Einstein, The Universe, and Leadership
by Brent Filson
Published on this site: November 2nd, 2004 - See
more articles from this month...
Every since serving a hitch in the military, I have been nagged
by the question thats been hanging around leadership
since time immemorial: How can some leaders persuade people
to believe in them and follow them and other leaders cant?
But it wasnt the military that provided me with a framework
to answer that question. It was Albert Einstein and his quest
for the unified field theory of the universe.
Einstein is well known for his special and general theories
of relativity, two of the crowning intellectual achievements
of the 20th century. But what he is not so well known for
is a magnificent quest that he carried on for some 30 years and
ultimately failed in. That was his quest for a unified field
theory of the universe, a theory that explains
all the forces of the universe. And it was a quest that inspired
me, in my small way, to find an answer to the leadership
question.
Einsteins special theory combined space and time into a
single concept known as the space-time continuum. He spent the rest
of his life failing to develop a unified field theory that incorporated
gravity into the electromagnetic field. But it wasnt his trying
to solve the conundrums of physics that inspired me. It was his
trying to unify the grand forces of the universe thats so
compelling.
Just as there are grand forces driving the activities of the universe,
Im convinced that there are grand forces driving the activities
of leadership. Whether we are talking about small or large organizations,
organizations of butchers, bakers or candlestick makers, the same
leadership forces leadership laws, if you will apply.
Or at least that I was my theory, that was my quest: to find the
laws of leadership, if they did indeed exist, and then show how
those laws can be applied in any organizational challenge. In short,
we can have a unified field theory of leadership.
I wont go into the details of how I came to develop the
theory only that after a quest of several decades, working
with leaders of all stripes, I developed what I call the Unified
Field Theory of Leadership Success. Im certainly not unifying
such grand concepts as gravity and the electromagnetic field; but
my theory, in its small way, has helped many leaders around the
world raise their leadership effectiveness to much higher levels.
Here then is the Unified Field Theory of Leadership Success. It
is not magic dust to transform you into a great leader. It is instead
a polestar to guide and help you invigorate your leadership and
communication efforts.
The UFTLS is expressed as a series of four propositions.
- BUSINESS SUCCESS HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE GET RESULTS.
Clearly, this is not some strange, UFO- like concept. Instead,
it is a BFO a Blinding Flash of the Obvious. Yet obvious
or not, it is ignored by many leaders too many leaders.
Too many leaders focus on enabling such drivers as quality initiatives,
re-engineering projects, and cost-cutting programs at the
expense of the people who must animate those drivers.
For instance, I know of a company that is engaged in the fourth
major restructuring in the past half dozen years. Three of those
initiatives have failed, mainly because they ignored the human/leadership
aspect. In fact, I propose that the new initiative is doomed to
fail too. Its obvious why: instead of being driven by a
compelling market strategy, strong products, or a vision of marketplace
leadership, this new restructuring is being driven by a new computer
system!
The officers are restructuring the company primarily to better
employ that system, not to better employ people for results. I
daresay the light that they may perceive to be at the end of the
tunnel will turn out in truth to be a search party looking for
survivors.
- LEADERS DO NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN GET RESULTS.
Another seemingly obvious statement. Yet when I give
talks to leaders around the world, and ask them, What
is the most important thing you do as a leader? some
95 percent of them give every answer but this one. This
is the right answer. Understand the power in the seeming
passiveness of have. Leaders cannot get results
by themselves. They need others to help get those results.
Today, with speed, flexibility, and teamwork being driving
competitiveness, the control-freak order-leader who must
tyrannize and micro manage cant compete against the
leader who can build and motivate teams to get results.
In short, the leader who can have others get
results.
- THE BEST WAY TO HAVE PEOPLE GET RESULTS IS NOT TO ORDER
THEM BUT TO MOTIVATE THEM.
Like leadership purpose, motivation is another concept that
is misunderstood by many leaders. If we misunderstand the
concept of motivation, how in the world can we motivate
anybody to do anything? Here are the four eternal
truths of motivation: A. Motivation is not something
people think or feel but what they PHYSICALLY DO. Only when
people take physical action can they in truth be defined
as motivated. B. Motivation is not something
we can do to anyone. We as leaders can only communicate.
The people we want to motivate must motivate themselves.
The motivatee and the motivator are always the
same person. C. Motivation is driven by emotion. In fact,
the words emotion and motivation come from the same Latin
root, meaning to move. When we want to move
people, motivate people, to take action, we engage their
emotions. D. Motivation happens best when it is triggered
by face-to-face speech.
- WE LEAD WELL ONLY WHEN THE PEOPLE WE LEAD ARE LEADING WELL.
Lets throw out the old concept of leadership. That concept
is based on the idea of followership successful
leaders being the ones who got people to follow them. Baloney!
Today, the speed and scope of change in the marketplace demand
a new vision of leadership, leadership that can not only deal
with that change but actually speed it up and make opportunities
of it. That vision is this fourth proposition. How many times
have we heard this seeming praise, Theyre such great
leaders, they cant be replaced! Within the terms of
the new leadership dynamics, those great, irreplaceable
leaders are in truth poor leaders that should be gotten
rid of! If the leaders function is to have others get results,
then the best way is not simply to motivate them but to motivate
them to lead others to get those results. When we challenge our
leaders to truly lead, we change their world and ours. Only then
are we leading well.
Those are the four propositions of the Unified Field Theory of
Leadership Success. Einstein failed in his quest for a unified field
theory; but the success or failure of this Theory of Leadership
rests with you. Put it into action. Guided by its ideas, develop
strategies, processes, and leadership skills. You will start on
the road to being a better leader. Because the four propositions
do provide defining differences between leaders. Those differences
are not as grand as the differences between gravity and electromagnetic
fields, but they can help you do that very simple, down-to-earth
thing that your career, that any career, rests on: leadership.
2004 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
The author of 23 books, Brent Filsons recent books
are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS
TO
GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The
Filson Leadership Group, Inc. and has worked with thousands
of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve
sizable increases in hard, measured results. Sign up for his free
leadership ezine and get a free guide, 49 Ways To Turn Action
Into Results, at http://www.actionleadership.com.
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