Essential Leadership

A client recently gave me a book entitled The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership. I am a huge fan of John Wooden (who isn’t?) – as a coach, a teacher, a leader, and a man of character.

In this particular book, Wooden describes an experience very early in his life that had a profound impact on his ideas about leadership. As a young boy growing up in Indiana, Wooden and his father observed a young farmer whipping and cursing a team of horses to get them to pull a wagon loaded with gravel out of a gravel pit. After watching this poor farmer fail to get the team moving – as the horses stomped and frothed at the mouth, recoiling from the beating – Wooden’s father asked if he might help out.

He started by talking gently to the horses and patting their noses. He continued to whisper to them and stroke their noses softly as he took hold of their bridles and bits, and eventually he stepped out in front of the horses and gave a little whistle to get them started while he guided the reins. In short order, the horses pulled the wagon right out of the gravel pit.

“No whip, no temper tantrum, no screaming and swearing by Dad. I’ve never forgotten what I saw him do and how he did it. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of leaders act like that angry young farmer who lost control and resorted to force and intimidation. Their results were often the same, that is, no results.”

Unfortunately, it is not at all uncommon to see managers use anger, fear, and intimidation to get what they want. And they do, of course. These managers get exactly what they want – in the short term. In the long term, the damage is considerable. Morale suffers. Trust disappears. Talented employees quit. Just to name a few of the negative consequences.

A pat on the back is much more effective that kick in the backside. It’s not like this is a revelation! We all know that. The problem is that we are often too lazy to develop people’s potential. We would prefer to get the immediate result – even at the expense of losing the trust and respect of our employees.