Shaping leaders
for the future
David Beech reports from the front line of leadership and the second
Ashridge International Leadership Conference – 2001, A Leadership
Odyssey – organised by Ashridge and The Industrial Society.
David Beech is an
organisational psychologist
and a client and programme
director in leadership and
organisational behaviour at
Ashridge. His enduring aim is
Leadership is a rich, multi-faceted concept and a
from private, public and voluntary sectors in a
personal journey of discovery. Individuals, work
dialogue about the enduring and unfolding
groups and their organisations place a premium
threads and patterns of leadership. The specific
on developing the leadership capabilities and
focus was on shaping leaders for the future.
conditions that will deliver survival, well being
The Ashridge diagnostic and dynamic model of
and advantage in a ferociously complex,
Timeline Leadership (below) provided an
competitive, constantly changing and globalising
integrating context for conference speakers and
economy and society. The two-day Ashridge
participants.
leadership conference brought people together
We are pulled forward into an unknown but
to promote effective
leadership and organisation
through action centred
executive education and
research. He is currently
researching the influence of
cross cultural values on
leadership.
Email: david.beech
@ashridge.org.uk
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22
Timeline Leadership
Source: Gene Horan, director of
Leadership
Programmes
at Ashridge
Ashridge
Business
School
UK - http://www.ashridge.org.uk
compelling future through an all-dominating
present formed by a past that we cannot ignore. As
Leadership is a crucial catalyst
leaders we need to be clear about who we are,
where we come from, where we are going and
what we are doing today to realise and renew our
aims, values and aspirations. Issues of identity and
for creative leaps of faith
and action.
self-awareness, values and capabilities, vision and
purpose and the determination and discipline to
get on with it are central to leadership
effectiveness.
captured 5,000 soldiers from the 40,000 strong
French army. To win the battle Henry ordered the
■ Providing dramatic context
massacre of the prisoners. This dramatically
illustrates the profound moral and ethical
challenges leaders can face. This was developed in
afternoon came from the past, from Shakespeare’s
the second vignette taken from Racing Demon by
Henry V with his inspirational vision just before
David Hare. The play details the current agonising
the battle of Agincourt in 1415. “We few, we happy
moral and ethical dilemmas facing many clergy
few, we band of brothers” united here against
and laity in the Church of England as they struggle
overwhelming odds will carry the day and be
to adapt their traditions, assumptions and beliefs
remembered, honoured and celebrated by
about faith and human identity, about women
survivors and future generations. Two days later,
priests and homosexual love to modern life.
the conference ended with participants performing
Challenges of inclusion and morality face
an ancient Hindu chant to journey together and
leaders in modern organisations: the contribution
connect with the shared well of inspiration that
of women, the different, the disabled; the role of
promotes cohesion, enthusiasm and action. Thus
stakeholders; and the corporate responsibilities to
in classic dramatic style we ended where we began
citizens and their communities that go with the
with traditional calls to unite hearts and release
pursuit of shareholder value. Creative responses to
energy to positive effect.
present challenges that take us into a positive
Whether the context is Anglo Saxon heroic
future will draw from multiple traditions,
individualism or Asian social cohesion, uniting
assumptions and beliefs. Leadership is a crucial
people to do willingly and well what needs to be
catalyst for creative leaps of faith and action.
done is an enduring theme of leadership.
The third dramatic input came from
John Garnett, former CEO of The Industrial
Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen about the famous
Society, was a tireless promoter of this theme and
meeting between Weiner Heisenberg and Niels
its importance for generating wealth and well
Bohr in Copenhagen in 1941. The Heisenberg
being. Whether leadership is seen as coming from
uncertainty principle and the Copenhagen
the inspiration of a heroic, charismatic individual
Interpretation of quantum mechanics form part of
or as liberating the leadership potential in each of
a series of findings by physicists, including
us, creating the conditions that harness inner
Einstein and Bohr, that the universe is not a huge
commitment and generate positive action is
and highly precise clockwork mechanism.
central to success.
Standing on Newton’s shoulders these scientists
There is an ethical dimension to leadership. At
have changed our world and our sense of who we
Agincourt the English army of around 10,000
are. In words given to Niels Bohr by playwright
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I N N OVAT I O N S
The opening call to conference on a Wednesday
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Shaping leaders
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Michael Frayn: “It starts with Einstein…
Director of Educational and Training Services,
measurement is a human act, carried out from…
British Army – attending to the present;
the one particular viewpoint of a possible
Lars Kolind, chairman of Grundfos and Growth.dk
observer… here in Copenhagen in those three
and former CEO of Oticon – an eye to the future.
years in the mid-twenties we (Werner Heisenberg
John Adair spoke of Socrates as the first great
and Niels Bohr) discover that there is no precisely
teacher of leadership and pointed to the origins of
determinable objective universe… the universe
modern theories of leadership in the Socratic
exists only… within the limits determined by our
dialogues. For example, leadership belongs to the
relationship with it. Only through the
situation, authority flows from the one who
understanding locked inside the human head.”
knows and that knowledge leads in a free society.
