
cians, and cooks, for instance, are usually zation men) looked to their company’s person-
mathematicians, musicians, and cooks by the nel department to plan their careers.
time they are four or five years old. Physi-
cians usually decide on their careers in their Then in the late 1960s, no one wanted to be
teens, if not earlier. But most people, espe- told what to do any longer. Young men and
cially highly gifted people, do not really women began to ask, What do I want to do?
know where they belong until they are well And what they heard was that the way to con-
past their mid-twenties. By that time, how- tribute was to “do your own thing.” But this so-
ever, they should know the answers to the lution was as wrong as the organization men’s
three questions: What are my strengths? How had been. Very few of the people who believed
do I perform? and, What are my values? And that doing one’s own thing would lead to con-
then they can and should decide where they tribution, self-fulfillment, and success achieved
belong. any of the three.

Or rather, they should be able to decide But still, there is no return to the old an-
where they do not belong. The person who swer of doing what you are told or assigned to
has learned that he or she does not perform do. Knowledge workers in particular have to
well in a big organization should have learned learn to ask a question that has not been
to say no to a position in one. The person who asked before: What should my contribution
has learned that he or she is not a decision be? To answer it, they must address three dis-
maker should have learned to say no to a deci- tinct elements: What does the situation re-
sion-making assignment. A General Patton quire? Given my strengths, my way of per-
(who probably never learned this himself) forming, and my values, how can I make the
should have learned to say no to an indepen- greatest contribution to what needs to be
dent command. done? And finally, What results have to be
achieved to make a difference?
Equally important, knowing the answer to
these questions enables a person to say to an Consider the experience of a newly ap-
opportunity, an offer, or an assignment, “Yes, I pointed hospital administrator. The hospital
will do that. But this is the way I should be was big and prestigious, but it had been
coasting on its reputation for 30 years. The

page 24 harvard business review • january 2005

Managing Oneself•••BEST OF HBR 1999

new administrator decided that his contribu- tention to it. Typical is the person who was The first secret of
tion should be to establish a standard of ex- trained to write reports in his or her first as- effectiveness is to
cellence in one important area within two signment because that boss was a reader. Even understand the people
years. He chose to focus on the emergency if the next boss is a listener, the person goes on you work with so that
room, which was big, visible, and sloppy. He writing reports that, invariably, produce no re- you can make use of their
decided that every patient who came into the sults. Invariably the boss will think the em- strengths.
ER had to be seen by a qualified nurse within ployee is stupid, incompetent, and lazy, and he
60 seconds. Within 12 months, the hospital’s or she will fail. But that could have been
emergency room had become a model for all avoided if the employee had only looked at the
hospitals in the United States, and within an- new boss and analyzed how this boss performs.
other two years, the whole hospital had been
transformed. Bosses are neither a title on the organiza-
tion chart nor a “function.” They are individu-
As this example suggests, it is rarely possi- als and are entitled to do their work in the way
ble—or even particularly fruitful—to look they do it best. It is incumbent on the people
too far ahead. A plan can usually cover no who work with them to observe them, to find
more than 18 months and still be reasonably out how they work, and to adapt themselves to
clear and specific. So the question in most what makes their bosses most effective. This,
cases should be, Where and how can I achieve in fact, is the secret of “managing” the boss.
results that will make a difference within the
next year and a half? The answer must bal- The same holds true for all your coworkers.
ance several things. First, the results should Each works his or her way, not your way. And
be hard to achieve—they should require each is entitled to work in his or her way. What
“stretching,” to use the current buzzword. But matters is whether they perform and what
also, they should be within reach. To aim at their values are. As for how they perform—
results that cannot be achieved—or that can each is likely to do it differently. The first secret
be only under the most unlikely circum- of effectiveness is to understand the people
stances—is not being ambitious; it is being you work with and depend on so that you can
foolish. Second, the results should be mean- make use of their strengths, their ways of
ingful. They should make a difference. Fi- working, and their values. Working relation-
nally, results should be visible and, if at all ships are as much based on the people as they
possible, measurable. From this will come a are on the work.
course of action: what to do, where and how
to start, and what goals and deadlines to set. The second part of relationship responsibil-
ity is taking responsibility for communication.
Responsibility for Relationships Whenever I, or any other consultant, start to
work with an organization, the first thing I
Very few people work by themselves and hear about are all the personality conflicts.
achieve results by themselves—a few great art- Most of these arise from the fact that people
ists, a few great scientists, a few great athletes. do not know what other people are doing and
Most people work with others and are effec- how they do their work, or what contribution
tive with other people. That is true whether the other people are concentrating on and
they are members of an organization or inde- what results they expect. And the reason they
pendently employed. Managing yourself re- do not know is that they have not asked and
quires taking responsibility for relationships. therefore have not been told.
This has two parts.
This failure to ask reflects human stupidity
The first is to accept the fact that other peo- less than it reflects human history. Until re-
ple are as much individuals as you yourself are. cently, it was unnecessary to tell any of these
They perversely insist on behaving like human things to anybody. In the medieval city, every-
beings. This means that they too have their one in a district plied the same trade. In the
strengths; they too have their ways of getting countryside, everyone in a valley planted the
things done; they too have their values. To be same crop as soon as the frost was out of the
effective, therefore, you have to know the ground. Even those few people who did
strengths, the performance modes, and the val- things that were not “common” worked alone,
ues of your coworkers. so they did not have to tell anyone what they
were doing.
That sounds obvious, but few people pay at-
Today the great majority of people work

harvard business review • january 2005 page 25

BEST OF HBR 1999•••Managing Oneself

with others who have different tasks and re- one’s coworkers: those whose work one de-
sponsibilities. The marketing vice president pends on as well as those who depend on one’s
may have come out of sales and know every- own work.
thing about sales, but she knows nothing
about the things she has never done—pricing, The Second Half of Your Life
advertising, packaging, and the like. So the
people who do these things must make sure When work for most people meant manual la-
that the marketing vice president understands bor, there was no need to worry about the sec-
what they are trying to do, why they are trying ond half of your life. You simply kept on doing
to do it, how they are going to do it, and what what you had always done. And if you were
results to expect. lucky enough to survive 40 years of hard work
in the mill or on the railroad, you were quite
If the marketing vice president does not un- happy to spend the rest of your life doing
derstand what these high-grade knowledge nothing. Today, however, most work is knowl-
specialists are doing, it is primarily their fault, edge work, and knowledge workers are not
not hers. They have not educated her. Con- “finished” after 40 years on the job, they are
versely, it is the marketing vice president’s re- merely bored.
sponsibility to make sure that all of her co-
workers understand how she looks at We hear a great deal of talk about the
marketing: what her goals are, how she works, midlife crisis of the executive. It is mostly
and what she expects of herself and of each boredom. At 45, most executives have reached
one of them. the peak of their business careers, and they
know it. After 20 years of doing very much the
Even people who understand the impor- same kind of work, they are very good at their
tance of taking responsibility for relationships jobs. But they are not learning or contributing
often do not communicate sufficiently with or deriving challenge and satisfaction from
their associates. They are afraid of being the job. And yet they are still likely to face an-
thought presumptuous or inquisitive or stu- other 20 if not 25 years of work. That is why
pid. They are wrong. Whenever someone goes managing oneself increasingly leads one to
to his or her associates and says, “This is what begin a second career.
I am good at. This is how I work. These are
my values. This is the contribution I plan to There are three ways to develop a second ca-
concentrate on and the results I should be ex- reer. The first is actually to start one. Often this
pected to deliver,” the response is always, takes nothing more than moving from one
“This is most helpful. But why didn’t you tell kind of organization to another: the divisional
me earlier?” controller in a large corporation, for instance,
becomes the controller of a medium-sized hos-
And one gets the same reaction—without pital. But there are also growing numbers of
exception, in my experience—if one continues people who move into different lines of work
by asking, “And what do I need to know about altogether: the business executive or govern-
your strengths, how you perform, your values, ment official who enters the ministry at 45, for
and your proposed contribution?” In fact, instance; or the midlevel manager who leaves
knowledge workers should request this of ev- corporate life after 20 years to attend law
eryone with whom they work, whether as sub- school and become a small-town attorney.
ordinate, superior, colleague, or team member.
And again, whenever this is done, the reaction We will see many more second careers un-
is always, “Thanks for asking me. But why dertaken by people who have achieved mod-
didn’t you ask me earlier?” est success in their first jobs. Such people
have substantial skills, and they know how to
Organizations are no longer built on force work. They need a community—the house is
but on trust. The existence of trust between empty with the children gone—and they
people does not necessarily mean that they need income as well. But above all, they
like one another. It means that they under- need challenge.
stand one another. Taking responsibility for re-
lationships is therefore an absolute necessity. It The second way to prepare for the second
is a duty. Whether one is a member of the orga- half of your life is to develop a parallel career.
nization, a consultant to it, a supplier, or a dis- Many people who are very successful in their
tributor, one owes that responsibility to all first careers stay in the work they have been
doing, either on a full-time or part-time or con-

