INFLUENCE, NETWORKS AND
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Audrey J. Murrell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Business Administration, Psychology,
Public and International Affairs and
Director of the David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership
University of Pittsburgh, School of Business
amurrell@katz.pitt.edu
Our Objectives
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Understand the role of strategic leadership in
complex and dynamic organizations
Discuss the connection between leadership and
effective organizational change
Examine key concepts such “Tipping Point” and “Level
5” leadership in organizations
Enhance self-awareness of one’s own leadership
strengths and opportunities for improvement
Prairie Health Services (PHS)
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What are some of the key issues described in this
case?
Who are the key people that we need to
understand and discuss?
What aspects of leadership effectiveness or
ineffectiveness are evident in the case?
What other issues should be identified and
discussed?
The Myths of Effective Leadership
“If I have the authority, I can get things done.”
 “It’s important for me to have direct control
over the things that I am responsible for in the
organization.”
 “A key factor in my success is being given the
power to direct the work of others.”
 “Change does not happen here unless the
person with the title says so.”

What Effective Managers Do
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Effective managers (Kotter):
 Develop and utilize both technical and
relational competencies
 Devote significant time agenda building within
the organization
 Recognize that power and influence are often
gain without formal title or authority
 Spend significant time cultivating diverse
relationships within the organization
What It Really Means to
Effectively Manage & Lead
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Myth
 Authority
 Formal Position
 Dependency only on
subordinates
 Control and
compliance are goals
 Use of technical skills
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Reality
 Interdependency
 Informal relationships
 Peers and others
outside formal lines
 Commitment and
empowerment are
goals
 Use of technical and
social skills
Leadership Framework
Sensemaking
Process of coming to understand the context in
which you (and others) are operating within
 Must seek many types and sources of data
 Involve others in the process
 Avoid overuse of personal schema/biases
 Learn from small experiments
 Use images, metaphors and stories to help
communicate

Tipping Point Leadership
“In many turnarounds, the hardest
battle is simply getting people to
agree on the causes of current
problems and need for change”
~ Kim and Mauborgne
Tipping Point Leadership
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How do we get the key message or issue to stick?
Overcoming Hurdles:
 Cognitive
Hurdle
 Put
people face-to-face with problems and customers; finding
new ways to communicate
 Resource
 Focus
Hurdle
on the hot spots and negotiation with key partners
 Motivational
Hurdle
 Highlight
commons interests/identities and frame the
challenge to match organizational goals/mission
 Political
Hurdle
 Address
internal and external opponents
Tipping Point Leadership
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Key Action Steps:
 Cognitive
 Develop
 Resource
 Refocus
Hurdle
and execute an internal communication strategy
Hurdle
resources – pay attention to organizational currency
 Motivational
 Engage
 Political
 Focus
Hurdle
key influencers
Hurdle
on the “80-20” rule
Sensemaking at PHS
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For group discussion:
 What
is the key issue at PHS that needs to
become “sticky”
 What hurdles should be the focus in order to
help make the key issue “tip”?
 What are some specific steps that should be
take here and who is key to their success?
Relating
Creating relationships, managing the relationship
aspects of the organization thru building social
capital and trust in leadership
 Spend time understanding the perspective of
others
 Encourage real participation
 Develop connections and important advice
networks
 Develop social capital inside and outside the
organization

Level 5 Leadership
“Level 5 refers to the highest level in a hierarchy
of executive capabilities that we identified
during our research. Leaders at the other four
levels in the hierarchy can produce high
degrees of success but not enough to elevate
companies from mediocrity to sustained
excellence. Good-to-great transformation
don’t happen without Level 5 leaders at the
helm. They just don’t.”
~ Jim Collins
“From Good to Great”
Collins and research team studied
companies that “made the leap from
good results to great results and
sustained those results for at least 15
years”
 Firms studied outperformed the market
over the 15 year period
 Key question asked was “Can a good
company become a great company and if
so, how?”
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Level 5 Leadership
Level 5: Builds enduring greatness thru personal will and humility
Level 4: Catalyzes commitment to clear and compelling vision
Level 3: Organizes people and resources toward key objectives
Level 2: Contributes to achievement of common goals
Level 1: Makes productive contribution thru knowledge, skills & hard work
Level 5 Leadership
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Professional Will
 Ferocious resolve, stoic determination
 Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever much
be done
 Sets the standards of building an enduring company –
inspired standards
 Never blames other people or external factors or bad luck
for negative outcome
“Yes, leadership is about vision. But leadership is equally about
creating a climate where the truth is heard and the brutal facts
confronted. There’s a huge difference between the opportunity to
“have your say” and the opportunity to be heard. The good-togreat leaders understood this distinction, creating a culture
wherein people had a tremendous opportunity to be heard and
ultimately, for the truth to be heard.”
