Thought Leaders I
A Gallery of Leaders

Management Professor Michael Useem is a storyteller. He has captivated students and readers of his popular books with stories about Apollo 13, mountain climbers, and smoke jumpers at Mann Gulch. He has taken executives in his leadership programs to the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg to examine the stories of military leadership there firsthand. In his most recent book, Leading Up, Useem profiles six leaders who needed to "lead up" to be effective leaders. What can we learn from their experiences? In this brief gallery, we examine a few of their stories.

Value Added Leadership

"To come forward when an organization or superior does not encourage it can be both tremendously rewarding and extremely risky," Useem, academic director of Wharton Leadership Ventures and co-academic director of The Leadership Journey: Creating and Developing Leaders, writes in his introduction to Leading Up. "Leadership is a matter of bringing more to the office than we were given, of adding greater value to the company or country than it would have achieved without us. Leading up is not the same as managing up... The distinction is between running the office and adding value to it, between discharging our responsibilities and exceeding them."

U.N. Commander Romeo Dallaire
The Importance of Redundancy and Credibility

Sent to the Rwandan capital of Kigali in late 1993 as force commander of the United Nations peacekeeping operation, Canadian Romeo Dallaire soon knew the situation in the country was dire and that violence was imminent. Yet his warnings went unheeded and within 3 months of his initial warnings of ethnic bloodletting, the world witnessed brutal genocidal killing on an unprecedented scale. What Dallaire ultimately faced was having to single-handedly re-educate his superiors thousands of miles away in New York to the new reality he faced in Kigali. He did this by:

  • Transcending the normal channels of communication

  • Using repetition and continual updating to strengthen his credibility with his superiors, who were thousands of miles away

  • Continually listening to all his subordinates and letting them help in deciding what actions to take when he could not wait for replies from thousands of miles away

  • Keeping the mission and goals of his organization at the core of all his decisions, regardless of who may take offense

"Dallaire's heroic efforts to avert the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 serves as a powerful reminder that our actions of upward leadership may sometimes make the difference between triumph and disaster, between success and failure," Useem added. "Enron's Sherron Watkins took similar steps to avert the bankruptcy of Enron in 2001, and had her upward leadership worked, it is just possible that Enron might have cleaned house in time to save itself."

General Peter Pace, U.S. Marine Corps
The Importance of a Culture in Leadership

With the creation in 1999 of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, Marine Corps Lieutenant Peter Pace found himself having to simultaneously report to six different military superiors, as well as their bosses — the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense. What helped him pull off this enormous task was understanding the critical importance of an encompassing culture with which to foster upward leadership throughout an organization. He also depended on solid personal guidelines:

  • Making sure his own performance was above reproach

  • Keeping each superior fully informed of what he was recommending to all the others

  • Always acting on principle. Knowing who he is and what he — and his organization — stands for was behind all of his decisions.

More Leadership Challenges Ahead

Since Leading Up was published, Pace, now a general, has been appointed Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon's equivalent of the chief operating officer. "Of necessity, he now leads in both directions: He must render his best strategic advice to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense, and the President," Useem said. "And he must mobilize and direct the armed forces for whatever actions the nation takes in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and elsewhere. The U.S. will be calling upon the best of his upward and downward leadership capacities during the months ahead."

David Pottruck
Upward Leadership of CEOs and Boards

Top executives at CBS, British Airways, and Compaq Computer all failed to read their boards' reactions to their plans — and lost their jobs. Yet when David Pottruck of Charles Schwab approached his superiors with a radical plan, he was able to win them over; and his plan put his company in a leadership position.

What did Pottruck do that these other top executives did not?

  • Assume nothing. Pottruck never overestimated his superiors' confidence in him. The CEOs at CBS, British Airways, and Compaq, on the other hand, did not maintain clear lines of communication with their boards and various stakeholders and just assumed their boards would support their decisions.

  • Do the legwork. Pottruck thoroughly analyzed and developed his plan to offer Internet investment services to Schwab's clients before presenting it to his superiors. This demonstrated his analytic abilities to his superiors. Similarly, boards of directors need to know that CEOs can assemble top management teams.

  • Communicate. Just as important, Pottruck carefully communicated to his superiors why his plan was necessary for the organization. Part of his research included the most efficient way to implement his plan. Boards do not like surprises, and being persistent with updates of information is essential to making sure everyone on the board is informed.

Learning About Leading Never Stops

Pottruck's success demonstrates the increasingly demanding role of corporate leadership. "When he first began to work with his directors," Useem said, "he self consciously taught himself how to lead in the boardroom." And in the past 2 years, he has had to master the art of leading a large brokerage firm in a very challenging stock market. "But he has never stopped learning, and his continuous development reminds us that acquiring the qualities of great leadership is a lifelong and very self-directed journey."

Charlene Barshefsky
Leading as a Higher Calling

Negotiating China's entry into the World Trade Organization was not on the list of things to do for Charlene Barshefsky, a very busy private attorney with two small children. Yet when asked, she seized this uniquely rewarding opportunity and never looked back. For 5 years, she relentlessly negotiated on two fronts: Hammering out the details of a formal agreement with representatives of the Chinese government and at home, making sure the varied interests of American business were protected.

Overriding this task was creating a vision and then helping her superiors — in this case the President of the United States and the American people — appreciate this vision. It was not a job where she would sit around and wait to be told what to do.

Throughout the process, she kept focused on the benefits of WTO membership for China: expanding economies and increased security. She based all of her decisions and actions on that vision. After close to 5 years of work, and significant setbacks, Barshefsky and China's trade minister, Shi Guangsheng signed an agreement in November 1999. Crucial to getting the final agreement signed were:

  • Building the lateral backing that her superiors needed — achieved by a judicious combination of compelling concepts, detailed prescriptions, and retail persuasion

  • Clarity of vision

"Charlene Barshefsky's clarity of vision served well her president and her country, even as both questioned whether free trade with China was good for the nation," Useem said. "Her vision helped her to persist while others faltered, to continue negotiations when others folded. It is the same kind of personal determination to see a mission through to its fulfillment that we have witnessed in so many public officials and company managers in the wake of September 11."

    

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