page 26 harvard business review • january 2005

Managing Oneself•••BEST OF HBR 1999

sulting basis. But in addition, they create a par- prise to build and to run model schools. He is, There is one prerequisite
allel job, usually in a nonprofit organization, however, still working nearly full-time as the for managing the second
that takes another ten hours of work a week. lead counsel in the company he helped found half of your life: You
They might take over the administration of as a young lawyer. must begin doing so long
their church, for instance, or the presidency of before you enter it.
the local Girl Scouts council. They might run There is another reason to develop a second
the battered women’s shelter, work as a chil- major interest, and to develop it early. No one
dren’s librarian for the local public library, sit can expect to live very long without experienc-
on the school board, and so on. ing a serious setback in his or her life or work.
There is the competent engineer who is passed
Finally, there are the social entrepreneurs. over for promotion at age 45. There is the com-
These are usually people who have been very petent college professor who realizes at age 42
successful in their first careers. They love their that she will never get a professorship at a big
work, but it no longer challenges them. In university, even though she may be fully quali-
many cases they keep on doing what they have fied for it. There are tragedies in one’s family
been doing all along but spend less and less of life: the breakup of one’s marriage or the loss
their time on it. They also start another activ- of a child. At such times, a second major inter-
ity, usually a nonprofit. My friend Bob Buford, est—not just a hobby—may make all the dif-
for example, built a very successful television ference. The engineer, for example, now knows
company that he still runs. But he has also that he has not been very successful in his job.
founded and built a successful nonprofit orga- But in his outside activity—as church trea-
nization that works with Protestant churches, surer, for example—he is a success. One’s fam-
and he is building another to teach social en- ily may break up, but in that outside activity
trepreneurs how to manage their own non- there is still a community.
profit ventures while still running their origi-
nal businesses. In a society in which success has become so
terribly important, having options will become
People who manage the second half of their increasingly vital. Historically, there was no
lives may always be a minority. The majority such thing as “success.” The overwhelming ma-
may “retire on the job” and count the years jority of people did not expect anything but to
until their actual retirement. But it is this mi- stay in their “proper station,” as an old English
nority, the men and women who see a long prayer has it. The only mobility was downward
working-life expectancy as an opportunity mobility.
both for themselves and for society, who will
become leaders and models. In a knowledge society, however, we expect
everyone to be a success. This is clearly an im-
There is one prerequisite for managing the possibility. For a great many people, there is
second half of your life: You must begin long at best an absence of failure. Wherever there
before you enter it. When it first became clear is success, there has to be failure. And then it
30 years ago that working-life expectancies is vitally important for the individual, and
were lengthening very fast, many observers equally for the individual’s family, to have an
(including myself) believed that retired peo- area in which he or she can contribute, make
ple would increasingly become volunteers for a difference, and be somebody. That means
nonprofit institutions. That has not happened. finding a second area—whether in a second
If one does not begin to volunteer before one career, a parallel career, or a social venture—
is 40 or so, one will not volunteer once past 60. that offers an opportunity for being a leader,
for being respected, for being a success.
Similarly, all the social entrepreneurs I
know began to work in their chosen second en- The challenges of managing oneself may
terprise long before they reached their peak in seem obvious, if not elementary. And the an-
their original business. Consider the example swers may seem self-evident to the point of ap-
of a successful lawyer, the legal counsel to a pearing naïve. But managing oneself requires
large corporation, who has started a venture to new and unprecedented things from the indi-
establish model schools in his state. He began vidual, and especially from the knowledge
to do volunteer legal work for the schools worker. In effect, managing oneself demands
when he was around 35. He was elected to the that each knowledge worker think and behave
school board at age 40. At age 50, when he had like a chief executive officer. Further, the shift
amassed a fortune, he started his own enter- from manual workers who do as they are told

harvard business review • january 2005 page 27

BEST OF HBR 1999•••Managing Oneself

to knowledge workers who have to manage mobile. The need to manage oneself is there-
themselves profoundly challenges social struc- fore creating a revolution in human affairs.
ture. Every existing society, even the most indi-
vidualistic one, takes two things for granted, if Reprint R0501K
only subconsciously: that organizations out- To order, see the next page
live workers, and that most people stay put. or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500
or go to www.hbr.org
But today the opposite is true. Knowledge
workers outlive organizations, and they are

page 28 harvard business review • january 2005

BEST OF HBR 1999

Managing Oneself

Further Reading

ARTICLES How to Play to Your Strengths
The Post-Capitalist Executive: An by Laura Morgan Roberts,
Interview with Peter F. Drucker Gretchen Spreitzer, Jane Dutton,
by T. George Harris Robert Quinn, Emily Heaphy, and
Harvard Business Review Brianna Barker
May–June 1993 Harvard Business Review
Product no. 93302 January 2005
Product no. R0501G
Drucker explores the importance of self-
management in the world of work. Corpora- Like Drucker, the authors of this article em-
tions once built to last like the pyramids are phasize the importance of understanding
now more like tents, he says. Thus individuals and leveraging your strengths. They present
need to take responsibility for their own ca- a feedback tool called the Reflective Best Self
reers. Instead of assuming a traditional career (RBS) exercise, which offers a feedback expe-
trajectory up the corporate ladder, think in rience distinct from performance reviews
terms of a succession of professional assign- (that typically focus on problem areas). RBS
ments or projects. enables you to tap into talents you may not
be aware of and use them to enhance your
In today’s organizations, competence is mea- career potential.
sured less in terms of subject matter and
more in terms of abilities—for example, em- To begin the exercise, solicit comments from
pathy and stamina under pressure. So it’s up family, friends, colleagues, and teachers—
to you to help others understand what you’re asking for specific examples of times when
able to contribute to the overall project. your unique strengths generated especially
important benefits. Next, search for common
Drucker also notes that your role as an exec- themes among the feedback, organizing
utive or manager has changed. You no them in a table to develop a clear picture of
longer manage a workforce; you manage in- your strong suits. Then write a self-portrait: a
dividuals with a variety of skills. Your job, description of yourself that distills what
then, is to combine these skills in a variety of you’ve learned from your feedback. Finally,
configurations to create the best results for redesign your personal job description so
your company. you can better shape the positions you
choose to play—both now and in the next
phase of your career.

To Order

For Harvard Business Review reprints and
subscriptions, call 800-988-0886 or
617-783-7500. Go to www.hbr.org

For customized and quantity orders of
Harvard Business Review article reprints,
call 617-783-7626, or e-mail
[email protected]

page 29

www.hbrreprints.org

A CEO must be the steward of Putting Leadership
a living strategy that defines Back into Strategy
what the firm is and what it
will become.

by Cynthia A. Montgomery

Reprint R0801C page 31

A CEO must be the steward of a living strategy that defines what the
firm is and what it will become.

Putting Leadership
Back into Strategy

by Cynthia A. Montgomery

COPYRIGHT © 2007 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Strategy is not what it used to be—or what it what in its own right could be a very good
could be. In the past 25 years it has been pre- thing. Most notably, strategy has been nar-
sented, and we have come to think of it, as rowed to a competitive game plan, divorcing
an analytical problem to be solved, a left-brain it from a firm’s larger sense of purpose; the
exercise of sorts. This perception, combined CEO’s unique role as arbiter and steward of
with strategy’s high stakes, has led to an era strategy has been eclipsed; and the exagger-
of specialists—legions of MBAs and strategy ated emphasis on sustainable competitive
consultants—armed with frameworks and advantage has drawn attention away from
techniques, eager to help managers analyze the fact that strategy must be a dynamic tool
their industries or position their firms for for guiding the development of a company
strategic advantage. over time.

This way of thinking about strategy has To redress these issues, we need to think
generated substantial benefits. We now know about strategy in a new way—one that recog-
far more than before about the role market nizes the inherently fluid nature of competi-
forces play in industry profitability and the tion and the attendant need for continuous,
importance of differentiating a firm from its not periodic, leadership.
competitors. These gains have come in large
part from the infusion of economics into the The Road to Here
study of strategy. That merger added much-
needed theory and empirical evidence to Fifty years ago strategy was taught as part of
strategy’s underpinnings, providing consider- the general management curriculum in busi-
able rigor and substance. But the benefits ness schools. In the academy as well as in prac-
have not come without costs. A host of unin- tice, it was identified as the most important
tended consequences have developed from duty of the chief executive officer—the person
with overarching responsibility for setting a

harvard business review • january 2008 page 33

Putting Leadership Back into Strategy

Cynthia A. Montgomery is the company’s course and seeing the journey Watching over strategy day in and day out
Timken Professor of Business Adminis- through. This vital role encompassed both is not only a CEO’s greatest opportunity to
tration and head of the strategy unit at formulation and implementation: thinking outwit the competition; it is also his or her
Harvard Business School in Boston. and doing combined. greatest opportunity to shape the firm itself.