Level 5 Leadership
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Personal Humility
 Compelling modesty
 Acts with calm, quiet determination
 Relies on inspired standards rather than inspired charisma
 Channels ambition into the company
 Focuses on leadership and management succession to surpass
their own success
Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the
answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic
vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do
not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the
questions that will lead to the best possible insights”.
Key Findings
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Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders negatively correlated with
taking a company from good to great
No systematic pattern linking specific forms of executive
compensation to going from good to great
Neither strategy, technology or mergers per se predicted who
was identified as a “good to great” firm
Good to great companies were not in “great” industries, but
terrible industries
“Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate
throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or
technology or competition, or products. It is one thing above all
others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.”
Level 5 Leadership produces a irony in that personal ambition
that drives people to positions of power conflict with the
qualities of success at this level
Boards of Directors frequently operate under the false belief
that a “larger than life” charismatic leader is what will make the
company successful – this may be why there is a “dearth” of this
type of leader
Level 5 Strategies
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Attend to people first, strategy second
Confront the most brutal facts of the current reality
Focus on executing consistent and sustained
approaches for transformation
Focus people’s attention on 3 keys concerns:
 What
our company can be the best in the world at
 How our economies work best
 What best ignites the passion of our people
Relating at PHS
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For group discussion:
Evaluate the CEO at PHS in terms of the
concepts of Level 5 Leadership
 How might “professional will” be a positive or
negative factor in this case?
 What role might “personal humility” play in the
overall effectiveness of the CEO as a leader?
 What advice might you give to Carl on how to
improve his overall effectiveness as a leader
based on these concepts?
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Inventing
Capability to change the way people work
together and think about their work
 Involves key aspects of team design, building
and leading
 Focuses on executing, change and
implementation of vision
 Captures the ability to create innovative and
creating solutions, processes and outcomes
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Why Change Fails
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Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency
Not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition
Lacking a vision
Under-communicating the vision by a factor of ten
Not removing obstacles to the new vision
Not systemically planning for, and creating shortterm wins
Declaring victory too soon
Not anchoring changes in the corporation’s culture
Kotter’s Change Process
8. Anchor new approaches in the culture
7. Communicate gains; produce more change
6. Generate short-term wins
5. Empower broad-based action
4. Communicate the change vision
3. Develop a vision and strategy
2. Create the guiding coalition
1. Establish a sense of urgency
Change Requires Communication
ADVOCACY
High
Telling
DIALOGUE
Asserting
Explaining
Exploring each
other’s assumptions
to generate meaning
Observing
Asking
Bystanding
Sensing
Clarifying
Interviewing
Low
Low
INQUIRY
Peter M. Senge et al., The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
High
Change Requires Collaboration
Government
Agencies
Suppliers
Senior Executive
Network
YOUR INNER
CIRCLE
NGOs Networks in Other
Departments
Customers
Change Requires Commitments
Change Requires “Currency”
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Task-related
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 Resources
 Personal
support
 Understanding
 Validation
 Assistance
 Information
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Position-related
Relationship-related
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Personal-related
 Advancement
 Learning
 Visibility
 Ownership
 Reputation
 Expertise
 Networks
 identity
Key Action Steps for Creating Change
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Establish a sense of urgency
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Form a powerful guiding coalition
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Assemble a group with power and “currency” to lead and
implement change effort
Create and communicate a vision
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Identify specific threats, “smoldering crises or major
opportunities
Understand how to “meet people where they are”
Plan for and create short-term wins
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Use evidence and data on outcomes to make a case for
change
Can change be too slow?
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Karl Weick:
 “Emergent changes can be slow to cumulate;
too small to affect outputs or outcomes; less
well suited for responding to threats than for
exploiting opportunities; limited by preexisting culture and technology; deficient when
competitors are wedded to transformation;
better suited to implementation in operations,
plants and stores than to strategy, firm-level or
corporate change….”
Can Change Be Too Radical?
