Our recent B2B Leaders Report into leading in the digital age concluded that effective leadership is a major driver of successful, loyal and contented marketing departments. No surprise there, then. What was a nasty shock, however, was the fact the B2B leaders interviewed in the parallel research project largely didn’t recognise this fact. And it gets worse. While the majority of surveyed leaders mark themselves highly on their leadership performance – 79 per cent awarded themselves either seven or eight out of 10 – those they are managing do not agree, marking them much less generously.
The message is loud and clear: B2B leaders must focus much more on understanding their impact on others and honing their leadership skills, rather than their own personal career development. That, somewhat paradoxically, is the best way to progress.
But, there’s no need to hastily sign up to a new course or qualification on the latest digital skills – successful leadership ultimately comes down to your attitude. And the good news? You have complete, instant control over that.
To inspire you on your leadership mission, we’ve compiled a feature full of great leaders throughout history. These are not necessarily all the usual suspects you’ll often find in business text books, but purposely more left field suggestions to get you thinking differently. All, however, possess at least one key strength that will get you ahead in today’s complex, multi-disciplined, collaborative business environment.
Key strength: The ability to reflect and take stock, especially in the midst of chaos and carnage
The fact a leader who lived hundreds of years ago is still so relevant in modern times underpins the truth that the traits of great leadership are timeless.
Although Aurelius was an effective military strategist, leading his army to multiple triumphs, it’s his deep understanding of the human condition and his unrivalled emotional intelligence that has landed him on this list. As leadership consultant and author Robert Rowland Smith puts it: “Marcus Aurelius is the most interesting example of a leader from history who has attributes that are essential in leadership today. Why? Because he was a genuine ‘philosopher king’; a man of both action and reflection.”
Indeed, Aurelius’ words reflecting on what makes a good leader could have been written for the present day business environment, which explains why former US president Bill Clinton cites the man’s Meditations as one of his favourite leadership books.
For example, a key tenet of Aurelius’ approach is to focus on mindfulness, emotional regulation and self-control in order to keep cool in the midst of any conflict and respond with empathy to his subjects. This acknowledgement of the power of soft skills, coupled with the benefits of mindfulness and self-awareness, are all hugely topical today.
His advice on controlling your emotions, for instance, would not look out of place in any current business journal, or woman’s glossy for that matter: “Remember life is short. You can choose to spend your time and energy languishing over things that have already happened, or you can choose to be calm and address any problems that arise.”
Key strength: A talent for translating big data into easily understandable insights
There are many reasons why the so-called ‘lady with the lamp’ was a great leader: her sense of purpose; her ability to inspire others; her strong personal ‘brand’, her image imprinted on £10 notes in the UK; her capacity for nurturing others. However, the trait that stands out most for Eve Poole, leadership commentator and associate at Ashridge Business School, is her deep understanding that ‘hard data is more persuasive than soft words’.
When, for example, Nightingale had to persuade the Secretary of State for War that disease was responsible for more battlefield deaths than wounds, she invented the ‘Rose Diagram’ to display her statistics graphically. “In our data-rich world, this knack of summarising complexity in a simple and intuitive format is the holy grail for any leader who wants to rally people to their cause,” says Poole. “It is crucial today for leaders to find innovative and visual ways to communicate key messages.”
Another reason, says Poole, that Nightingale has something to teach the modern leader is because of how well she managed her professional reputation. Contemporary accounts actually reveal she was quite a steely, severe personality but the fact that she has successfully cast herself in a more positive light as the ultimate nurturer and saviour is another enviable ability in modern times. As Poole says: “It’s quite an achievement to have pulled that one off, especially as a woman. Clearly, she was a lady who might well have lamped you if you got in her way, but is still loved for
it today.”
Key strength: Resilience
Shackleton’s leadership story tells of the vital importance of resilience, adaptability and agility in the face of constant failure and turbulence. For him, it was not only the threat of a loss of profits, but the loss of lives, as he attempted (ultimately in vain) to lead the first team across Antarctica in 1914.
Despite being relentlessly plagued by factors outside his control, from the weather to the First World War, he never gave up on his goal, using every resource he could get his hands on to achieve it. He had the flexibility of mind, however, to quickly change his goal when his ship became stuck in the ice and, later, sank. Again, the flexibility with which he so swiftly embraced his new survival mission, and rallied the troops around it, is testament to his leadership brilliance in unthinkable adversity.
“Shackleton’s innate ability to motivate and organise his team, to give them a sense of purpose such that they could better manage their fear and anxiety, and to swiftly change and adapt plans in accordance to external circumstances, makes him one of history’s great leaders, despite the fact he did not fulfil what he set out to ultimately achieve,” says Charlie Wagstaff, MD, executive online community, Criticaleye.
Clearly, in today’s highly uncertain, tumultuous world, Shackleton’s resilience is priceless.
Key strength: Challenging the status quo
Parks, the ‘first lady’ of civil rights in America, changed history by refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Alabama in 1955. What sets this leader apart, as a woman who became emblematic of the revolution against racial discrimination, was her willingness to challenge the status quo and stand up for her values in an assertive, but not aggressive, way.
“From a business perspective, this is more important than ever,” says John McLachlan, co-author of Real Leaders for the Real World and MD of Monkey Puzzle Training. Indeed, the extent to which an employee ‘understands and supports’ a leader’s vision plays a greater role in job satisfaction than most people realise; hence it’s an ‘unconscious motivator’.
McLachlan adds: “We have had so many scandals where large organisations have put the profits of the business, or themselves, above doing the right thing. We need more leaders who have strong and clear ethics and who are prepared to stand by their principles. When leaders do this they are more respected and can lead people clearly, rather than trying to manipulate them or play ‘politics’.”
Key strength: Humility
If Carlsberg made sporting leaders, they would be like newly-retired All Blacks rugby team captain Richie McCaw: he is the most successful captain, of the most successful era, of the most successful team, in sporting history. Why? “He’s a humble leader making a contribution to something bigger than himself,” says James Kerr, author of Legacy – 15 Lessons in Leadership and co-founder of B2B storytelling agency Fable. “His actions are not about him and the acquisition of personal glory, but about the team. He inspires them by being selfless and living by the All Blacks mantra, ‘nobody is bigger than the jersey’.”
It’s McCaw’s sense of humility and respect, while striving for excellence, which makes him such a remarkable, successful leader. In a society dogged by a sense of entitlement in some quarters – think footballers paid huge salaries based on their potential rather than their performance to date – this attitude is crucial to effective leadership today. Says Kerr: “By staying humble you get away from entitlement, which is really unearned glory. Entitlement is the enemy of high performance. As soon as you get ahead of yourself, in any walk of life, you’re buggered.”
To keep himself and his team humble, McCaw encouraged a culture of continual, candid feedback to boost self-awareness and self-improvement. “That feedback loop doesn’t happen enough in business,” says Kerr. “Managers are more comfortable moving onto the next thing, so they don’t have to hear the harsh truth.”
However, leaders would perform much better if they asked their direct reports to stab them in the belly rather than the back, as the saying goes, so they can learn. Kerr adds: “But you have to be humble to hear that. You have to listen, not be bogged down by what you think you know. You have to have a huge sense of openness and self-curiosity and courage to welcome that level of self-development. McCaw’s, in my experience of shadowing him for my book, is unprecedented.”
Do you agree with our choices? Which other great leaders can B2B marketers learn from? Let us know in the comments below.