page 34 Although strategy had considerable breadth Strategy and Being
then, it didn’t have much rigor. The ubiquitous
SWOT model taught managers to assess a com- In “How to Evaluate Corporate Strategy,” an
pany’s internal strengths and weaknesses and article that appeared in this magazine in
the opportunities and threats in its external 1963, the Harvard Business School lecturer
environment, but the tools for doing so were Seymour Tilles proposed that of all the ques-
pedestrian by any measure. tions a chief executive is required to answer,
one predominates: What kind of company do
Advances over the next few decades not you want yours to be? He elaborated:
only refined the tools but spawned a new
industry around strategy. Corporate-planning If you ask young men what they want to
departments emerged and introduced formal accomplish by the time they are 40, the
systems and standards for strategic analysis. answers you get fall into two distinct catego-
Consulting firms added their own frame- ries. There are those—the great majority—
works, among them the Boston Consulting who will respond in terms of what they want
Group’s influential growth-share matrix to have. This is especially true of graduate
and McKinsey’s 7-S framework. Academics students of business administration. There are
weighed in, unleashing the power of eco- some men, however, who will answer in
nomic analysis on problems of strategy and terms of the kind of men they hope to be.
competition. These are the only ones who have a clear idea
of where they are going.
It has been a heady period, and the strategy
tool kit is far richer because of it. That said, The same is true of companies. For far too
something has been lost along the way. While many companies, what little thinking goes on
gaining depth, strategy has lost breadth and about the future is done primarily in money
stature. It has become more about formula- terms. There is nothing wrong with financial
tion than implementation, and more about planning. Most companies should do more of
getting the idea right at the outset than living it. But there is a basic fallacy in confusing a fi-
with a strategy over time. nancial plan with thinking about the kind of
company you want yours to become. It is like
The teaching of strategy has both led and saying, “When I’m 40, I’m going to be rich.” It
followed suit. At many top business schools, leaves too many basic questions unanswered.
general management departments have been Rich in what way? Rich doing what?
replaced by strategy groups made up of ex- As strategy has striven to become a science,
perts who delve into the economics of com- we have allowed this fundamental point to slip
petitive advantage but rarely acknowledge away. We need to reinstate it.
the unique role leaders play in the process In 1996 Adam Brandenburger and Barry
of formulating and implementing strategy. Nalebuff got close to this idea in their book
When the head of the strategy group at one Co-opetition, which recognized that in order
major business school was asked recently to to claim value, firms must first create value.
describe the common denominator among This requires bringing something new to the
faculty members in his department, he re- world, something customers want that is
plied, “We are a group of economists with a different from or better than what others
lively interest in business.” An honest man are providing.
and a telling comment. To press their point, Brandenburger and
Nalebuff urged managers to consider the
Pulled apart and set on its own in this way, world with their firm versus the world with-
strategy both gains and loses. In terms of out it. The difference (if there is one) is the
analytical precision, it is a big plus; organiza- firm’s unique added value—what would be
tionally, it is not. What we have lost sight of is lost to the world if the firm disappeared.
that strategy is not just a plan, not just an Tilles might have described this as the firm’s
idea; it is a way of life for a company. Strategy purpose, or its raison d’être. To say that a firm
doesn’t just position a firm in its external
landscape; it defines what a firm will be.

harvard business review • january 2008

Putting Leadership Back into Strategy

should have a clear sense of purpose may dock—and define the nature of the work that
sound exceedingly philosophical. It is in fact must be done. In “Unleashing the Power of
exceedingly practical. Learning,” a 1997 interview with HBR, John
Browne, then the CEO of British Petroleum,
In the strategy portion of the Owner/Presi- put it this way: “A business has to have a clear
dent Management executive program at Har- purpose. If the purpose is not crystal clear,
vard Business School, the notion of added people in the business will not understand
value is core to everything we do. Early in the what kind of knowledge is critical and what
module, executives are asked to respond to they have to learn in order to improve perfor-
the following questions: mance.…What do we mean by purpose? Our
purpose is who we are and what makes us
• If your company were shuttered, to distinctive. It’s what we as a company exist
whom would it matter and why? to achieve, and what we’re willing and not
willing to do to achieve it.”
• Which of your customers would miss you
the most and why? The most viable statements of purpose are
easy to grasp and true to a company’s distinc-
• How long would it take for another firm tiveness. Pixar, one of the world’s most inno-
to step into that void? vative animation firms, says that it exists “to
combine proprietary technology and world-
When the questions are presented, class- class creative talent to develop computer-
rooms that minutes earlier were bursting animated feature films with memorable
with conversation fall silent—not because the characters and heartwarming stories that
questions are complex but because they are appeal to audiences of all ages.” No films
so basic and yet so difficult. Managers long for mature audiences only. Lots of pushing
accustomed to describing their companies by the envelope. And who wouldn’t recognize
the industries they are in and the products IKEA’s intent to offer customers “a wide
they make often find themselves unable to range of well-designed, functional home
say what is truly distinctive about their furnishing products at prices so low that
firms. For these leaders the challenge is a as many people as possible will be able to
matter not of unearthing an existing purpose afford them”? Sitting at the hub of the strat-
but of forging one. egy wheel, purpose aligns all the functional
pieces and draws the company into a logi-
The questions are as relevant to large multi- cally consistent whole. Well understood, it
business companies as they are to focused serves as both a constraint on activity and a
owner-led ones. As private equity firms pro- guide to behavior. As Michael Porter has
liferate and supply chains open up around the argued, an effective strategy says not only
world, nothing is more important for complex what a firm will do but also, implicitly, what
corporate entities than a clear sense of pur- it will not do.
pose, a clear sense of why they matter. A
board chairman at one such firm made the Forging a compelling organizational pur-
point bluntly when he asked, “What hot dish pose is a close corporate equivalent to soul-
is this company bringing to the table?” He searching. It does require the kind of careful
was issuing the same challenge. analysis and left-brain thinking that MBAs
have honed for a generation. Equally impor-
Sam Palmisano, the CEO of IBM, is well tant to the task, however, is the right-brain
aware of the importance of this sort of reflec- activity in which managers are almost univer-
tion. In 2003 he hosted a 72-hour online Val- sally less well schooled. Creativity and insight
ues Jam in which he asked IBM’s nearly are key, as is the ability to make judgments
320,000 employees to weigh in on these about a host of issues that can’t be resolved
questions: If our company disappeared to- through analysis alone.
night, how different would the world be
tomorrow? Is there something about our Articulating and tending to a purpose-
company that makes a unique contribution driven strategy so that it fills this role is
to the world? (See “Leading Change When no easy task. It is a human endeavor in the
Business Is Good,” HBR December 2004.) deepest sense of the term. Keeping all the
parts of a company in proper balance while
In my experience, few leaders allow them-
selves to think about strategy at this level.

Purpose should be at the heart of strategy.
It should give direction to every part of the
firm—from the corporate office to the loading

harvard business review • january 2008 page 35

Putting Leadership Back into Strategy

moving the enterprise forward is extraordi- Just as complete contracts are difficult to
narily difficult. Even when they have substan- write with one’s trading partners, so too com-
tial talent and a deep appreciation for the plete strategies are difficult to specify in all
job, some CEOs ultimately don’t get it right. their particulars. There will always be some
Their legacies serve as sobering reminders of choices that are not obvious. There will al-
the complexities and the responsibilities of ways be countless contingencies, good and
stewardship. (Witness BP’s recent travails— bad, that cannot be fully anticipated. There
the deficiencies in investments and operating will always be limits to communication and
practices that compromised workers’ safety, mutual understanding. As Oscar Wilde
threatened the environment, and contrib- quipped, “Only the shallow know them-
uted to Browne’s abrupt departure from the selves.” At heart, most strategies, like most
company in 2007.) On the other hand, it is people, involve some mystery.
exactly these challenges that make the
triumphs so rewarding. Interpreting that mystery is an abiding
responsibility of the chief strategist, the CEO.
Strategy and the Strategist Sometimes this entails clarifying a point or
helping an organization translate an idea into
In most popular portrayals the strategist’s practice, such as what “best in class” will
job would seem to be finished once a carefully mean in that company and how it will be
articulated strategy has been made ready for measured. Other times it entails much more:
implementation. The idea has been formed, refashioning an element of the strategy, add-
the next steps specified, the problem solved. ing a previously missing piece, or reconsider-
But don’t be fooled. The job of the strategist ing a commitment that no longer serves the
never ends. No matter how compelling a strat- company well. Whether you call this strategy
egy is, or how clearly defined, it is unlikely to implementation or strategy reformulation (the
be a sufficient guide for a firm that aspires to a boundaries blur), it is arduous work and can’t
long and prosperous life. be separated from leadership of the firm.

The Missing Dimension Ryanair provides a case in point. During
its early years the Irish airline entered the
Over the past few decades strategy has become a plan that positions a company in Dublin–London market with full service
its external landscape. That’s not enough. Strategy should also guide the develop- priced at less than half the fares of incum-
ment of the company—its identity and purpose—over time. bents British Airways and Aer Lingus.
Ryanair’s leaders didn’t anticipate the ferocity
The Prevailing Approach: What Is Missing: with which its competitors would respond.
When the resulting fare war brought Ryanair
Strategy as Strategy as a to its knees, its leaders didn’t simply urge
a Set Solution Dynamic Process the airline to try harder. They revamped the
strategy and transformed the company into a
A long-term sustainable Goal Creation of value no-frills player with a true low-cost business
competitive advantage model. This involved changing the airline’s
fleet as well as its cost, fare, and route struc-
The CEO and strategy consultants Leadership CEO as chief strategist; the job tures. “Yes, Aer Lingus attacked us,” Michael
cannot be outsourced O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO since 1994, has said,
“but we exposed ourselves.” Reborn, Ryanair
Unchanging plan that derives from Form Organic process that is adaptive, went on to become a major airline and one of
an analytical, left-brain exercise holistic, and open-ended the world’s most profitable.

