Three Minute Leadership: The Power of “Active Followers”
To: The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning
The recent Knowledge at Wharton newsletter provided a summary of a presentation, The Power of ‘Active Followers,’ from Mission Control to Mountain Climbing, at the recent 16th Annual Wharton Leadership Conference. Its theme was “Leading in a World of Change.” The three speakers – Jeffrey Ashby, former NASA space shuttle commander, John Kanengieter, Director of Leadership at the National Outdoor Leadership School, and Stephen Girsky, Vice Chairman of General Motors – in sharing their leadership lessons all agreed that “it comes down to preparation, a single-minded focus on the goal and a team of what they called ‘active followers.’” The idea dramatically comes to life in Kanengieter’s story of a mountain climb on Panwali Dwar in the Himalaya mountain range.
The team was faced with a series of snow storms and avalanches that had interrupted their ascent, and time was running out because of the cold and rarified air at 18,000 feet. Finally, there was a clearing and the team decided to rappel the final part of their journey.
“Minutes after they were lined up by rope, about 150 feet up-and-down from one another, they heard a cracking sound. The snow that had come down from the avalanches was fissuring, caused by an air pocket below. About 15 feet ahead of the leader, the ice was starting to fracture. ‘My life was hanging by a thread, but which way should we go — up or down?’ said Kanengieter. In this case, each of the people had significant knowledge about mountain climbing, but the point was to make a decision. The leader wanted to go on, but Kanengieter — intuiting that the fracture would, at best, thwart the route to the top and, at worst, cause an avalanche that would kill the men — overruled him.”
Of this Kanengieter said: “’I was a follower there — an active follower — and my job was to figure out how to help support the leader to make a critical decision…. Our leadership model leverages the strength of active followers, which is highly effective during uncertainty and times of conflicting options.’” Both Kanengieter and Ashby noted:
“… Leadership is not one-dimensional and autocratic. Yes, the leader has to make the final decision, but not without real input, which cannot be given by team members unless they are empowered all along the way by the leader. It is this concept of the active follower that Ashby and Kanengieter claim is essential. They gain it by trust, a focus on the goal and proper communication, not just at the crisis moment, but from the first day of the team’s selection. Even if the goal, as in the mountain climb, has to be abandoned, the entire group buys in.”
Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric, said: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Grow others and provide an environment that will allow them to unleash their magnificent potential. We each see the world so wonderfully differently: a beautifully sculptured bridge may be a work of art to one, and to another it is a pathway to a new life. Leverage the greatness in each other… and you will change the world forever. And have fun doing it.
Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!
Mike
PS Please remember to “Make It One Heck of a Summer!”