Central themes of Frayn’s play are uncertainty,
He highlighted enduring qualities of leadership:
indeterminism, the subjective social construction
enthusiasm, integrity that generates trust,
of reality and how we can never know the nature
toughness and fairness, warmth and humility (a
of anything, including why we do what we do.
lack of arrogance). He advised us to look for the
These themes represent profound challenges to
timeless and timely, rather than believing that
our assumptions and beliefs. They are starting to
“newer is truer”. He concluded with a quote from
shape the visions and actions of leaders,
a lecture on leadership by John Buchan,
particularly through the complexity science that
statesman and historian, at St Andrew’s University
draws from the 20th century revolutions in physics
in 1930: “The task of the leader is not to put
and biology. Strategy and consulting firms, such as
greatness into people but to elicit it because it is
McKinsey and Ernst and Young, are embracing
there already.”
complexity science and its implications for the way
Patricia Purves spoke about generating trust in
human activities are structured and coordinated.
others, knowing where you’re going and having
They advise leading global corporations on how to
the skills and techniques to do it as essential to
harness these implications for leadership and
effective leadership in the present. She also spoke
organisation.
of the need to train followers, to address changes
These three dramatic vignettes provided a
in the social contract on the leadership role, such
context for the rich tapestry of enduring and
as the loosening of marriage ties and the need for
unfolding leadership threads and patterns
cultural diversity in the workforce and to deal with
addressed and experienced during the conference.
the increasing stress of managerial workloads and
They also made clear the premium we place at
the need for better work-life balance.
Ashridge on providing the kind of learning
Lars Kolind spoke of what leadership is going to
experiences that support managers and their
be in the future. His main theme was the kind of
organisations in crafting their own way forward.
leadership ability to create organisations that bring
This draws from an ancient Socratic tradition of
people and knowledge together. Organisations
engaging in dialogue and critical self-reflection on
that are fast, efficient and flexible and meet
matters of shared concern.
customer needs faster. Organisations with no
hierarchies, no job titles and no departments,
■ Timeline keynotes
where everything is organised around projects;
where the physical design of the workplace is a
cross between a kindergarten and Copenhagen’s
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The three vignettes were given current substance by
Tivoli Gardens with plenty of colour, surprises and
our keynote speakers: Professor John Adair –
variety.
building on the past; Brigadier Patricia Purves,
Kolind emphasised four competencies for the
Ashridge Business School UK - http://www.ashridge.org.uk
future, required at individual, company and
career at General Electric (GE). However in the first
national level:
session of one of three parallel streams on past,
present and future to showcase the best of current
■ 1. Learning competency: ongoing
thinking and practice, Leslie Hannah, chief
professional, interdependent and
executive of Ashridge focused on the organisational,
intercultural learning
rather than the personal leadership capabilities that
■ 2. Change competency: the ability to
adapt and innovate
inform enduring success. He emphasised that how
we approach the inheritance of the past is critical to
the transformational leadership manifested by
■ 3. Relationships competency: networking,
communication and taking responsibility
■ 4. Meaning competency: the need for the
CEOs such as Kolind and Welch.
Hannah asked whether it is important to build
on or reject the past in taking an organisation
forward. He challenged the stereotype that the past
is fixed and suggested that every generation
person centred meaning and purpose that
reinvents the past. He showed how ten companies,
characterises those who understand where
including GE, have remained in the top 200
they’re coming from, are able to choose a
companies of the world (by market capitalisation)
value system, interpret events accordingly and
for most decades of the 20th century and remain
act in a cohesive way.
there in the 21st. For example GE was ranked 10th
in 1912 and 1st in 2001; Unilever was ranked 54th
Kolind spoke of the crucial role of leadership in
in 1912 and 79th in 2001; Siemens 82nd and 61st;
changing the way activities are structured and
and Du Pont 74th and 90th. Hannah advised that
coordinated. Changes in the way people work
the key to this is the organisational capabilities
together created the kind of spaghetti architecture
that are the heritage of the past. Jack Welch for
he described at Oticon; changes that he is engaged
example is a product of the GE human resources
in promoting at Grundfos. Three essential factors
system. A system that has produced eight CEOs in
of leadership are the vision that provides a guiding
110 years.
