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May 2009
Email: gcohen@co2partners.com
Dear Readers,
Understanding Leadership
In building a training program for leaders, I've given a lot of thought to
definitions of leadership. Here are a few that I have come across:
"A leader is simply one who has followers." To have followers isn't much of a
threshold. Cults have followers, and so do NFL teams and pop stars. Leaders should
aspire to greater heights.
"A leader gets others to do what one cannot do alone." This definition feels too
utilitarian. The task is paramount, at the expense perhaps of learning and
development.
"A leader gets people to do what he or she wants them to do, but having them
want to do it." This definition comes closer to what exceptional leaders do than
the previous two, but the word "gets" implies manipulation. The rewards and
opportunities are likely greater for coworkers in this context, but there's no
indication that inspiration or vision will be properly valued.
Leaders ought to strive to build a legion of thinkers, not automatons. John
Searle's Chinese Room experiment helps to illustrate why:
"Searle requests that his reader imagine that, many years from now, people have
constructed a computer that behaves as if it understands Chinese. It takes
Chinese characters as input and, using a computer program, produces other Chinese
characters, which it presents as output. Suppose, says Searle, that this computer
performs its task so convincingly that it comfortably passes the 'Turing Test':
it convinces a human Chinese speaker that the program is itself a human Chinese
speaker. All of the questions that the human asks it receive appropriate
responses, such that the Chinese speaker is convinced that he or she is talking to
another Chinese-speaking human being. Most proponents of artificial intelligence
would draw the conclusion that the computer understands Chinese, just as the
Chinese-speaking human does.
Searle then asks the reader to suppose that he is in a room in which he receives
Chinese characters, consults a book containing an English version of the
aforementioned computer program and processes the Chinese characters according to its
instructions. He does not understand a word of Chinese; he simply manipulates
what, to him, are meaningless symbols, using the book and whatever other equipment,
like paper, pencils, erasers and filing cabinets, is available to him. After
manipulating the symbols, he responds to a given Chinese question in the same
language. As the computer passed the Turing test this way, it is fair, says Searle,
to deduce that he has done so, too, simply by running the program manually.
This lack of understanding, according to Searle, proves that computers do not
understand Chinese either, because they are in the same position as he--nothing
but mindless manipulators of symbols: they do not have conscious mental states
like an 'understanding' of what they are saying, so they cannot fairly and properly
be said to have minds." (Searle 1980, p. 2-3)
As a leader, do you want "mindless manipulators of symbols" for coworkers? If
you script your coworkers' behavior, that's what you are likely to get. They won't
be inspired or feel authorized to employ their own vision or creativity. They
may not even understand what it is they are trying to achieve, or how they fit
into your vision.
Members of Generation Y want to understand and contribute to the direction of
the organization. Sure, material success is important to them, but not at the
expense of the environment and the health and safety of their (and future)
generations. That's why exceptional leaders embrace a new definition of leadership:
"A leader inspires people to achieve a shared goal and vision, by allowing and
encouraging independent thought, and by meeting the unique needs of his or her
coworkers."
As a leader, are you offering something greater than financial rewards to
attract, align, and engage your followers? Let them understand and contribute
meaningfully to the direction of the organization.
The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us
and What We Can Do about It
by Joshua Cooper Ramo
Josh Ramo, the youngest Senior Editor and Foreign Editor ever at TIME Magazine,
is both a great writer and a global citizen. A friend of mine for the past eight
years, he now works as Managing Director at Kissinger Associates, Inc., which is
owned and managed by Henry Kissinger. I'm not surprised that Josh chose to work
for the former Secretary of State, since Josh speaks Mandarin and frequently
seeks connection between the U.S. and the world at large. In his latest book, The
Age of the Unthinkable, Josh examines recent disruptions to well-established
institutions and mental models, and finds solutions to problems from unlikely and
far-flung sources.
Some of these unlikely and far-flung sources include the chief information
officer of the Hezbollah (Who would even think a terrorist organization has such a
position?), the Silicon Valley venture folks who founded Google, President
Gorbachev, ground breaking physicists, and others. Tying them together under the common
banner of revolutionaries, Josh argues that they are more successful than
organized bureaucracies like the State Department, White House, and Pentagon. Josh
asks, "Why are these revolutionary models so successful?" and "How might we adapt
some of this thinking into our organizations?"
Josh's key findings surface as he investigates the notion of resilience. When
the unthinkable and unimaginable happen, and our traditional models aren't
equipped to handle the aftermath, we need new and better methods to cope and rebound.
In The Age of the Unthinkable, you'll learn some of these methods.
Since he advocates a new manner of thinking (no small topic or feat), this book
provides only a taste of the advantages we might enjoy and challenges we might
face. Josh makes the complex easy to understand, though, so it is a highly
worthwhile read.
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