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Karl Weick:
 “The liabilities of planned change include a
high probability of relapse; uneven diffusion
among units; large short-term losses that are
difficult to recover; less suitability for
opportunity-driven than for threat-driven
alternations; unanticipated consequences due
to limited foresight; temptations toward
hypocrisy (when people talk the talk of
revolution but walk the walk of resistance)….”
Inventing at PHS
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For group discussion:
 Among
Kotter’s reasons why change fails,
which ones are most relevant to PHS?
 Examine Ann Smith’s role as an “change
agent” within the case – in what ways is she
effective or ineffective in this role?
 What advice might you give to Ann on how
to improve her overall effectiveness as an
agent of change within PHS?
Visioning
Creating and communicating a compelling shared
image of the future
 Focus on framing of visions to reach key
stakeholder groups
 Visions must be shared, compelling and sincere
 Issues selling strategies are important for
communicating vision
 Vision must be followed by action – “walking
the talk” is key
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Agenda Building
Agenda building involves reconciling diverse
and conflicting expectations by developing
one common agenda and course of action
 Involves activities and competencies such as:
 Managing trade-offs across key currencies
 Negotiating across diverse interests
 Analyzing the cultural and political
environment
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Agenda Building
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Understanding who sets (and the process) the
organization’s agenda
Agenda building involves reconciling diverse and
conflicting expectations by developing one common
agenda and course of action
Involves activities and competencies such as:
Managing trade-offs and conflict
 Negotiating across diverse interests
 Analyzing the cultural and political environment
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Issue Selling
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Critical pathways for managers to raise issues of importance
Reflects key tactics for effective agenda-building
Illustrates the importance of change “from the middle”
Includes attempts by lower level managers to influence higher
level members of organization
Issue selling important to both organizations and leaders:
Today’s leaders are challenged to cope with complex business
world
 Issue selling allows many minds to contribute in organization’s
future
 These minds may be closer to problem areas and thus offer
important perspectives
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Issue Selling – Strategic Choices
Bundling
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Linkages of new issue to existing issues
Requires understanding of how issues get on firm’s
agenda
Can tap into resources and support based on current
issue
Can “backfire” or become tainted because of
negative issue and/or perceived failure
Framing
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Framing impacts how choices are evaluated
Issues can be framed as an opportunity or a threat
Framing an issue as an opportunity can induce greater
participation, commitment to taking action versus
framing an issue as a threat
Framing also makes a choice of:
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Responsibility vs. obligation
Moral/ethical vs. business case
Internal vs. external
Idea focused vs. data driven
Emotional vs. logical
Language
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Related to issue framing
Relies heavily on understanding of the cultural lens
Language is tailored to the focal target group or
groups
Key issue is focusing on:
Purpose
 Audience
 Context
 Obstacles
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Involvement
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Involves issue selling as a process
Must identify critical stakeholders and understand the
role and impact of participation
Factors such as effective use of teams, negotiation,
coalition building and networks are relevant
Focuses on the importance of change
champions/sponsors and change implementers/agents
Approach
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Individual skills and strategies for issue selling
Key choices involve:
 Formal vs. informal
 Individual vs. team
 Public vs. private
Must be able to communicate across function,
interpersonal style and organizational role/position
Timing
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Must understand both the political and cultural context
of the organization
Key factors are momentum, windows of opportunities
and social/organizational climate
Must understand the phases and cycles of change in
organization
Issue Selling Challenges
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Understanding managers’ choice processes in deciding to sell issues
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People more willing to sell issues in contexts where they perceive
management will listen and where context is experienced as supportive
Context may enhance or inhibit issue selling
Issue sellers often worry about damaging their reputations
Leaders plays important role in issue selling because they set context for
subordinates
Issue selling is difficult in conflict avoiding organizational cultures
Charged issues are tough, problematic, sensitive issues that sellers may
be reluctant to raise
Examples of charged issues:
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Outsourcing
Restructuring
Diversity/Inclusion
Treatment of the natural environment
Visioning at PHS
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For group discussion:
 You
have just been informed by CEO Carl Nord that
the board has asked for a presentation from the
team that reviewed the proposals for the new
technology. You will have 5 minutes to make a “pitch”
to them on your ideas/recommendations. Carl will be
present during your presentation to the board. The
board will meet again in 10 days to review/decide.
 Taking the role of the evaluation team, outline your
strategy for how you can begin to make change at
PHS.