Intense period of formulation Time Everyday, continuous, unending When confronted with challenges, the CEO
followed by prolonged period Frame must recognize the strategic significance of
issues being raised and opportunities being
of implementation contemplated and see them through the lens
of the whole, even as those with narrower
Defending an established Ongoing Fostering competitive responsibilities may be seeing the same issues
strategy through time Activity advantages and developing parochially. While faithfully translating pur-
the company through time pose into practice, the CEO must also remain
open to the idea that the purpose itself may

page 36 harvard business review • january 2008

Putting Leadership Back into Strategy

need to change. The judgments made at these role of the strategist would be limited and
moments of transition can make or break a easy to separate from the leadership of a firm.
leader or a firm. If this were so, the strategist wouldn’t have to
be concerned with how the organization gets
Lou Gerstner, Palmisano’s legendary prede- from here to there—the execution challenge
cessor, faced such a moment when he became writ large—or how it will capitalize on the
CEO of a troubled IBM in 1993. To resurrect learning it accumulates along the way.
the company, he concluded, a radical shift in
its mind-set was necessary. This required tak- But this is not so. Great firms—Toyota,
ing a fearless moral inventory of the business, Nike, and General Electric, to name a few—
realistically evaluating the firm’s core capabili- evolve and change. So do great strategies.
ties, and shedding everything else. After mak- This is not to say that continuity has no value.
ing this assessment, Gerstner announced that It is not to say that great resources and great
IBM would no longer concern itself with the advantages aren’t built over the long term. It
invention of technology but instead would is, however, to acknowledge that the world,
focus on application. The company would both inside and outside the firm, changes
move beyond its long history of creating com- not only in big, discontinuous leaps but in
puter hardware in order to provide integrated frequent, smaller ones as well.
information technology services and solu-
tions. “History,” Gerstner has written, “shows An ancient Greek legend provides a pow-
that truly great and successful companies go erful metaphor for this process. According to
through constant and sometimes difficult the legend, the ship that the hero Theseus
self-renewal of the base business.” sailed back to Athens after slaying the Mino-
taur in Crete was rebuilt over time, plank
The CEO is the one who chooses a com- by plank. As each plank decayed, it was
pany’s identity, who has responsibility for replaced by another, until every plank in the
declining certain opportunities and pursuing ship had been changed. Was it then still the
others. In this sense he or she serves as the same ship? If not, at what point—with which
guardian of organizational purpose, watch- plank—did the ship’s identity shift?
ing over the entity, guiding its course, bring-
ing it back to the center time and time again, This metaphor captures the evolution of
even as the center itself evolves.1 This is why most companies. Corporate identities are
the job of the strategist cannot be outsourced. changed not only by cataclysmic restructur-
This is why the job of the strategist is never ings and grand pronouncements but also by
done, and why the vigil the CEO keeps must decision after decision, year after year, cap-
be a constant one. tain after captain. An organic conception of
strategy recognizes that whatever constitutes
Strategy and Becoming strategic advantage will eventually change. It
recognizes the difference between defending
What, after all, is the strategist trying to a firm’s added value as established at any
achieve? The conventional wisdom would say given moment and ensuring that a firm is
a sustainable long-term competitive advan- adding value over time. Holding too strongly
tage. I challenge this view. Although critically to one competitive advantage or one purpose
important, competitive advantage is not the may result in the firm’s being controlled by a
ultimate goal. That way of thinking mistakes perception of value long after that value has
the means for the end and sends managers diminished in significance. It encourages man-
off on an unachievable quest. agers to see their strategies as set in concrete
and, when spotting trouble ahead, to go into
Competitive advantage is essential to strat- defensive mode, hunkering down and protect-
egy. But it is only part of a bigger story, one ing the status quo.
frame in a motion picture. The very notion
that there is a strategic holy grail—a strategy Apple Computer was caught in this trap for
brilliantly conceived, carefully implemented, most of the 1990s. The company stubbornly
and valiantly defended through time—is dan- stuck to its original strategy of producing
gerous. It is akin to the complete-contract high-end differentiated personal computers,
view, in which all the thinking is done at the convinced that it was adding value even as the
beginning and the key job of the strategist is intensely competitive marketplace told it oth-
to get that analysis right. If this were so, the erwise. By the summer of 1997 Apple’s share

harvard business review • january 2008 page 37

Putting Leadership Back into Strategy

The need to create and price was at a 10-year low, its market share the company. He or she must keep one eye on
re-create reasons for a had plummeted to about 3%, and industry how the company is currently adding value
company’s continued pundits were trumpeting the company’s de- and the other eye on changes, both inside and
existence sets the mise. The strategy had performed so poorly outside the company, that either threaten its
strategist apart from that there was little left to defend. Only after position or present some new opportunity for
every other individual in Steve Jobs returned as CEO, reclaimed the adding value. Guiding this never-ending pro-
the company. best of what Apple once was (a passionate de- cess, bringing perspective to the midst of
sign company that believed technology could action and purpose to the flow—not solving
change the world), and took the firm into the strategy puzzle once—is the crowning
new businesses (digital audio players, cell responsibility of the CEO.
phones, and retailing) with distinctive prod-
ucts did the company attract a new mass of 1. Kenneth R. Andrews, in The Concept of Corporate Strategy
passionately loyal customers and generate (Irwin, 1971), described one of the roles of the CEO as the
handsome returns. Plank by plank the com- “architect of organization purpose.” I prefer the term
pany changed its identity while remaining in “guardian of organizational purpose,” because it encom-
many respects the same. Fittingly, in January passes both formulation and implementation, and because
2007 it dropped “Computer” from its name it implies a more ongoing responsibility.
and became simply Apple Inc.
Reprint R0801C
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page 38 harvard business review • january 2008

Further Reading

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page 39

www.hbrreprints.org

Leaders are made, not born, Seven Transformations
and how they develop is of Leadership
critical for organizational
change.

by David Rooke and William R. Torbert

Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:

43 Article Summary
The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work

45 Seven Transformations of Leadership

57 Further Reading
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further
exploration of the article’s ideas and applications

Reprint R0504D page 41

Seven Transformations of Leadership

The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice

Every company needs transformational SEVEN TYPES OF ACTION LOGIC
leaders—those who spearhead changes
that elevate profitability, expand market Type Characteristics Strengths Weaknesses
share, and change the rules of the game in
their industry. But few executives under- Opportunist Wins any way possible. Good in emergencies and in Few people want to follow
stand the unique strengths needed to be- Self-oriented; manipula-
come such a leader. Result? They miss the tive; “might makes right.” pursuing sales. them for the long term.
opportunity to develop those strengths.
They and their firms lose out. Diplomat Avoids conflict. Wants to Supportive glue on teams. Can’t provide painful feed-
belong; obeys group norms; back or make the hard deci-
How to avoid this scenario? Recognize that doesn’t rock the boat. sions needed to improve
great leaders are differentiated not by their performance.
personality or philosophy but by their
action logic—how they interpret their Expert Rules by logic and exper- Good individual contributor. Lacks emotional intelli-
own and others’ behavior and how they
maintain power or protect against threats. tise. Uses hard data to gain gence; lacks respect for

Some leaders rely on action logics that consensus and buy-in. those with less expertise.
hinder organizational performance. Oppor-
tunists, for example, believe in winning any Achiever Meets strategic goals. Pro- Well suited to managerial Inhibits thinking outside the
way possible, and often exploit others to motes teamwork; juggles work. box.
score personal gains. Few people follow managerial duties and re-
them for long. Other types prove potent sponds to market demands
change agents. In particular, Strategists be- to achieve goals.
lieve that every aspect of their organization
is open to discussion and transformation. Individualist Operates in unconven- Effective in venture and Irritates colleagues and
Their action logic enables them to chal- tional ways. Ignores rules consulting roles. bosses by ignoring key or-
lenge perceptions that constrain their orga- he/she regards as irrelevant. ganizational processes and
nizations and to overcome resistance to people.
change. They create compelling, shared vi-
COPYRIGHT © 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. sions and lead the pragmatic initiatives Strategist Generates organizational Generates transformations None
needed to realize those visions.
and personal change. over the short and long
Though Strategists are rare, you can de-
velop their defining strengths. How? Diag- Highly collaborative; weaves term.
nose your current action logic and work to
upgrade it. The payoff? You help your com- visions with pragmatic,
pany execute the changes it needs to excel.
timely initiatives; challenges

existing assumptions.

Alchemist Generates social transfor- Leads societywide change. None
mations (e.g., Nelson Man-
dela). Reinvents organiza-
tions in historically
significant ways.

CHANGING YOUR ACTION LOGIC TYPE

To change your action logic type, experiment with new interpersonal behaviors, forge new
kinds of relationships, and seize advantage of work opportunities. For example:

page 43

Seven Transformations of Leadership

The Idea in Practice (continued)

To advance from. . . Take these steps
Expert to Achiever
Focus more on delivering results than on perfecting your knowledge:
Achiever to Individualist • Become aware of differences between your assumptions and those of

Individualist to Strategist others. For example, practice new conversational strategies such as“You
may be right, but I’d like to understand what leads you to believe that.”
• Participate in training programs on topics such as effective delegation
and leading high-performing teams

Instead of accepting goals as givens to be achieved:
• Reflect on the worth of the goals themselves, with the aim of improving

future goals
• Use annual leadership development planning to thoughtfully set the

highest-impact goals

Engage in peer-to-peer development:
• Establish mutual mentoring with members of your professional

network (board members, top managers, industry leaders) who can
challenge your assumptions and practices, as well as those of your
company and industry.
Example:
One CEO of a dental hygiene company envisioned introducing af-
fordable dental hygiene in developing countries. He explored the
idea with colleagues across the country, eventually proposing an ed-
ucational and charitable venture that his parent company agreed to
fund. He was promoted to a new vice presidency for international ventures
within the parent company.

page 44

Leaders are made, not born, and how they develop is critical for
organizational change.