star for everyone; values that create cohesion
Hannah spoke of the need for transformational
between what you say and what you do; and
leaders in large organisations to respect the past
staging. Staging is manifesting vision and values in
and the experience that people bring with them. In
management and leadership practices and in the
looking to the future they need to look carefully at
physical and symbolic context of work. At Oticon
the capabilities and the culture that the past has
staging includes the motto “Think the
given them. He also spoke of the need for leaders
unthinkable” and an iconic glass tube that runs
to encourage others to have visions of the future,
from top to bottom of the building. Falling from
to invest in success, to close failures down quickly
the top comes shredded paper to symbolise the
and to get large organisations to work like
fact that Oticon produces quality of life rather
markets. Welch and Kolind provide examples of
than paper.
such leadership. In particular both have invested
huge amounts of time and effort in building
human and organisational capabilities and
■ Embracing the past
changing the way that people work together.
Hannah is an economic historian working in the
Chandler tradition. In 1961 Chandler finished the
important themes of Jack Welch’s extraordinary
first book, Strategy and Structure, of his seminal
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I N N OVAT I O N S
Bureaucracy-busting and leading by example are
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Shaping leaders
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opus on professional management in capitalist
presented its journey on identifying and
enterprise. The diversified, multidivisional
implementing generic leadership competencies.
corporation he described – which first emerged in
The aim is to ensure that Danfoss, with over
the United States between 1880 and 1940 – now
16,000 employees worldwide, has the right
dominates the global economy. In 1950 this
potential at the right time and place and matches
structure was hardly known in Europe. By 1993
the individual’s development wishes with the
over two thirds of the top 200 companies in each
business objectives of the company. As Freese said,
of the economies of France, Germany and the
generic leadership competencies provide a
United Kingdom had adopted this architecture.
1
“methodical and coherent basis and process for
At the heart of Chandler’s explanatory theory of
Danfoss competence development activities.” They
the origins and continuing evolution of the
provide a “tool – a door opener for dialogue”
modern industrial enterprise is the development
between managers and their staff; provide a shared
of organisational capabilities in production,
language about good leadership generally and
2
distribution and management. However, the
shape the organisation culture. The competencies
combined capabilities of executives and senior
are “not only a tool but reflect leadership values.”
managers are “the most valuable of those that
make up the organisational capabilities of the new
modern industrial enterprise.” The stunning
■ Relishing the present
economies of scale and scope that underpin
Western economic success “are organizational.
The second parallel stream of current work on
Such economies depend on knowledge, skill,
leadership focused on attending to the present.
experience and teamwork – on the organized
Bringing Gallup’s S Curve Path to Business
human capabilities essential to exploit the
Performance to life is a top priority for
potential of technological processes.” Hence the
Steve Harvey, director of People, Profit and Loyalty
importance of core competences, the growing
at Microsoft Ltd. The people vision at Microsoft in
emphasis on human capital and organisational
the UK is “creating the environment where great
architecture and the need to invest in managerial
people can do their best work.” This means
leadership.
making great hires for all positions, matching
Management consultant and former CEO of the
Commission for Racial Equality, Susie Parsons
summed up her thoughts on building on the past.
“I want to let go of three pieces of baggage from
the past: the idea of the lonely, fearless, heroic
leaders; the myth that leadership is the prerogative
of the white, male, establishment; and the bold
experiment of the leaderless collective. I also want
to learn from the past to inform the present and
face the future with confidence. What I cherish
from the past is that leadership is about creating
and communicating a vision, leading from the
front, leading for diversity and looking after
yourself as well as developing your people.”
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Berit Daugaard Freese from Human Resource
people to a great job and then putting them under
a great manager.
According to Gallup getting positive answers to
questions such as these is fundamental to success:
■ Do I know what is expected of me at work?
■ Do I have the materials and equipment I need
to do my work right?
■ At work, do I have the opportunity to do what
I do best every day?
■ In the last seven days, have I received
recognition or praise for good work?
Development in Danish company Danfoss
Ashridge Business School UK - http://www.ashridge.org.uk
■ Does my supervisor, or someone at work,
A knowledge-based network
seem to care about me as a person?
economy and society provides
■
Is there someone at work who encourages my
the setting for leaders to
development?
liberate brilliance.
