On Becoming a Leader: Chapter 5 - Operating on Instinct (pp. 95 - 106)

Are you a whole-brained person? Are you capable of using both side of your brain?

How convenient that this question in the Bennis book pops up right as we're discussing how our brains tend toward polarities - EITHER-OR, but leadership is represented by BOTH-AND... the ability to flex outside of our preferences.

"...The CEO must combine BOTH, must have both administrative AND imaginative gifts."

Do you remember the 7 Level of Motivation/Maturity?

The bottom triangle is where we (and organizations) fixate on the SURVIVAL level of living. Within that bottom arena, we try to contain, control, and predict the future. We set up tight processes (all of which are necessary, of course) and we seek to maintain the status quo. We focus on dollars and bottomline. Wait a minute, aren't these the same words that came up when we discussed the traits of MANAGERS?

Bennis says, "One of the reasons that so few corporate executives have successfully made the leap from capable manager to successful leader is that the corporate culture, along with society as a whole recognizes and reward left-brain accomplishments and tends to discount right-brain achievements. Bottom-line thinking is a manifestation of left-brain dominance.  Habits are born in the left brain and unmade in the right." (p. 97)

If you recall from our conversation about the MBTI 4 pairs of opposites, the S-N dimension is about how people take in information from the environment. I can think of no better comparison between Sensing (S) and Intuition (N) than this quote from the book:

"Acknowledging the constant dilemma of organizations, and the pull between [left-brain] habits and [right-brain] visions, Richard Shubert, then CEO of the American Red Cross, told me, "I'm constantly torn between the obvious need to support the existing structure and the equally obvious need to change it." Habits (looking at the present, maintaining systems) and Visions (looking at the future, what is next). Do you see it?

Finally, near the end of the chapter, Bennis asserts this: "No leader sets out to be a leader.  People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully.  When that expression is of value, they become leaders." I happen to believe that the full expression of our (mature, developed) selves is always of value.  The trick is discovering our inherent strengths and talents, developing those and them finding the right windows of opportunity to deploy our full selves.

What are your reflections from this chapter?