Seven Transformations
of Leadership

by David Rooke and William R. Torbert

COPYRIGHT © 2005 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Most developmental psychologists agree that derstand their own action logic can improve
what differentiates leaders is not so much their ability to lead. But to do that, it’s impor-
their philosophy of leadership, their personal- tant first to understand what kind of leader
ity, or their style of management. Rather, it’s you already are.
their internal “action logic”—how they inter-
pret their surroundings and react when their The Seven Action Logics
power or safety is challenged. Relatively few
leaders, however, try to understand their own Our research is based on a sentence-completion
action logic, and fewer still have explored the survey tool called the Leadership Develop-
possibility of changing it. ment Profile. Using this tool, participants are
asked to complete 36 sentences that begin
They should, because we’ve found that lead- with phrases such as “A good leader…,” to
ers who do undertake a voyage of personal un- which responses vary widely:
derstanding and development can transform
not only their own capabilities but also those “…cracks the whip.”
of their companies. In our close collabora- “…realizes that it’s important to achieve
tion with psychologist Susanne Cook-Greu- good performance from subordinates.”
ter—and our 25 years of extensive survey- “…juggles competing forces and takes
based consulting at companies such as Deut- responsibility for her decisions.”
sche Bank, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, By asking participants to complete sen-
Hewlett-Packard, NSA, Trillium Asset Man- tences of this type, it’s possible for highly
agement, Aviva, and Volvo—we’ve worked trained evaluators to paint a picture of how
with thousands of executives as they’ve tried participants interpret their own actions and
to develop their leadership skills. The good the world around them; these “pictures” show
news is that leaders who make an effort to un- which one of seven developmental action logics—
Opportunist, Diplomat, Expert, Achiever, In-

harvard business review • april 2005 page 45

Seven Transformations of Leadership

David Rooke ([email protected]) is dividualist, Strategist, or Alchemist—currently Ellison (now CEO of Oracle). Ellison describes
a partner at Harthill Consulting in functions as a leader’s dominant way of think- his managerial style at the start of his career as
Hewelsfield, England. William R. ing. Leaders can move through these categories “management by ridicule.” “You’ve got to be
Torbert ([email protected]) is a profes- as their abilities grow, so taking the Leadership good at intellectual intimidation and rhetori-
sor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Development Profile again several years later cal bullying,” he once told Matthew Symonds
Management in Massachusetts. They can reveal whether a leader’s action logic of the Economist. “I’d excuse my behavior by
are coauthors of Action Inquiry: The has evolved. telling myself I was just having ‘an open and
Secret of Timely and Transforming honest debate.’ The fact is, I just didn’t know
Leadership (Berrett-Koehler, 2004). Over the past 25 years, we and other re- any better.”
searchers have administered the sentence-
completion survey to thousands of managers Few Opportunists remain managers for long,
and professionals, most between the ages of 25 unless they transform to more effective action
and 55, at hundreds of American and Euro- logics (as Ellison has done). Their constant fire-
pean companies (as well as nonprofits and fighting, their style of self-aggrandizement, and
governmental agencies) in diverse industries. their frequent rule breaking is the antithesis of
What we found is that the levels of corporate the kind of leader people want to work with
and individual performance vary according to for the long term. If you have worked for an
action logic. Notably, we found that the three Opportunist, you will almost certainly re-
types of leaders associated with below-average member it as a difficult time. By the same to-
corporate performance (Opportunists, Diplo- ken, corporate environments that breed oppor-
mats, and Experts) accounted for 55% of our tunism seldom endure, although Opportunists
sample. They were significantly less effective at often survive longer than they should because
implementing organizational strategies than they provide an exciting environment in which
the 30% of the sample who measured as younger executives, especially, can take risks.
Achievers. Moreover, only the final 15% of As one ex-Enron senior staffer said, “Before the
managers in the sample (Individualists, Strate- fall, those were such exciting years. We felt we
gists, and Alchemists) showed the consistent could do anything, pull off everything, write
capacity to innovate and to successfully trans- our own rules. The pace was wild, and we all
form their organizations. just rode it.” Of course, Enron’s shareholders
and pensioners would reasonably feel that
To understand how leaders fall into such dis- they were paying too heavily for that staffer’s
tinct categories and corporate performance, adventure.
let’s look in more detail at each leadership
style in turn, starting with the least productive The Diplomat
(and least complex).
The Diplomat makes sense of the world
The Opportunist around him in a more benign way than the
Opportunist does, but this action logic can
Our most comforting finding was that only 5% also have extremely negative repercussions if
of the leaders in our sample were character- the leader is a senior manager. Loyally serving
ized by mistrust, egocentrism, and manipula- the group, the Diplomat seeks to please
tiveness. We call these leaders Opportunists, a higher-status colleagues while avoiding con-
title that reflects their tendency to focus on flict. This action logic is focused on gaining
personal wins and see the world and other control of one’s own behavior—more than on
people as opportunities to be exploited. Their gaining control of external events or other
approach to the outside world is largely deter- people. According to the Diplomat’s action
mined by their perception of control—in logic, a leader gains more enduring acceptance
other words, how they will react to an event and influence by cooperating with group
depends primarily on whether or not they norms and by performing his daily roles well.
think they can direct the outcome. They treat
other people as objects or as competitors who In a support role or a team context, this
are also out for themselves. type of executive has much to offer. Diplo-
mats provide social glue to their colleagues
Opportunists tend to regard their bad be- and ensure that attention is paid to the
havior as legitimate in the cut and thrust of an needs of others, which is probably why the
eye-for-an-eye world. They reject feedback, ex- great majority of Diplomats work at the most
ternalize blame, and retaliate harshly. One can junior rungs of management, in jobs such as
see this action logic in the early work of Larry

page 46 harvard business review • april 2005

Seven Transformations of Leadership

frontline supervisor, customer service repre- managers who grow into more effective
sentative, or nurse practitioner. Indeed, research action logics—like that of the Strategist—have a
into 497 managers in different industries greater chance of being promoted.
showed that 80% of all Diplomats were at
junior levels. By contrast, 80% of all Strate- Diplomats are much more problematic in
gists were at senior levels, suggesting that top leadership roles because they try to ignore
conflict. They tend to be overly polite and

Seven Ways of Leading tive for organizational leadership are the dividualist, for example, you can work,
Opportunist and Diplomat; the most effec- through both formal and informal mea-
Different leaders exhibit different kinds of tive, the Strategist and Alchemist. Knowing sures, to develop the strengths and
action logic—ways in which they interpret your own action logic can be the first step characteristics of a Strategist.
their surroundings and react when their toward developing a more effective leader-
power or safety is challenged. In our re- ship style. If you recognize yourself as an In-
search of thousands of leaders, we observed
seven types of action logics. The least effec-

% of research

Action Logic Characteristics Strengths sample at
Opportunist
Diplomat Wins any way possible. Self-oriented; Good in emergencies and this action logic
Expert manipulative; “might makes right.” in sales opportunities.
Achiever 5%
Avoids overt conflict. Wants to belong; Good as supportive glue
Individualist obeys group norms; rarely rocks the within an office; helps bring 12%
boat. people together.
Strategist 38% Copyright © 2005 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.
Rules by logic and expertise. Seeks Good as an individual 30%
Alchemist rational efficiency. contributor.

Meets strategic goals. Effectively Well suited to managerial
achieves goals through teams; juggles roles; action and goal
managerial duties and market oriented.
demands.
Effective in venture and 10%
Interweaves competing personal and consulting roles.
company action logics. Creates unique
structures to resolve gaps between Effective as a transforma- 4%
strategy and performance. tional leader.

Generates organizational and personal Good at leading society-wide 1%
transformations. Exercises the power transformations.
of mutual inquiry, vigilance, and
vulnerability for both the short and
long term.

Generates social transformations. Inte-
grates material, spiritual, and societal
transformation.

harvard business review • april 2005 page 47

Seven Transformations of Leadership

Initiating change, with friendly and find it virtually impossible to give When subordinates talk about a my-way-or-
its inevitable conflicts, challenging feedback to others. Initiating the-highway type of boss, they are probably
represents a grave threat change, with its inevitable conflicts, represents talking about someone operating from an Ex-
to the Diplomat, and he a grave threat to the Diplomat, and he will pert action logic. Experts tend to view collabo-
will avoid it if at all avoid it if at all possible, even to the point of ration as a waste of time (“Not all meetings are
possible, even to the point self-destruction. a waste of time—some are canceled!”), and
of self-destruction. they will frequently treat the opinion of people
Consider one Diplomat who became the in- less expert than themselves with contempt.
terim CEO of an organization when his prede- Emotional intelligence is neither desired nor
cessor died suddenly from an aneurysm. When appreciated. As Sun Microsystems’ CEO Scott
the board split on the selection of a permanent McNealy put it: “I don’t do feelings; I’ll leave
successor, it asked the Diplomat to carry on. that to Barry Manilow.”
Our Diplomat relished his role as a ceremonial
figurehead and was a sought-after speaker at It comes as no surprise, then, that after un-
public events. Unfortunately, he found the successfully pleading with him to scale back
more conflictual requirements of the job less in the face of growing losses during the dot-
to his liking. He failed, for instance, to replace com debacle of 2001 and 2002, nearly a dozen
a number of senior managers who had serious members of McNealy’s senior management
ongoing performance issues and were resist- team left.
ing the change program his predecessor had
initiated. Because the changes were controver- The Achiever
sial, the Diplomat avoided meetings, even
planning business trips for the times when the For those who hope someday to work for a
senior team would meet. The team members manager who both challenges and supports
were so frustrated by the Diplomat’s attitude them and creates a positive team and interde-
that they eventually resigned en masse. He “re- partmental atmosphere, the good news is that
solved” this crisis by thanking the team pub- a large proportion, 30%, of the managers in
licly for its contribution and appointing new our research measured as Achievers. While
team members. Eventually, in the face of these leaders create a positive work environ-
mounting losses arising from this poor man- ment and focus their efforts on deliverables,
agement, the board decided to demote the the downside is that their style often inhibits
Diplomat to his former role as vice president. thinking outside the box.