Source: Gallup Organisation S Curve Path to Business Performance,
Buckingham and Coffman, 1999.3
Positive, “strongly agree” responses to these six
questions are the most powerful predictors of
share in the risk and the learning. Hodgson
talent retention, productivity, customer
briefed
satisfaction and profitability. Gallup’s findings
competences that promote and restrain the ability
provide additional support for the well established
to “lead the way when the way is changing.”
virtuous circle of employee commitment,
customer loyalty and shareholder value.
conference
on
the
behavioural
Business leaders and their organisations
embody the creative dynamic of capitalism and
Harvey explained that positive answers require
have stewardship over fabulous wealth. The
great managers who focus inward to understand
turnover of many large corporations is larger than
the distinctive motives and talents of individuals
the GDP of many nations. Theo Blackwell, from
and “release each person’s unique talents into
The Industrial Society, spoke about the leadership
performance”. He also spoke of the need for great
challenges that businesses face particularly in the
leaders who focus outward on competitors, see the
areas of human capital management and corporate
broad patterns that connect disparate threads and
social responsibility. Welch and Kolind and their
find alternative routes forward. Leaders who
companies exemplify innovations in deploying
express the way ahead in a clear vision, backed by
and developing human and organisational capital.
compelling strategic thinking to deliver
A key challenge for the future is engaging with the
tomorrow’s results.
great levels of uncertainty and confusion in the
Phil Hodgson invited leaders to relax and relish
institutional fabric of laws, values, customs and
the uncertainty of present conditions. In recent
relationships that inform and sustain capitalist
years Hodgson, from Ashridge, and Randall White,
enterprise. This brings us to our third parallel
from the United States, have worked with CEOs
stream: an eye to the future.
and other senior executives to identify the new
skills and behaviours required of leaders. 4 They
report that a new style of leadership is emerging,
■ Liberating the future
learning leadership. The job of the learning leader
Bob Dylan caught the theme in “The times, they
confusion and to lead the organisation into those
are a-changin’.” He signalled a fundamental shift
areas to gain competitive (and other kinds of)
in the values and conditions that inform
advantage.” Hodgson and White find that in times
prevailing patterns of life. In the wealthy western
of great change survival depends on the ability of
economies work values have been transformed
the leader to “move towards the greatest level of
from those of a modern, industrial world with an
uncertainty to offer the opportunity to gain the
emphasis on economic growth and individual
greatest opportunity from that uncertainty.” All
achievement. Increasingly we live in a post-
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I N N OVAT I O N S
“is to identify productive areas of uncertainty and
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modern, globally networked economy and society
around 10-15 per cent. According to Knell the gap
with an emphasis on quality of life, personal self
is due to a lack of leadership and backward
expression and freedom from the constraints of
looking command and control cultures in UK
5
both legal and religious authority. A knowledgebased network economy and society provides the
setting for leaders to liberate brilliance.
6
enterprises.
A company that, like Oticon, exemplifies
innovations in the way people work together is the
A striking aspect of the economy is the
advertising agency St Luke’s. 7 The perpetual
increasing importance of intangible assets. These
passion and liberating vision of St Luke’s is “To
assets, often connected with self expression, such
open minds”, to imagine and practice different
as the market value of the Coca Cola, Nike and
ways of doing things, including different ways of
Sony brands, are an increasing source of
working, leading, organising and doing business.
shareholder value. There has been a significant
Neil Henderson, managing partner at St Luke’s
rise in project based, cross-functional working
told the story of its approach to leadership.
in boundaryless, spaghetti and spontaneous
St Luke’s attracts, deploys, develops and retains
organisations, like General Electric, Oticon and
hot talent. The kind of talent that moves on if the
St Luke’s. In such networks, or heterarchies, the
quality of their work experience, their scope for
focus of leadership and culture is on collaboration
self expression, personal development and
and coaching rather than the command and
participation in decisions that affect them does
control of traditional hierarchies.
not meet their expectations and aspirations. At the
heart of St Luke’s distinctive, and, to some, crazy
and frightening approach, is leading to liberate the
brilliance of every individual within the company.
“The challenge we have set ourselves
As Neil Henderson puts it, “the challenge we have
set ourselves at St Luke’s is to make sure that
is to make sure that people who work
people who work here feel a sense of liberation
here feel a sense of liberation every
every day – without leaving the company!” In an
day – without leaving the company!”
St Luke’s runs at around 5 per cent. Founded in
industry with 20 per cent+ employee turnover,
1995 profits rose from £287,000 in 1996 to £2.3m
in 2000 and its staff has increased from 35 to 100+.
