I
write this blog with a heavy heart. This will be my first blog that my good
friend and brother-in-law, David Odum, will not read. He has provided support and
feedback since I began the Master’s in Leadership program and has continued to
share my blogs that he found relevant with his Accenture teammates. David lost
his battle with cancer at 2:55 am on Friday. For those of you at Accenture that
still read my blog, I appreciate your support. As David was one of my primary
influencers for selecting this area of study, I hope that you will continue on
this journey with me in honor of him.
On
my class discussion board last week, I talked about a conversation that I had
the other week at the NYAC with one of my friends, George Tockstein, George does
something in commercial real estate and also teaches a couple of classes at NYU
so he is pretty familiar with the practical applications of management but he
was perplexed as to why someone would choose to major in leadership. He had
always considered leadership to be something learned through experience. I
explained that he is right but that we can learn from the experiences of others
but, just as with management, there is a fundamental doctrine to leadership as
well. If we study management, why not study leadership? The two are closely
related. To me, the difference between management and leadership is this – management
is using your resources to achieve a goal and leadership is getting others to
want to follow you to achieving the goal. There are organizations that separate
the two functions but I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority
expect their managers to be effective leaders (though leaders can exist at
every level of the organization).
Since
it is practical to study management and leadership (for the purposes of this
blog, let’s assume that leadership is synonymous with management), it only
makes sense that we measure where we are from time to time. One way that we can
accomplish that is through surveys. The key is honesty, though. We often answer
personality surveys the way that we want
to be perceived instead of as we actually are. In fact, when someone joins the
Army, there is a test that they have to take called the Tailored Adaptive
Personality Assessment Survey (TAPAS). The way that they answer the questions
will provide three scores – a “can do”, “will do”, and a third that I can’t
remember. Based on the scores of their other tests, moral standings, immigration
status, and level of education, our applicants have to achieve certain scores.
I always tell them to think “what would Jesus do?” when taking the test to
ensure a passing score. However, if we want to know our strengths and
weaknesses as managers, we can’t answer how we think Jesus would answer. It can
be so hard to be honest of those surveys, don’t you think?
In
the first week or two of this class, we had the opportunity to take a
management assessment (MA) survey through NextSteps Research. The survey
questions were similar to those that I have answered in the past when I took my
Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) inventory for Army recruiting duty.
The difference in the surveys, though, is that the TAIS focused more on overall
personality whereas the MA focused a bit more on how I prefer to work with
teams. I was tempted to answer the MA questions how I wanted to be versus how I
am but fortunately the TAIS taught me how that can give us a false sense of
security and can come back to bite us in the rear.
Most
of us have heard the story of how Steve Jobs created Apple in his garage. What
I didn’t know until this week is that he had kind of a rough history there
after it got off the ground (Severance, 2012). Jobs had a conflict and parted
with Apple in 1985 (I never knew that!) and began a second new company, NeXT
Computer, Inc. Jobs was in competition with his former company building
cutting-edge computers and software for the next several years. In 1992, NeXT
left the hardware portion of the business and focused solely on software. In
1996, Apple purchased NeXT and hired Jobs as an advisor. He was later appointed
acting-CEO and later became the full CEO of Apple. So for 11 years, Steve Jobs
was not even a part of Apple. When he left, some of the most brilliant managers
from Apple followed him on his new startup adventure. I wonder how I would have
fared on that team.
By
using the results on my MA, I can clearly see how I could contribute to a team
such as that. First, I probably would not have followed Jobs to NeXT. I am best
suited to work in a large dynamic venture business environment. That means that
startups probably are not where I would excel. However, there are aspects of
startups that fuel me. For example, I strive for achievement, have a high tolerance of risk, and work well
with a mix of teamwork and independence. If I did go to NeXT, a few of my
traits would be very fitting. First, Steve Jobs was very excited but wanted to
achieve a consensus before action (EverySteveJobsVideo, 2014). This is an
attribute that was identified a little more in my TAIS profile than my MA but I
desire to solve problems through consensus. When a consensus cannot be reached,
I seek resolution. (True resolution means that the issue is solved in a way
that is acceptable for all involved instead of just strong-arming an idea.) Jobs
felt that “there needs to be someone who is sort of the keeper and reiterator
of the vision because there’s just a ton of work to do” (6:58). My MA also
shows that I am very keen on multi-tasking and am highly driven by achievement.
I don’t allow myself to lose sight of the vision when I get bogged down and am
able to continually share the vision and help others keep on track.
I
think it is equally important for us to recognize how we can hinder a group
such as a startup. As I mentioned, I don’t think that a startup is the right
fit for me at all. One primary reason is that my MA reflects what I already
know about myself when dealing with innovation. I am not an innovator at all.
My strength lies with refining existing processes and not with developing new
ones. I like to improve on existing procedures to solve problems. Also, I have
a desire for structure. That doesn’t mean that I am not open to fluid
environments but a startup would likely be too fluid for my needs.
The bottom
line is that we must be honest with ourselves. We should know where we fit and
where we don’t. Just because we have traits that can contribute to a team doesn’t
mean that it is the right team for us. I would rather be on a team where I
could excel than on a team where I would just be marginal. This shouldn't discourage any of us from going to a startup if we feel driven to it, though. Steve Jobs described the success of new ventures as coming from a reverse pyramid (EverySteveJobsVideo, 2014). One person isn't able to do it all. It starts with an idea which may go to a developer. The developer may have no idea how to market the product so it goes to a marketer. The marketer may have no idea how to collect feedback and follow up so it goes on to another and so on and so forth. Everything began with one idea. Everybody can play their part. It reminds me of that show, Shark Tank. The sharks didn't create the ideas or products. They only invest and help tweak them.
[EverySteveJobsVideo].
(2014, January 1). Steve Jobs Brainstorms
with NeXT Team (1985) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNeXlJW70KQ
Severance,
C. (2012). The Second-Order Effects of Steve Jobs. Computer, 45(1), 10-11. doi:10.1109/MC.2012.31
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