The Expert Achievers have a more complex and inte-
grated understanding of the world than do
The largest category of leader is that of Ex- managers who display the three previous ac-
perts, who account for 38% of all professionals tion logics we’ve described. They’re open to
in our sample. In contrast to Opportunists, feedback and realize that many of the ambigu-
who focus on trying to control the world ities and conflicts of everyday life are due to
around them, and Diplomats, who concen- differences in interpretation and ways of relat-
trate on controlling their own behavior, Ex- ing. They know that creatively transforming or
perts try to exercise control by perfecting their resolving clashes requires sensitivity to rela-
knowledge, both in their professional and per- tionships and the ability to influence others in
sonal lives. Exercising watertight thinking is positive ways. Achievers can also reliably lead a
extremely important to Experts. Not surpris- team to implement new strategies over a one-
ingly, many accountants, investment analysts, to three-year period, balancing immediate and
marketing researchers, software engineers, long-term objectives. One study of ophthal-
and consultants operate from the Expert ac- mologists in private practice showed that those
tion logic. Secure in their expertise, they who scored as Achievers had lower staff turn-
present hard data and logic in their efforts to over, delegated more responsibility, and had
gain consensus and buy-in for their proposals. practices that earned at least twice the gross
annual revenues of those run by Experts.
Experts are great individual contributors
because of their pursuit of continuous im- Achievers often find themselves clashing
provement, efficiency, and perfection. But as with Experts. The Expert subordinate, in par-
managers, they can be problematic because ticular, finds the Achiever leader hard to take
they are so completely sure they are right. because he cannot deny the reality of the
Achiever’s success even though he feels supe-

page 48 harvard business review • april 2005

Seven Transformations of Leadership

rior. Consider Hewlett-Packard, where the re- larger organization because of her unique, un-
search engineers tend to score as Experts and conventional ways of operating. Eventually,
the lab managers as higher-level Achievers. At the CEO was called in (not for the first time) to
one project meeting, a lab manager—a de- resolve a problem created by her failure to ac-
cided Achiever—slammed her coffee cup on knowledge key organizational processes and
the table and exclaimed, “I know we can get 18 people who weren’t on her team.
features into this, but the customers want de-
livery some time this century, and the main Many of the dynamics created by different
eight features will do.”“Philistine!” snorted one action logics are illustrated by this story and its
engineer, an Expert. But this kind of conflict outcome. The CEO, whose own action logic
isn’t always destructive. In fact, it provides much was that of an Achiever, did not see how he
of the fuel that has ignited—and sustained— could challenge Sharon to develop and move
the competitiveness of many of the country’s beyond creating such problems. Although am-
most successful corporations. bivalent about her, he decided to retain her
because she was delivering and because the or-
The Individualist ganization had recently lost several capable, if
unconventional, managers.
The Individualist action logic recognizes that
neither it nor any of the other action logics are So Sharon stayed, but only for a while. Even-
“natural”; all are constructions of oneself and tually, she left the company to set up an off-
the world. This seemingly abstract idea enables shoring consultancy. When we examine in the
the 10% of Individualist leaders to contribute second half of this article how to help execu-
unique practical value to their organizations; tives transform their leadership action logics,
they put personalities and ways of relating we’ll return to this story to see how both
into perspective and communicate well with Sharon and the CEO might have succeeded in
people who have other action logics. transforming theirs.

What sets Individualists apart from Achiev- The Strategist
ers is their awareness of a possible conflict
between their principles and their actions, or Strategists account for just 4% of leaders.
between the organization’s values and its im- What sets them apart from Individualists is
plementation of those values. This conflict be- their focus on organizational constraints and
comes the source of tension, creativity, and a perceptions, which they treat as discussable
growing desire for further development. and transformable. Whereas the Individualist
masters communication with colleagues who
Individualists also tend to ignore rules they have different action logics, the Strategist mas-
regard as irrelevant, which often makes them ters the second-order organizational impact of
a source of irritation to both colleagues and actions and agreements. The Strategist is also
bosses. “So, what do you think?” one of our adept at creating shared visions across differ-
clients asked us as he was debating whether ent action logics—visions that encourage both
to let go of one of his star performers, a personal and organizational transformations.
woman who had been measured as an Indi- According to the Strategist’s action logic, orga-
vidualist. Sharon (not her real name) had nizational and social change is an iterative de-
been asked to set up an offshore shared ser- velopmental process that requires awareness
vice function in the Czech Republic in order and close leadership attention.
to provide IT support to two separate and in-
ternally competitive divisions operating there. Strategists deal with conflict more comfort-
She formed a highly cohesive team within ably than do those with other action logics,
budget and so far ahead of schedule that she and they’re better at handling people’s instinc-
quipped that she was “delivering services be- tive resistance to change. As a result, Strate-
fore Group Business Risk had delivered its gists are highly effective change agents. We
report saying it can’t be done.” found confirmation of this in our recent study
of ten CEOs in six different industries. All of
The trouble was that Sharon had a reputa- their organizations had the stated objective of
tion within the wider organization as a wild transforming themselves and had engaged con-
card. Although she showed great political sultants to help with the process. Each CEO
savvy when it came to her individual projects, filled out a Leadership Development Profile,
she put many people’s noses out of joint in the which showed that five of them were Strate-

harvard business review • april 2005 page 49

Seven Transformations of Leadership

What sets Alchemists gists and the other five fell into other action even reinvent themselves and their organiza-
apart from Strategists is logics. The Strategists succeeded in generating tions in historically significant ways. Whereas
their ability to renew or one or more organizational transformations the Strategist will move from one engagement
even reinvent themselves over a four-year period; their companies’ prof- to another, the Alchemist has an extraordi-
and their organizations itability, market share, and reputation all nary capacity to deal simultaneously with
in historically significant improved. By contrast, only two of the other many situations at multiple levels. The Alche-
ways. five CEOs succeeded in transforming their mist can talk with both kings and commoners.
organizations—despite help from consultants, He can deal with immediate priorities yet
who themselves profiled as Strategists. never lose sight of long-term goals.

Strategists are fascinated with three distinct Alchemists constitute 1% of our sample,
levels of social interplay: personal relation- which indicates how rare it is to find them in
ships, organizational relations, and national business or anywhere else. Through an exten-
and international developments. Consider sive search process, we found six Alchemists
Joan Bavaria, a CEO who, back in 1985, mea- who were willing to participate in an up-close
sured as a Strategist. Bavaria created one of the study of their daily actions. Though this is obvi-
first socially responsible investment funds, a ously a very small number that cannot statisti-
new subdivision of the investments industry, cally justify generalization, it’s worth noting
which by the end of 2001 managed more than that all six Alchemists shared certain character-
$3 trillion in funds. In 1982, Bavaria founded istics. On a daily basis, all were engaged in mul-
Trillium Asset Management, a worker-owned tiple organizations and found time to deal with
company, which she still heads. She also issues raised by each. However, they were not
cowrote the CERES Environmental Principles, in a constant rush—nor did they devote hours
which dozens of major companies have signed. on end to a single activity. Alchemists are typi-
In the late 1990s, CERES, working with the cally charismatic and extremely aware individ-
United Nations, created the Global Reporting uals who live by high moral standards. They
Initiative, which supports financial, social, focus intensely on the truth. Perhaps most im-
and environmental transparency and account- portant, they’re able to catch unique moments
ability worldwide. in the history of their organizations, creating
symbols and metaphors that speak to people’s
Here we see the Strategist action logic at hearts and minds. In one conservative financial
work. Bavaria saw a unique moment in which services company in the UK, a recently ap-
to make ethical investing a viable business, then pointed CEO turned up for work in a tracksuit
established Trillium to execute her plan. Strate- instead of his usual pinstripes but said nothing
gists typically have socially conscious business about it to anyone. People wondered whether
ideas that are carried out in a highly collabora- this was a new dress code. Weeks later, the
tive manner. They seek to weave together ideal- CEO spoke publicly about his attire and the
ist visions with pragmatic, timely initiatives and need to be unconventional and to move with
principled actions. Bavaria worked beyond the greater agility and speed.
boundaries of her own organization to influ-
ence the socially responsible investment indus- A more celebrated example of an Alchemist
try as a whole and later made the development is Nelson Mandela. Although we never for-
of social and environmental accountability stan- mally profiled Mandela, he exemplifies the Al-
dards an international endeavor by involving chemist action logic. In 1995, Mandela symbol-
the United Nations. Many Achievers will use ized the unity of a new South Africa when he
their influence to successfully promote their attended the Rugby World Cup game in which
own companies. The Strategist works to create the Springboks, the South African national
ethical principles and practices beyond the in- team, were playing. Rugby had been the bastion
terests of herself or her organization. of white supremacy, but Mandela attended the
game. He walked on to the pitch wearing the
The Alchemist Springboks’ jersey so hated by black South Af-
ricans, at the same time giving the clenched
The final leadership action logic for which we fist salute of the ANC, thereby appealing, al-
have data and experience is the Alchemist. Our most impossibly, both to black and white
studies of the few leaders we have identified as South Africans. As Tokyo Sexwale, ANC activ-
Alchemists suggest that what sets them apart ist and premier of South Africa’s Gauteng prov-
from Strategists is their ability to renew or

