Leadership: the Magician or the Warrior
by Miki SaxonWednesday Phil Gerbyshak over at Slacker Manager shared his application of Edward Brown’s description of the two dominant leadership models, Charismatic Leadership (often described as arousing the emotions of the populous through imagery and poetic prose) and Traditional Leadership (Often described as operations-centric and unilateral while courting consensus building) and analyzed Obama and McCain in that light.
I thought I’d add to that with a guest post from Korn/Ferry International’s Kevin Cashman and Ken Brousseau (detailed bios at end of post), in which they apply their CEO assessment, expertise and constructs to the Presidential candidates.
Note: The candidates are discussed in random order and reflects no preference by the authors.
An Expert Analysis Of Our Presidential Candidates’ Executive Leadership
Voters commonly cast their ballots based on the critical issues and policies, but what about the equally crucial assessment of a candidate’s leadership strengths and approaches?
- Who is the leader beneath the speeches, policies and ads?
- How would experts describe the unique leadership styles of Barrack Obama and John McCain if they were being assessed for a global CEO position?
Two leadership authorities from one of the world’s largest talent management firms, Korn/Ferry International, point to four critical and differentiating facets of Obama and McCain’s leadership:
- decision-making styles;
- emotional temperaments;
- learning agility; and
- power-of-voice versus power-of-connection.
Overall, Cashman and Brousseau say that
- McCain’s strengths appear to be action-orientation, adherence to principle and a fiery tenacity to achieving results, whereas
- Obama tends to demonstrate exceptional learning agility, collaboration and is calmer under pressure.
1. Decision-Making Styles – Cashman and Brousseau assert that both candidates are principled decision-makers, but differ in their propensities to quickly or analytically make decisions and hone in on single versus multiple courses of action. Korn/Ferry’s research (see this Harvard Business Review article) at shows that those unable to lead in a “complex style” have low likelihoods of succeeding in their positions, yet once they’ve risen to a top level, it’s possible to succeed with multiple approaches. They observe:
- McCain is a more uni-focused thinker who focuses on one key principle or goal and tenaciously holds to a particular action rather than changing positions. When not in action-mode, he shifts to a more complex style that’s both analytic and uni-focused, efficiently studying the facts, and making and sticking to what he senses is the best decision.
- Obama also operates in the complex mode, but more often uses a creative and integrative style that is analytic and more open to alternate possibilities. Before making a judgment, he studies an extensive array of information and options, then gradually forms a strategy combining multiple objectives, actions and viewpoints.
2. Emotional Temperaments – The ability to manage the emotions of one’s self and those around them is a defining aspect of leadership at any level.
- When principles are challenged or threatened, McCain seems to be more emotive and combative to win the day. Achieving high performance works best for him in a high-octane pace where things are very active.
- Obama tends to maintain equanimity and gets introspective to sort out the best solutions to win, asking his staff to provide him with some reflective time each day. His high performance is achieved by reflecting, synthesizing and collaborating.
3. Leadership Agility and Ability to Deal with Ambiguity -The key leadership competency in shortest supply is the ability to deal with ambiguity, according to the research of Korn/Ferry and others and supported by past Presidents who’ve described the job as “everything happening all at once.” Though we often dub political leaders who change their positions as wishy-washy, Cashman and Brousseau say that can be a sign of agility, as good leaders summon past lessons and observations to reframe thinking in first-time contexts or changing global environments. Agility – found to be much more predictive of potential and success than raw intelligence – has components related to mental, people, results and change.
- Obama demonstrates exceptional mental agility and has proclivity for dealing with change and people, but critics may question if his results agility on a large-scale have been sufficiently demonstrated.
- McCain, in contrast, shows a strong results orientation and a measure of mental agility, but his history of working amid volatility and commitment to tradition may call his agility with people and change into question.
4. Exerting Power-of-Voice or Power-of-Connection – Cashman and Brousseau say that many leaders can be understood as either heroic leaders who assert their power-of-voice or more interpersonally inclined leaders who employ power-of-connection. The key is being able to exercise the weaker, non-default area. According to research by Zenger and Folkman, leaders who excel in people or results only, reach the 90th percentile of leadership effectiveness nine or 13 percent of the time, but those who possess both reach that level of success in two-thirds of instances.
- McCain, as someone who forcefully asserts for results, best typifies the heroic “I” type of leader, who leverages personal influence to impact results. The downside can be too much drive and not enough relational connection.
- Obama and his collaborative approach characterize “We” leaders, who leverage collaboration, relationship and synergy to get results. In crisis situations, however, sometimes more “I” is required.
The leadership experts say Obama fits the overall archetype of a “magician” leader, someone who blends ideas and people to produce new solutions to unsolved problems.
McCain, on the other hand, is more of the traditional “warrior” leader, bringing about results through force of will or assertion with little fear of adversarial relationships or situations.
I’m no expert, but it seems to me that we’re more in need of a magician who “blends ideas to produce new solutions” than a warrior who applies “force of will.”
It seems to me that most of the “leaders” who crashed their companies on the rocks, as well as the current Administration, either are, or have a strong leaning towards, the warrior model.
I’m tired of “I” leaders proclaiming their visions, unwilling to brook any kind of disagreement.
I (we?) can only hope that the calamities we’re facing foster a stronger application of “we”—in both politics and business
About the authors:
Kevin Cashman, author of the newly expanded book Leadership from the Inside Out
Kenneth Brousseau, Ph.D., is CEO and co-founder of Decision Dynamics LLC, a firm specializing in behavior profiling and human resource systems design. Prior to forming Decision Dynamics, he served as a management and organization professor at the University of Southern California Graduate School of Business Administration. Dr. Brousseau specializes in behavioral assessment systems for purposes of employee selection, organizational development and career management. He is coauthor of The Dynamic Decision Maker, and he has authored articles on career development, work system design, team development and organizational design in publications such as Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Academy of Management Executive.
Your comments—priceless
October 12th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I’m completely with you Miki. I think collaborative leadership is sorely lacking in this election, and I hope someone figures out how to do it right. I don’t trust either one of these guys.
October 12th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Well, Phil, since I’ve spent most of my adult life voting for the person I felt would do the least damage and I didn’t expect that to change.
But the world has not only shrunk, it’s also more complex and globally interrelated, which makes the mess we’re in far more complicated than previous downturns.
I don’t believe that any one person knows enough to solve it, so my mistrust of a ‘warrior’ type is greater than my mistrust of a ‘magician’.
November 9th, 2008 at 5:13 am
[…] to know more about Obama’s leadership style? Last month I posted an analysis of it by Kevin Cashman, author of Leadership From The Inside Out (which I reviewed […]