The lessons from 2020 will be mined for years to come: sociologists, behavioral scientists, public health researchers, political scientists and many others will be kept busy for quite some time. Among other things, 2020 has taught us quite a few lessons on developing our future leaders:
Lesson 1: Your “HiPos” may not be so high potential after all.
It was interesting to see who emerged as Covid-19 superheroes: the Wonder Women, Iron Men and Captain Americas who, despite the incredible obstacles we all have faced, kept life and business on track and moving ahead. They led by example; others followed.
On the flip side, some of the people we saw as rising stars and future leaders were just “ok.” For whatever reason, many were not able to create visions that inspired their troops or provided comfort, direction and meaning to stressed-out teams, customers and communities.
Why is that? Do these new heroes have great leadership skills that are only relevant in a crisis? Or have they been great potential leaders all along, but were overshadowed by peers who spent a disproportionate amount of time walking the halls, speaking up at meetings, networking and cozying up to the boss? This year has forced organizations to rethink how they identify, nurture, and promote their future leaders.
A long weekend feature in The Wall Street Journal recently examined how the leadership team at Emerson Electric Co. responded to the pandemic. As the Journal’s Thomas Gryta put it: “How they respond[ed] is making some careers and breaking others.”
Gryta summarized CEO David Farr’s key lessons during the crisis as follows: “Keep moving forward; don’t believe the conventional wisdom; break down problems into smaller choices; remote work has its limits; over-communicate and be more transparent”—and especially apropos here, “Pay attention to who came through for you in a crisis, and don’t forget it.”
Many books undoubtedly will be written about the pandemic. The most interesting books, however, are likely to be the ones that focus on the extraordinary “ordinary” people—the line workers, managers and executives, unsung heroes all—who adapted on the run, led under stress, and brought about lasting changes in the way we work and even think about work.
Lesson 2: Growth mindset needs the “mindset.”
Like many business leaders, I’m a huge fan of the all the behavioral science-led insights and techniques used to build capabilities and performance of individuals and organizations. Some of the terms used to describe these methods and philosophies include “growth mindset,” “deliberate practice,” and neuroplasticity. I truly believe that anyone can learn almost anything if they work at it. Day-to-day practice, reflection and coaching can enable anyone to build new skills and leadership muscle.
Stanford University’s Carol Dweck, who originated the “growth mindset” concept, explained in a Harvard Business Review article several years back how it works. “Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning.”
Many business leaders have done an extraordinary job at just that over the last 10 months. They evaluated the situation, rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Saving their businesses, delivering for their customers and communities under unprecedented circumstances and protecting their people required immediate change. So, they and their organizations changed—a great illustration of the power of “growth mindset.”
In some ways, however, I didn’t fully appreciate until this year the importance of the mindset part.
Without getting political, just think how much different we might view things today if, early on, the U.S. President and other leaders publicly had embraced a growth mindset. This might have enabled them to better take on the challenges facing the United States and other countries while calmly explaining both the circumstances in which we find ourselves and the need to continuously update their game plans for resolving the crisis.
But the U.S. President, to cite one prominent example, never seemed to change. In a few months, many Americans lost interest in what he had to say and lost confidence that our national leadership had a serious strategy to overcome the virulent virus. In short, the President and many other political leaders were unwilling or unable to transform themselves into the leaders we needed them to be.
The lesson here is simple: People need both the skill and the will. Unfortunately, as we’ve witnessed, some people are not only unwilling to change; some are even unwilling to acknowledge they need to change. As you think about equipping your organization for the future, replacing leaders lacking a growth mindset with the heroes who embraced change is a tough, but uplifting and necessary measure.
Lesson 3: Growing leaders can’t start early enough.
A second story from The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition illustrates how important it is for companies (and other organizations) to focus on leadership development. And they need to do it early and often.
The story focused on the iconic brick-and-mortar bookseller, Barnes & Noble. In the midst of the pandemic, Barnes & Nobles’ CEO James Daunt abandoned the chain’s longstanding practice of having buyers in New York select all the books being sold in the company’s more than 600 U.S. stores. Now, local store managers are “calling the shots,” based on their knowledge of local interests and tastes. Daunt told the Journal’s Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg: “I expect to give the [local] booksellers complete freedom in all the things that I think should matter.” While corporate will still purchase many of the new national titles for the stores, local leaders will have far more autonomy.
Without going into further detail, I cited the two Journal stories because they drive home the importance of leadership—not only in the executive suite, but at the front line as well, where much of the action takes place and make-or-break decisions increasingly are made.
Leadership doesn’t just happen. Organizations have to intentionally develop their leadership, giving new and future leaders as much attention as they do the development of new and future products or services.