page 50 harvard business review • april 2005

Seven Transformations of Leadership

ince, said of him: “Only Mandela could wear began profiling as a Strategist. This was a
an enemy jersey. Only Mandela would go highly unusual movement of three action log-
down there and be associated with the Spring- ics in such a short time. We have had only two
boks… All the years in the underground, in the other instances in which a leader has trans-
trenches, denial, self-denial, away from home, formed twice in less than four years.
prison, it was worth it. That’s all we wanted to
see.” As Jenny’s case illustrates, there are a num-
ber of personal changes that can support lead-
Evolving as a Leader ership transformation. Jenny experienced loss
of faith in the system and feelings of boredom,
The most remarkable—and encouraging— irritability, burnout, depression, and even an-
finding from our research is that leaders can ger. She began to ask herself existential ques-
transform from one action logic to another. tions. But another indication of a leader’s
We have, in fact, documented a number of readiness to transform is an increasing attrac-
leaders who have succeeded in transforming tion to the qualities she begins to intuit in peo-
themselves from Experts into Achievers, from ple with more effective action logics. Jenny, as
Achievers into Individualists, and from Indi- we saw, was drawn to and benefited hugely
vidualists into Strategists. from her Strategist peer group as well as from
a mentor who exhibited the Alchemist action
Take the case of Jenny, one of our clients, logic. This search for new perspectives often
who initially measured as an Expert. She be- manifests itself in personal transformations:
came disillusioned with her role in her com- The ready-to-transform leader starts develop-
pany’s PR department and resigned in order ing new relationships. She may also explore
to, as she said, “sort out what I really want to new forms of spiritual practice or new forms of
do.” Six months later, she joined a different centering and self-expression, such as playing a
company in a similar role, and two years after musical instrument or doing tai chi.
that we profiled her again and she still mea-
sured as an Expert. Her decision to resign from External events can also trigger and support
the first company, take a “sabbatical,” and then transformation. A promotion, for example,
join the second company had made no differ- may give a leader the opportunity to expand
ence to her action logic. At that point, Jenny his or her range of capabilities. Earlier, we cited
chose to join a group of peer leaders commit- the frustration of Expert research engineers at
ted to examining their current leadership pat- Hewlett-Packard with the product and delivery
terns and to experimenting with new ways of attitude of Achiever lab managers. Within a
acting. This group favored the Strategist per- year of one engineer’s promotion to lab man-
spective (and the founder of the group was ager, a role that required coordination of oth-
profiled as an Alchemist), which in the end ers and cooperation across departments, the
helped Jenny’s development. She learned that former Expert was profiling as an Achiever. Al-
her habit of consistently taking a critical posi- though he initially took some heat (“Sellout!”)
tion, which she considered “usefully objective,” from his former buddies, his new Achiever
isolated her and generated distrust. As a result awareness meant that he was more focused on
of the peer group’s feedback, she started a se- customers’ needs and clearer about delivery
ries of small and private experiments, such as schedules. For the first time, he understood the
asking questions rather than criticizing. She re- dance between engineers trying to perfect the
alized that instead of seeing the faults in oth- technology and managers trying to deliver on
ers, she had to be clear about what she could budget and on schedule.
contribute and, in doing so, started the move
from an Expert to an Achiever. Spiritually, Changes to a manager’s work practices and
Jenny learned that she needed an ongoing environment can also facilitate transformation.
community of inquiry at the center of her life At one company we studied, leaders changed
and found a spiritual home for continuing re- from Achievers to Individualists partly because
flection in Quaker meetings, which later sup- of simple organizational and process changes.
ported (and indeed signaled) her transition At the company’s senior manager meetings,
from an Achiever to an Individualist. for example, executives other than the CEO
had the chance to lead the meetings; these op-
Two years later, Jenny left the second job to portunities, which were supported by new
start her own company, at which point she spirit of openness, feedback, and frank debate,

harvard business review • april 2005 page 51

Seven Transformations of Leadership

fostered professional growth among many of but I’d like to understand what leads you to
the company’s leaders. believe that.” In addition, those wishing to
push Experts to the next level should consider
Planned and structured development inter- rewarding Achiever competencies like timely
ventions are another means of supporting delivery of results, the ability to manage for
leadership transformation. We worked with a performance, and the ability to implement
leading oil and gas exploration company on de- strategic priorities.
veloping the already high-level capabilities of a
pool of future senior managers; the managers Within business education, MBA programs
were profiled and then interviewed by two are apt to encourage the development of the
consultants who explored each manager’s ac- more pragmatic Achievers by frustrating the
tion logic and how it constrained and enabled perfectionist Experts. The heavy workloads,
him or her to perform current and recent roles. use of multidisciplinary and ambiguous case
Challenges were discussed as well as a view studies, and teamwork requirements all pro-
of the individual’s potential and a possible de- mote the development of Achievers. By con-
velopmental plan. After the exercise, several trast, MSc programs, in particular disciplines
managers, whose Individualist and Strategist such as finance or marketing research, tend to
capabilities had not been fully understood by reinforce the Expert perspective.
the company, were appreciated and engaged
differently in their roles. What’s more, the or- Still, the transition from Expert to Achiever
ganization’s own definition of leadership talent remains one of the most painful bottlenecks in
was reframed to include the capabilities of the most organizations. We’ve all heard the eternal
Individualist and Strategist action logics. This lament of engineers, lawyers, and other profes-
in turn demanded that the company radically sionals whose Expert success has saddled them
revisit its competency framework to incorpo- with managerial duties, only to estrange them
rate such expectations as “sees issues from mul- from the work they love. Their challenge be-
tiple perspectives” and “creates deep change comes working as highly effective Achievers
without formal power.” who can continue to use their in-depth exper-
tise to succeed as leaders and managers.
Now that we’ve looked generally at some of
the changes and interventions that can sup- From Achiever to Individualist
port leadership development, let’s turn to
some specifics about how the most common Although organizations and business schools
transformations are apt to take place. have been relatively successful in developing
leaders to the Achiever action logic, they have,
From Expert to Achiever with few exceptions, a dismal record in recog-
nizing, supporting, and actively developing
This transformation is the most commonly ob- leaders to the Individualist and Strategist action
served and practiced among businesspeople logics, let alone to the Alchemist logic. This is
and by those in management and executive not surprising. In many organizations, the
education. For the past generation or more, Achiever, with his drive and focus on the end-
the training departments of large companies game, is seen as the finish line for develop-
have been supporting the development of ment: “This is a competitive industry—we need
managers from Experts into Achievers by run- to keep a sharp focus on the bottom line.”
ning programs with titles like “Management
by Objectives,” “Effective Delegation,” and The development of leaders beyond the
“Managing People for Results.” These programs Achiever action logic requires a very different
typically emphasize getting results through tack from that necessary to bring about the
flexible strategies rather than through one Expert-to-Achiever transformation. Interven-
right method used in one right way. tions must encourage self-awareness on the
part of the evolving leader as well as a greater
Observant leaders and executive coaches awareness of other worldviews. In both busi-
can also formulate well-structured exercises ness and personal relationships, speaking and
and questions related to everyday work to help listening must come to be experienced not as
Experts become aware of the different assump- necessary, taken-for-granted ways of communi-
tions they and others may be making. These cating predetermined ideas but as intrinsically
efforts can help Experts practice new conver- forward-thinking, creative actions. Achievers
sational strategies such as, “You may be right, use inquiry to determine whether they (and

page 52 harvard business review • april 2005

Seven Transformations of Leadership

the teams and organization to which they be- point is not so much to teach the CEO a new
long) are accomplishing their goals and how conversational repertoire but to make him
they might accomplish them more effectively. more comfortable with how the Individualist
The developing Individualist, however, begins sees and makes sense of the world around her
to inquire about and reflect on the goals and what feedback may motivate her to com-
themselves—with the aim of improving future mit to further learning. Such specific experi-
goals. Annual development plans that set new ments with new ways of listening and talking
goals, are generated through probing and can gradually dissolve the fears associated with
trusting conversation, are actively supported transformational learning.
through executive coaching, and are carefully
reviewed at the end of the cycle can be critical To Strategist and Beyond
enablers at this point. Yet few boards and CEOs
appreciate how valuable this time investment Leaders who are moving toward the Strate-
can be, and it is all too easily sacrificed in the gist and Alchemist action logics are no longer
face of short-term objectives, which can seem primarily seeking personal skills that will
more pressing to leaders whose action logics make them more effective within existing or-
are less developed. ganizational systems. They will already have
mastered many of those skills. Rather, they
Let’s go back to the case of Sharon, the Indi- are exploring the disciplines and commit-
vidualist we described earlier whose Achiever ments entailed in creating projects, teams,
CEO wasn’t able to manage her. How might a networks, strategic alliances, and whole orga-
coach or consultant have helped the CEO feel nizations on the basis of collaborative in-
less threatened by Sharon and more capable of quiry. It is this ongoing practice of reframing
supporting her development while also being inquiry that makes them and their corpora-
more open to his own needs and potential? tions so successful.
One way would have been to try role-playing,
asking the CEO to play Sharon while the coach The path toward the Strategist and Alchemist
or consultant enacts the CEO role. The role- action logics is qualitatively different from other
playing might have gone as follows: leadership development processes. For a start,
emergent Strategists and Alchemists are no
“Sharon, I want to talk with you about your longer seeking mentors to help them sharpen
future here at our company. Your completion existing skills and to guide them toward influen-
of the Czech project under budget and ahead tial networks (although they may seek spiritual
of time is one more sign that you have the ini- and ethical guidance from mentors). Instead,
tiative, creativity, and determination to make they are seeking to engage in mutual mentoring
the senior team here. At the same time, I’ve with peers who are already part of their net-
had to pick up a number of pieces after you works (such as board members, top managers,
that I shouldn’t have had to. I’d like to brain- or leaders within a scientific discipline). The ob-
storm together about how you can approach jective of this senior-peer mentoring is not, in
future projects in a way that eliminates this conventional terms, to increase the chances of
hassle and gets key players on your side. Then, success but to create a sustainable community
we can chat several times over the next year as of people who can challenge the emergent
you begin to apply whatever new principles we leader’s assumptions and practices and those of
come up with. Does this seem like a good use his company, industry, or other area of activity.
of our time, or do you have a different perspec-
tive on the issue?” We witnessed just this kind of peer-to-peer
development when one senior client became
Note that the consultant in the CEO’s role concerned that he, his company, and the indus-
offers clear praise, a clear description of a limi- try as a whole were operating at the Achiever
tation, a proposed path forward, and an in- level. This concern, of course, was itself a sign
quiry that empowers the CEO (playing Sharon) of his readiness to transform beyond that logic.
to reframe the dilemma if he wishes. Thus, in- This executive—the CEO of a dental hygiene
stead of giving the CEO one-way advice about company—and his company were among the
what he should do, the coach enacts a dialogic most successful of the parent company’s sub-
scenario with him, illustrating a new kind of sidiaries. However, realizing that he and those
practice and letting the CEO judge whether around him had been keeping their heads
the enacted relationship is a positive one. The down, he chose to initiate a research project—

