What People Want
From Their Leaders
Barry Z. Posner
Dean and Professor of Leadership
Santa Clara University
“Only three things happen
naturally in
organizations:
friction, confusion, and
underperformance.
Everything else
requires leadership.”
Peter Drucker
“…today’s revolution
feels something like this:
Scary
Exciting
Painful
Liberating
Disorienting
Exhilarating
Frustrating
Empowering
Confusing
Fulfilling
and Challenging.
In other words, it feels very much like chaos.”
John Huey
“It is not the strongest of
the species that
survives, nor the most
intelligent, but the one
most responsive to
change.”
Charles Darwin
“Every morning in Africa,
a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest
lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle
or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter whether
you are the lion or the gazelle.
When the sun comes up,
you better start running.”
Thomas Friedman
What is the
simplest definition
of a leader?
---How do you know that
someone is a leader?
Idea #1
Leadership
is a
relationship
The most critical success factor
for the top
three jobs in organizations?
“Relationships with
subordinates”
Center for Creative Leadership
People don’t quit
their companies.
They quit their
managers!
Supervisor’s Likeliness
to Leave
Rating
Excellent
Poor
11%
40%
Spherion & Lou Harris Associates
What do you look for and
admire in a leader,
someone whose direction
you would
willingly follow?
Person willingly
followed must be:
__Ambitious
__Broad-minded
__Caring
__Competent
__Cooperative
__Courageous
__Dependable
__Determined
__Fair-minded
__Forward-looking
__Honest
__Imaginative
__Independent
__Inspiring
__Intelligent
__Loyal
__Mature
__Self-controlled
__Straightforward
__Supportive
____ Ambitious (aspiring, hard-working, striving)
____ Broad-minded (open-minded, flexible, receptive, tolerant)
____ Caring (appreciative, compassionate, concerned)
____ Competent (capable, proficient, effective)
____ Cooperative (collaborative, team player, responsive)
____ Courageous (bold, daring, gutsy)
____ Dependable (reliable, conscientious, responsible)
____ Determined (dedicated, resolute, persistent)
____ Fair-minded (just, unprejudiced, objective, forgiving)
____ Forward-looking (visionary, foresighted, has direction, future)
____ Honest (truthful, has integrity, trustworthy, has character)
____ Imaginative (creative, innovative)
____ Independent (self-reliant, self-sufficient, self-confident)
____ Inspiring (uplifting, enthusiastic, energetic, positive)
____ Intelligent (bright, smart, logical, thoughtful)
____ Loyal (faithful, dutiful, devoted)
____ Mature (experienced, wise, deep)
____ Self-controlled (restrained, self-disciplined)
____ Straightforward (direct, candid, forthright)
____ Supportive (helpful, offers assistance, comforting)
Person willingly
followed must be:
16% Ambitious
35% Broad-minded
22% Caring
68% Competent
25% Cooperative
25% Courageous
25% Dependable
13% Determined
39% Fair-minded
71% Forward-looking
89% Honest
17% Imaginative
4% Independent
69% Inspiring
48% Intelligent
18% Loyal
15% Mature
10% Self-controlled
36% Straightforward
35% Supportive
People Most Expect
Their Leaders To Be:
•
•
•
•
Honest
Competent
Inspiring
Forward-Looking
Components of
Credibility
• Trustworthiness
• Expertise
• Dynamism
LEADERS = CREDIBILITY
•
•
•
•
 Trustworthiness
Honest
Competent  Expertise
Inspiring
 Dynamism
Forward-Looking
Idea #2
Credibility
is the
foundation of
leadership
Benefits of High Credibility:
People Feel…
• Loyal and committed
• Internally motivated
• Proud of organization
• Empowered
Costs of Low Credibility:
People feel…
• Uncommitted
• Financially motivated
• Inclined to leave
• Afraid and unsupported
What does
leadership look like?
Just what is credibility
behaviorally?
We know that someone is
credible because they
(“fill in the blank”)
Idea #3
Leaders
DWYSYWD
Do What You Say
You Will Do
“I couldn’t ask anyone else
to make a commitment,
until I knew in my heart that
I was willing to make that
same commitment myself.”
Mary Godwin
Air Force Academy cadets
who described their
officers as “role models”
had significantly higher
levels of academic,
military, and athletic
performance.
William Clover
Everybody wants to go to
heaven……
But nobody
wants to die first.
“Hotels where employees strongly
believed their managers followed
through on promises and
demonstrated the values
they preached were
substantially more profitable than
those whose managers scored
average or lower.”
Tony Simons
Lessons for Leaders
1. Create Relationships
2. Build Credibility
3. DWYSYWD
First Law of Leadership
“If we don’t believe
in the messenger,
we won’t believe
the message.”
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner
However…..
We can’t believe in the
messenger if we
don’t know
what the
messenger believes.
Therefore…..
YOU can’t be the
messenger
until YOU are clear
about what
YOU believe.
“Zoe”
What People Want
From Their Leaders
Barry Z. Posner
Dean and Professor of Leadership
Santa Clara University
What People Want From
Their Leaders… or
Why Would Anyone
Follow You?
Prepared for
ACCCA Annual Conference
© 2008 Barry Z. Posner. All rights reserved. Please
do not reproduce without express written permission.