STRATEGIC HR

By Dave Crisp

Holidays provide change and time to reflect, whether one intends to or not.

This season, various reports seemed to reinforce just how complicated human differences are. No two of us are alike, so the task of coming up with strategies that work reliably in varied situations with any consistency could be difficult. The chief leadership puzzle also popped up again in conversation — not "what is leadership" or "does effective leadership make a difference?" We know the answers to those.

What we don’t know is why so many leaders don’t adopt the proven keys that make one leader so much more effective than others.

One answer seems to be we find "nice guys" not very leader-like, so we hesitate to emulate them. Instances to explore this question come to light constantly. A high profile example arrived in a newsletter pointing to an interview in Forbes of ING Direct CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann who has just written his second book of leadership wisdom called Rock, Then Roll: The Secrets of Culture-Driven Leadership, which Forbes says “gathers nuggets of information distributed to ING Direct’s employees over Kuhlmann’s 10 years with ING Direct,” the second of his books to do so.

Kuhlman is a fabulous Canadian success story not many know much about. An RBC vice-president at age 33, he took on the challenge of developing online banking for Dutch-owned bank and financial company ING and made the new venture amazingly successful, both in Canada and the United States, plus several other countries.

Kuhlman, before anything else, promotes an empowerment culture and what he calls "culture-driven leadership." That means creating a culture in which everyone potentially leads and no one waits on the CEO or anyone else to lay out orders. It is also a great affirmation of the principle that excellent leaders can carve out a highly effective culture in their segment of a company that otherwise is downright hostile to it.

The only hesitation I have recommending Kuhlman’s books is he hands out 348 leadership messages. None of us is capable of digesting, let alone putting into practice, that much advice, especially when you recognize they fit a particular set of circumstances that you may never encounter again. Inspirational undoubtedly, but workable?

Oddly, a more usable description of similar, but literally on-the-ground "nice guy" leadership, is an analysis of Denver Bronco’s quarterback Tim Tebow’s style (also in Forbes). The highly religious Tebow has become quite controversial as a result of his very public devotional behavior on the field, but he’s simply one more unique individual with unique style. It’s hard to argue with his practical success as a leader, which Kevin Kruse (author of the recent book, We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement) helps us get a handle on.

It seems clear these are examples of similar approaches, especially in intent, albeit in very different situations where specific details inevitably have to vary.

I tend to like Kruse’s descriptions better because they get at more directly what I believe are the key core concepts without confusing them with too many specific examples — being positive with everyone, but dealing honestly with challenges; bringing the unique pieces together in balance (together meaning "we" over "me," just as Kuhlman insists in his culture-driven model); and keeping focused on delivering results.

Dave Crisp is a Toronto-based writer and thought leader for Strategic Capability Network with a wealth of experience, including 14 years leading HR at Hudson Bay Co. where he took the 70,000-employee retailer to “best company to work for” status. For more information, visit www.balance-and-results.com.