harvard business review • april 2005 page 53

Seven Transformations of Leadership

on introducing affordable dental hygiene in part of both individuals and the organization.
developing countries—that was decidedly out A leadership team at one of the companies
of the box for him and for the corporation. we worked with decided to invite managers
from across departments to participate in
The CEO’s timing was right for such an ini- time-to-market new product teams. Seen as a
tiative, and he used the opportunity to en- risky distraction, few managers volunteered,
gage in collaborative inquiry with colleagues except for some Individualists and budding
across the country. Eventually, he proposed Strategists. However, senior management
an educational and charitable venture, which provided sufficient support and feedback to
the parent company funded. The executive ensure the teams’ early success. Soon, the
was promoted to a new vice presidency for first participants were promoted and leading
international ventures within the parent their own cross-departmental teams. The
company—a role he exercised with an in- Achievers in the organization, seeing that
creased sense of collaboration and a greater others were being promoted, started volun-
feeling of social responsibility for his com- teering for these teams. Gradually, more
pany in emerging markets. people within the organization were experi-
encing shared leadership, mutual testing of
Formal education and development processes one another’s assumptions and practices, and
can also guide individuals toward a Strategist ac- individual challenges that contributed to
tion logic. Programs in which participants act as their development as leaders.
leaders and challenge their conventional as-
sumptions about leading and organizing are Sadly, few companies use teams in this way.
very effective. Such programs will be either Most senior manager teams operate at the
long term (one or two years) or repeated, in- Achiever action logic—they prefer unambiguous
tense experiences that nurture the moment-to- targets and deadlines, and working with clear
moment awareness of participants, always strategies, tactics, and plans, often against tight
providing the shock of dissonance that stimu- deadlines. They thrive in a climate of adversity
lates them to reexamine their worldviews. Path- (“When the going gets tough, the tough get go-
breaking programs of this type can be found ing”) and derive great pleasure from pulling to-
at a few universities and consultancies around gether and delivering. Typically, the team’s lead-
the globe. Bath University in the UK, for in- ers and several other members will be Achievers,
stance, sponsors a two-year master’s degree in with several Experts and perhaps one or two Indi-
responsibility and business practice in which vidualists or Strategists (who typically feel ig-
students work together during six one-week get- nored). Such Achiever teams are often impatient
togethers. These programs involve small- at slowing down to reflect, are apt to dismiss
learning teams, autobiographical writing, psy- questions about goals and assumptions as “end-
chodrama, deep experiences in nature, and a less philosophizing,” and typically respond with
yearlong business project that involves action hostile humor to creative exercises, calling them
and reflection. Interestingly, many people “off-the-wall” diversions. These behaviors will ul-
who attend these programs report that these timately limit an Achiever team’s success.
experiences have had the transformative power
of a life-altering event, such as a career or exis- The situation is worse at large, mature com-
tential crisis or a new marriage. panies where senior management teams op-
erate as Experts. Here, vice presidents see
Leadership Teams and Leadership themselves as chiefs and their “teams” as an in-
Cultures Within Organizations formation-reporting formality. Team life is be-
reft of shared problem-solving, decision-mak-
So far, our discussion has focused on the lead- ing, or strategy-formulating efforts. Senior
ership styles of individuals. But we have found teams limited by the Diplomat action logic are
that our categories of leadership styles can be even less functional. They are characterized by
used to describe teams and organizations as strong status differences, undiscussable norms,
well. Here we will talk briefly about the action and ritual “court” ceremonies that are carefully
logics of teams. stage-managed.

Over the long term, the most effective Individualist teams, which are more likely
teams are those with a Strategist culture, in to be found in creative, consulting, and non-
which the group sees business challenges as profit organizations, are relatively rare and
opportunities for growth and learning on the

page 54 harvard business review • april 2005

Seven Transformations of Leadership

very different from Achiever, Expert, and slightly more than two years, the team became
Diplomat teams. In contrast to Achiever teams, an Individualist group with emergent Strate-
they may be strongly reflective; in fact, exces- gist capabilities. The CEO, who had profiled at
sive time may be spent reviewing goals, as- Achiever/Individualist, now profiled as a Strat-
sumptions, and work practices. Because indi- egist, and most other team members showed
vidual concerns and input are very one developmental move forward. The impact
important to these teams, rapid decision of this was also felt in the team’s and organiza-
making may be difficult. tion’s ethos: Once functionally divided, the
team learned to accept and integrate the di-
But like individual people, teams can verse opinions of its members. Employee sur-
change their style. For instance, we’ve seen veys reported increased engagement across the
Strategist CEOs help Individualist senior company. Outsiders began seeing the company
teams balance action and inquiry and so as ahead of the curve, which meant the organi-
transform into Strategist teams. Another ex- zation was better able to attract top talent. In
ample is an Achiever senior team in a finan- the third year, bottom- and top-line results
cial services company we worked with that were well ahead of industry competitors.
was emerging from two years of harsh cost
cutting during a market downturn. To adapt •••
to a changing and growing financial services The leader’s voyage of development is not an
market, the company needed to become sig- easy one. Some people change little in their
nificantly more visionary and innovative and lifetimes; some change substantially. Despite
learn how to engage its workforce. To lead the undeniably crucial role of genetics,
this transformation, the team had to start human nature is not fixed. Those who are
with itself. We worked with it to help team willing to work at developing themselves and
members understand the constraints of the becoming more self-aware can almost cer-
Achiever orientation, which required a num- tainly evolve over time into truly transforma-
ber of interventions over time. We began by tional leaders. Few may become Alchemists,
working to improve the way the team dis- but many will have the desire and potential
cussed issues and by coaching individual to become Individualists and Strategists. Cor-
members, including the CEO. As the team porations that help their executives and lead-
evolved, it became apparent that its composi- ership teams examine their action logics can
tion needed to change: Two senior executives, reap rich rewards.
who had initially seemed ideally suited to the
group because of their achievements, had to Reprint R0504D
be replaced when it became clear that they To order, see the next page
were unwilling to engage and experiment or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500
with the new approach. or go to www.hbrreprints.org

During this reorientation, which lasted

harvard business review • april 2005 page 55

Seven Transformations of Leadership

Further Reading

ARTICLES What Makes a Leader?
Moments of Greatness: Entering the by Daniel Goleman
Fundamental State of Leadership Harvard Business Review
by Robert E. Quinn February 2000
Harvard Business Review Product no. R0401H
July 2005
Product no. R0507K Upgrading your action logic—whether it’s
from Expert to Achiever, from Achiever to Indi-
Changing your action logic requires a signifi- vidualist, or from Individualist to Strategist or
cant shift in your thinking processes. In this Alchemist—requires emotional intelligence,
article, Quinn describes another strategy for a powerful blend of self-management and re-
changing your thinking process in order to lational skills. Goleman defines the five com-
strengthen your leadership skills. This strategy ponents of emotional intelligence. Self-
entails asking yourself a series of questions to management skills include self-awareness
generate insights into the changes you must (knowledge of your weaknesses and willing-
make to become a more effective leader. The ness to discuss them), self-regulation (the abil-
questions: 1) “Am I results-centered?” Have ity to control your impulses and channel them
you articulated the results you want to for good), and motivation (a passion for
achieve? 2) “Am I internally directed?” Are achievement for its own sake). Relational
you willing to challenge others’ expectations skills include empathy (the capacity to take
in order to act consistently with your own others’ feelings into account while making de-
values? 3) “Am I other-focused?” Have you cisions) and social skill (the ability to build rap-
put your organization’s needs above your port with others, win their cooperation, and
own? 4) “Am I externally open?” Do you move them in the direction you desire). To
recognize signals suggesting the need for boost your emotional intelligence, commit
personal change? to making the changes necessary to becom-
ing an effective leader, ask colleagues for
feedback on your leadership, and practice the
five skills.

To Order

For Harvard Business Review reprints and
subscriptions, call 800-988-0886 or
617-783-7500. Go to www.hbrreprints.org

For customized and quantity orders of
Harvard Business Review article reprints,
call 617-783-7626, or e-mail
[email protected]

page 57

www.hbrreprints.org

Wise executives tailor their A Leader’s Framework
approach to fit the complexity for Decision Making
of the circumstances they face.

by David J. Snowden and Mary E. Boone

Reprint R0711C page 59