4. The Courage to See Our Own Hypocrisy
LEADERSHIP AND CULTURE
Creating More of the Results You Want
Introduction
I have been putting my thoughts about leadership and culture down on paper in a series of short, easy-to-digest essays. This is the fourth essay in a series of six. If you’d like to know a little about my background and inspiration, my website includes a section that summarizes my experience and key influences (http://www.2m-spaces.com/about-michael-p-mack/).
4. The Courage to See Our Own Hypocrisy
I think we can all agree that there is a certain level of hypocrisy in how we conduct ourselves and how our organizations function. The question is: are we willing to acknowledge the hypocrisy and, more importantly, do something about it. Leadership and culture can be thought of as systems and, as such, consistent with the second law of thermodynamics (see essay #3, “‘Steady State’ is an Illusion”), they will “deteriorate” in effectiveness over time, without the introduction of new energy. To be specific:
Leaders lose touch with purpose.
Cultures create more rules and tolerate hypocrisy.
Brands lose relevance.
Most of us have experienced these deteriorations, and many of you reading this are probably having that experience currently. So, what can you do about it?
In an earlier essay, “2. Purpose and Values are Powerful Tools… and High Maintenance,” I made a comment that there is no such thing as organizational development, that it all occurs at an individual level. That means that the deterioration does not so much happen around us. We are part of it; we are observers and, therefore, contributors, leaders of the decline. There is no neutrality. In his book Building the Bridge as You Walk on It, Robert Quinn very powerfully wrote, “We cannot see that everyone is colluding in avoiding the pursuit of excellence. In fact, we usually prefer not to see this because to do so would bring increased personal accountability.”
So how do we break this ill-fated march towards the illusion of steady state and reality of decline? Let’s first discuss what needs to change and then come back to the question of how we make that happen. Earlier, I mentioned the specific impacts on culture, leadership and brands that occur when these core elements, in alignment with the company’s purpose and values, fail to evolve.
An organization’s greatest potential is best served by preemptive purposeful disruption. This is not change for the sake of change—quite the opposite. It is change based on furthering a company’s purpose and values. And because it challenges the tendency towards steady state, it will necessarily seem disruptive at times. For example, in these areas the focus would be:
Leadership: Pursue clarity of purpose.
Culture: Self-governance and address hypocrisy.
Brand: Pursuit of relevance—planned obsolescence.
Of course, the tendency here will be to point out the hypocrisy in others. This will almost always look like blame and will be very unlikely to inspire change. As a very dear friend of mine once said, “Whatever feedback you have for others, give it to yourself first.” In other words, to address our own hypocrisy it is important to understand what we need to start doing and stop doing to create the change and results we want.
Suggested Next Steps
Get clear about what you want to be different in your organization and your role in making that happen.
Understand what shift in attitude, perspective or behavior will best support your desired outcomes.
Find a mentor, coach or trusted colleague to be a resource in your mission.
Practice.
Contact information:
Michael P. Mack
M: 619.990.5300
W: 2m-spaces.com
