Lead as We, not Me
This is an article I originally published on LinkedIn here.
The job of CEO and most senior executives today is virtually impossible. Conceived for the industrial era, the role was already considerable when times were simpler. But in today’s global, tech-driven, noisy world where everything is changing at light-speed, CEOs are expected to navigate high degrees of volatility, ambiguity, and uncertainty, all while successfully creating new business value and managing the core business.
Consider what a typical day as a CEO looks like: back-to-back meetings, 400 emails that require a thoughtful response, countless quick decisions to make, long-haul travel, board members to please, and a breathtaking variety of business problems to solve. All of this while employees, customers, and shareholders keep close watch and disruptors greedily eye your market share. If you’re still standing, you head home to family and friends with their own problems and expectations.
This leaves most leaders I know stressed and drained and unable to carve out time for important longer-term projects. They’d never admit it publicly, but many I talk to are unhappy, unfulfilled, and lonely. As a long-time leader of the IDEO studio in Munich who has consulted many CEOs over the past 20 years, I have seen this firsthand. I’ve also struggled myself.
Knowing the job is untenable, and often doesn’t lead to great outcomes, why do we continue to ask people to do it and expect that their companies will thrive? It feels like CEOs and their teams, customers, and shareholders deserve better.
Here’s an idea for a new approach: Lead as We, not Me.
Today's businesses need a leadership team that reflects the pace and mindset of the marketplace: multidisciplinary, diverse, collaborative, flexible, agile, in touch with their customers and the teams doing the bread and butter work, and able to evolve and grow without killing themselves.
I’ve learned a lot about the benefits of a flat, collaborative, and multidisciplinary approach at IDEO. In recent years we have more deeply embraced the idea of complementary senior leadership teams that explore a wide expanse of opportunities to lead the organisation forward, all while undergoing constant transformation and change. It has allowed us to become a platform and to become part of a larger creative collective (KYU kyu.com). All of this transpired in just a few years and without sacrificing our core culture.
So how can you and your organisation flip the switch from “Me” to “We”? Here are a few starting points:
1. Make people your leadership priority. Focus most of your energy on developing, hiring, and growing your leadership team.
Example: Create a strong purpose-driven movement that will help attract and retain the best talent and leaders. One great example is Robert Gentz, CEO of Zalando. He came to IDEO with an idea: “I want my daughter to be proud of the company I created”. Based on that North Star, we helped him and his organisation articulate and activate a new purpose: Zalando exists to reimagine fashion, for the good of all. This was brought to life and activated across the organisation, and as a direct consequence, Robert and Zalando managed to radically improve their ability to attract and retain some of the best leaders in the industry.
2. Let go. Set others up for success and delegate as much as possible. It will allow you the space and time to do the job you aspire to do and are best at.
Example: I recently handed over my role to a team of four great leaders, each with a clear and distinctive role that will allow them to distribute the load, while also remaining connected to the business and community. While this is a fairly new development, I can already tell that they will do a much better job as a team than I could have ever done on my own. This has allowed me to focus on what excites me, which is cultivating new offers, capabilities, and leaders for IDEO in Europe.
3. Focus on roles and responsibilities, not titles. Working as a team will require clarity of ownership. Who does what, who gets to decide on what, who needs to deliver what, and how do we best play together?
Example: At Georg Fischer, a multinational Swiss manufacturing company, CEO Yves Serra created a clear and tangible vision for how GF could create better, faster, and more valuable offers for its customers. Realizing this will require an A-team team with new skills, mindsets, and approaches. Rather than christening them with fancy titles, he gave these leaders a clear direction and understanding of what good looks like, defined roles, accountability, and a lot of freedom to execute.
4. Be the coach, not the VIP. I believe the ultimate role of the CEO should be to make sure she or he unlocks and leverages the full potential of the team and organisation.
Example: German entrepreneur Constantin Schwaab, founder of Wirelane, was facing a scarcity of resources. But he struggled to see how a team could do his job. “Would a team make the best decisions? Would they be as motivated and skilled as I am?” he asked. We encouraged him to take a leap of faith and guide the team rather than direct them. He was amazed by the abundance and results the team was able to deliver on the quick, as well as how their passion and motivation was aligned with his own.
Starting to lead as we, not me, has so far been an incredibly re-energizing and rewarding journey. What have been your experiences letting go, refocusing your energy on your aspirations and coaching your team rather than being one of the star players?