For St Luke’s central to liberating, to opening
minds and releasing talent, is ownership. Thus
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The shift in relative priorities from economic
every employee is a shareholder and everyone can
achievement to quality of life and self expression
participate in decision making. There are no
is reflected in concerns about work-life balance. In
personal desks or offices, there are no job
his session on Leadership and Time Sovereignty,
descriptions. The business is organised around
John Knell, Director of Futures at The Industrial
creating ideas for clients and project teams are
Society argued that the work-life debate represents
formed to develop and take these forward. The
the opening salvos in what will be a profound
whole team is present at client meetings and takes
transformation in patterns of working time and
decisions during the meeting in response to client
expectations about the meaning of work. Research
comments.
by The Industrial Society shows that 50 per cent of
One of St Luke’s goals is to help people
UK companies offer some form of flexible working
transform themselves, to liberate their full
policies. The take up among the UK workforce is
potential. The office manager is now an account
Ashridge Business School UK - http://www.ashridge.org.uk
manager, a receptionist has moved to work in
compelling. A globalising economy and
print production, an account manager works as a
globalising communities bring together
creative. Neil Henderson advised that “companies
interwoven, overlapping networks of traditional
need to find a way of liberating people’s real self,
outlooks steeped in religious and communal
the kind of self that we see when people are at
values, modern outlooks organised around
play, the voluntary, free thinking, relaxed self”.
economic growth and individual achievement, and
Thus leading to liberate is grounded in distinctive
post-materialist outlooks informed by a passionate
values about what motivates people and the kind
intensity for personal self expression and freedom
of leadership that will bring out their best.
from constraints. Uniting diverse hearts around
enabling architectures that liberate future
brilliance requires courageous convictions about
■ Weaving the threads together
who we are, where we come from, where we are
going and how we are going to get there. The call
Churchill observed that the further back we look
to embrace the past and relish present
the further forward we can see. A remarkable
uncertainties to liberate open and diverse futures
development 1500 years ago demonstrates the
has never been stronger.
a s t o n i s h i n g l y p o s i t i ve e n e r g y t h a t c a n b e
released by creative leaps of faith and action by
In keeping with the pragmatic, critical learning
RESOURCES
faith of Ashridge:
leaders who build on the past and step into clear
and present uncertainty to unleash unfolding
1. Whittington, R and Mayer,
M. 2000. The European
Corporation. Oxford University
Press.
“Friend, you have read enough.
If you desire still more,
futures.
In 627 CE a former Arab businessman from
then be the odyssey yourself,
Mecca, Muhammad ibn Abdallah and a force of
and all that it stands for.”
2. Chandler, A D. 1990.
Scale and Scope. Harvard
University Press.
3,000 Muslims defeated 10,000 Arabs from
Mecca. 8 The following year the Prophet
Adapted from The Cherubic Wanderer
Muhammad and 1,000 unarmed Muslims from
by Angelus Silesius, 17th century German poet.
■
Medina made the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca,
putting themselves at the mercy of the people of
Mecca. The band of brothers shared in the
This article makes extensive use of materials provided
tolerance for risk and the willingness to engage
by conference speakers, together with additional
with immense uncertainty in order to gain the
materials from Ashridge colleagues and associates.
greatest opportunity for themselves and their way
To them all grateful acknowledgement. Further
of life. They secured a peace treaty. By 634 the
details on the conference, which took place at Ashridge
Arabian peninsular was united and for 1,000 years
from 15-17 August 2001, can be found at
the life of Muslim communities flourished
www.ashridge.com
accompanied by the dazzling brilliance of Islamic
civilisation. This included preserving, developing
The third Ashridge International Leadership
and handing on the heritage of the early Greek
Conference - “Roots and tree-tops of leadership”
philosophers who gave Europe and the United
will take place from 7-9 August 2002.
States their philosophy, their science, their
For more information please email:
humanism and their faith in learning based on
laura.layton@ashridge.org.uk.
3. Buckingham, M and
Coffman, C. 1999. First, Break
All The Rules. Simon and
Schuster.
4. Hodgson, P and White, R.
2001. Relax, It’s Only
Uncertainty. Prentice Hall.
5. Inglehart, R. 1997.
Modernization and
Postmodernization. Princeton
University Press.
6. Lawson, I. 1999. Leaders
for Tomorrow’s Society. The
Industrial Society.
7. Law, A. 1998. Open Minds.
Orion Business.
8. Armstrong, K. 2000. Islam.
Phoenix Press.
critical exploration and dialogue.
turbulent times have never been more complex or
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I N N OVAT I O N S
The leadership opportunities and challenges of
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