According to the Harvard Business Review, one of the emerging leadership trends is the “anti-leadership leader.” What does this mean? What does it look like? And how do you see this phenomenon playing out in your business?
Please join us this week as Wayne describes this trend and how it may apply fairly accurately to many of today’s construction and family business leaders.
Please give us your comments, and thanks for tuning in.
P.S. – Please join us for our next blog “The Greatest Construction Company of Which You Have Never Heard – The McDevitt & Street Story.” Bundy Bundesman, a former member of Street’s six-person executive committee, will share the tools and techniques that led to Street’s meteoric growth from $50 mil to $1.3 billion in only 13 short years. You will NOT want to miss this one! Click here to Register
First, I enjoy your blog posts / videos. Thank you for offering them. With respect to the type/style/CEO/positional leader, I would like to share a little about my experience with the contractor I work for.
I have been a part of the growth of one contracting company for 30 + years. Having graduated from college and immediately beginning employment, learning by being put in the fire was the early teaching method of leadership above me. It was necessary in that we were a small, privately held company, and as a result you were expected to wear many hats. That in itself prepared me for my current position as division manager.
Was this a unique example and not real life? Could possibly have been. Dedicating your entire career to one company is essentially unheard of. It was in the late ’80s and continues into the 2020s. But oh what lessons it has taught me.
The concept of TEAM building is so critical. Yes, a construction company could run extremely lean, but what happens if one of your key pieces to the TEAM puzzle gets sick, retires, or leaves? What is your contingency plan? I was fortunate to be a part of developing the team we currently have. Succession planning – and not just in executive leadership positions – is critical to the future success of the company. For me, this meant letting go of control and trusting in the dedication being displayed by younger leaders advancing in their knowledge and experience.
I believe this model, whether it was ever intended or not, has resulted in longevity and buy in to the TEAM environment. Family is a word we express openly and often. Offering the opportunity to be stretched and put in positions outside one’s comfort zone is a sign of great leadership.
For many of us that are currently in executive leadership positions of a 200 person ESOP owned company, we were placed in those positions of being stretched and worked outside our comfort zones. Available, willing teachers from previous generations within our company helped shape not only us as current executive leaders, but also set the foundation for leadership growth into the future. I’m sold on TEAMS. I not only believe it works, I have lived to see it work over and over again.
I hope this helps a small company that is growing.
Wow, Mike! What a great story! Thank you for this; I think many of our other subscribers will be inspired by your story, and, you’re right, building a great team is the “secret” to long term success!
Wayne, ‘thanks’ for another insightful and thought-provoking Blog. The key thought here is to attract a team of people who embrace the Vision of the company but my experience is that very few companies have a clear Vision for the team to embrace and most of them don’t understand what a Vision is.
For most businesses, their Vision is some weak and wishy-washy, feel-good, ‘aspirational’ statement that is non-specific and un-measurable. Other businesses confuse a Vision with a Statement of Purpose or Statement of Values. We need those…but they’re not our Vision.
Our Vision should be a clear, specific and measurable statement, on one piece paper, that states what we commit to become in 5 years to be a profitable and responsible market leader. This vision will inform, focus, challenge, inspire and guide everyone in the business, from top to bottom. From our 5 year Vision comes our annual Mission…and from our annual Mission comes our detailed, clear and specific ‘Commitment To Action’ stating what will be done, by whom, by when, at what cost, with what outcome, measured how and rewarded how.
I quite agree, Donald. Thank you.
Hi Wayne- thanks for the vblog and subsequent discussion. Do you have a link for the HBR article to which you are referring?
Here it is, Kerry https://hbr.org/2018/04/the-power-of-leaders-who-focus-on-solving-problems