“Yeah, but Sigi, he may be one of those senior executives who bring people into their leadership team to counter their own weaknesses,” Blondie responded, in her usual gentle manner.
“Hmm, you’re probably right,” I said, thinking about her words.
She continued, “He probably knows he’s weak at the sort of things you mentioned, like instilling effectiveness in the organization, inspiring and energizing the staff, holding them to account, dealing with the antics of functional stakeholders, … all that stuff. And he sees you doing that on his behalf, although he hasn’t said it explicitly.”
It was conversations like this that made me value Blondie as my consigliere.
Besides her stunning beauty and flawless attributes as a mistress, she was as wise as life.
Whenever we had such discussions, her sage observations typically revealed alternate perspectives to whatever issue we were chewing over.
We hadn’t been discussing anything specific this time.
We were just lounging over coffee on the terrace of our rented villa, with the calm waves lapping the white sands of the shore a few steps away, enjoying a slow start to another beautiful day in Oranjestad, Aruba.
“Some managers and leaders know what they’re weak at, even if they don’t say it explicitly”
I don’t know if it was the serenity of the moment, or the golden sun kissing the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, but something got me thinking about life in general and my own life in particular.
I thought about all the things I was grateful for in my life. Like my good health, my inner joy, my intellect, being in tune with my mojo, … I thought about how lucky I was to be blessed with five wives and a mistress, all of whom are goddesses at whose feet I worship. I thought about the good fortune providence had bestowed on me in my career trajectory, having started out as a penniless, near-barefoot, but zestful immigrant.
That zest had led to some early and desperately needed dollars in my pocket when I got a job cleaning toilets and mopping floors.
And here I was now, relishing a luxury holiday by the sea.
These contemplations inevitably led me to thinking about work—in particular, the challenge I was facing dealing with my boss, Adrian Horvat.
He’d hired me a few months earlier as director of operations to revamp the function and boost performance.
Although we got along well on a personal level, our work dynamic was somewhat strained.
As the chief operating officer (COO), I’d expected Adrian to have more leadership moxie.
He certainly talked a good talk—I never felt like I was dealing with a dunce whenever we discussed pertinent issues, such as the business strategy, our organizational development needs, or details of the transformation programme. But he seemed incapable of walking the talk.
“Senior executives often talk a good talk but can’t walk the talk”
He was like someone who’d attended leadership courses or read loads of books but couldn’t put the stuff into action. He was as uninspiring as a toothbrush and was just as communicative. He lacked the bottle to deal with issues effectively. I was particularly peeved, for example, that he let the CFO push him around and talk to him disparagingly.
Sometimes, I felt like grabbing him by his shirt and giving him a good shake, maybe a few slaps too, while yelling in his face, “Wake the hell up, man!”
I just couldn’t fathom how someone with his leadership temperament and style had ended up as a COO.
And probably for the umpteenth time, I had just voiced those thoughts to Blondie when she offered her wise response.
I instinctively sensed that she was right.
Because in hindsight, I suppose if Adrian had told me upfront, “Look, Sigi, I know what I’d like to do with the operations function, but I don’t have the strength of character, gumption, drive, guts, oomph, prowess—whatever you choose to call it—to get it done. That’s why I need you,” I would have understood and been better prepared.
Now, with more learning and experience under my belt, I appreciate that the concept of hiring people who complement your weaknesses as a leader has merit.
“Attending leadership courses or reading books won’t make up for lacking the requisite leadership temperament and style”
It’s an approach many entrepreneurs and business owners adopt; and even some professional CEOs—though they may not publicly admit it.
Because, in reality, only a minority of managers and senior leaders have undergone robust leadership development and practical growth experiences under real pressure during their career.
Also, very few leaders have everything it takes to fulfil their role requirements effectively.
Effective leaders usually have high self-awareness.
If they’re honest enough to acknowledge the aspects of the job they’re not good at, it’d make sense to build their team strength by appointing or promoting people with the right chops to balance out competency gaps in their leadership team.
The idea of incorporating the skill requirements of the team—rather than just those of the specific vacancy—in recruitment decisions may be particularly crucial for some businesses.
Most organizations still promote or hire the wrong people into management or senior leadership roles, as several studies show.
Sometimes, it’s due to internal politics and organizational stupidity.
And often, it’s a reflection of the organization’s or the hiring manager’s unconscious bias driving recruitment decisions.
This bias typically extends to other aspects of organizational talent management. Over time, the compound effects can develop into:
- Promoting people to their level of incompetence (the Peter Principle)
- Unwittingly encouraging groupthink, and
- Grooming and appointing organizational clones.
Senior leaders and HR professionals must watch out for these hazards.
“Effective leaders usually have high self-awareness”
Employees (and the external candidates who are potential employees) are individuals. And every individual is unique, with talents and valuable contributions to make to organizational capability and success.
But many organizations miss this insight because they’re filled with untrained and/or inept managers at various levels.
And the dent it creates in organizational capability is more acute when such managers are senior executives—as they themselves blindly perpetuate the ethos that feeds these problems in a vicious cycle.
Such “accidental managers” have spawned poor workplace effectiveness since the Devil was a baby, often creating and sustaining toxic cultures, hampering productivity, and smothering employees’ happiness and growth.
Organizations must reset their attitudes to leadership development to prevent these undesirable outcomes.
Sound leadership development, within a cohesive talent management approach, is one of the hallmarks of companies that consistently remain at the top of their game.
I don’t know whether Adrian Horvat grew his career in such top-notch organizations; though I very much doubt it.
In any case, the difficulty of having him as a boss was a test of my abilities and fortitude, which gave me a great learning and development experience.
So, all in all, I thank him for contributing to my career growth and add the experience to my gratitude list.
