I remember a Zig Ziglar recording where he talks about incentive-based motivation and how it only works if the load is light enough, the carrot is sweet enough, and the donkey is hungry enough. Zig was making a point that all motivation is self motivation. What motivates you may not even get me out of bed in the morning. During my current class at Gonzaga University , we have been reading Collins' (2001) classic Good to Great and it has been perspective shifting for me. For those who haven't read it or need to be reminded, Collins' team did extensive research that proved that those companies that had exceptional results had Level 5 leadership in place. The two characteristics that they found in Level 5 leaders that made them achieve were: Tenacity, and Humility.
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble when your perfect, right? Isn't that what we expect from our leaders in most cases? Shouldn't they be all powerful? Don't they know the stress and drama they are creating in their own organizations? I don't believe they do.
In fact, I've given this a lot of thought over the last 8 weeks. CJ Mahaney states that, "Sinfully and culturally defined, pursuing greatness looks like this: Individuals motivated by self-interest, self-indulgence, and a false sense of self-sufficiency pursue selfish ambition for the purpose of self-glorification" (location 289, Kindle edition).
So are you thinking like, "yeah, Kohut, so what? That's the way it is?, It's just business," or is Collins really onto something?
Personally, I'm with Collins'. Leaders should get the right people on the bus to begin with and there won't be so much throwing people under the bus.
