We feel afraid or uncomfortable in these situations because of physical pain, uncertainty, intimidation or the risk of material or non-material loss. When courage is involved there is always a real risk of losing something valuable of ourselves. Courage is what is required in order to overcome that fear…
Jim wagged his finger at me and said he would see to it that no people would lose their jobs and that there would be no change. But Steve and I had agreed that there would be change no matter what, so we took on NUMSA. You could call it courageous or foolhardy, but we did it because it was the right thing to do.
If people are not realising their full potential, the leader needs to look at himself and ask, “What do I need to give this personal which will enable her to excel?”
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Question of the Month
By Wendy Lambourne, director, Legitimate Leadership.
Question: In the Legitimate Leadership Model, what is the difference between leaders and professional managers?
Answer: In organisations today there are a lot of professional managers but very few leaders. The difference between the two is a matter of intent.
Professional managers give, but in order to get. A true leader (who may be called ‘manager’) is genuinely there to give.
Professional managers do have relationships with their people built on mutual trust and respect. They do an adequate job of enabling contributions by their people. But their people are still a means to an end. The end is the result. The result comes first and the people second.
Great leaders have it the other way round. Their people come first, before the results. Their people come first in good times and in bad – always. This is because leaders care about their people absolutely.
This report and the following two reports (respectively on the Concept and Practice of courage in organisations) are from a Legitimate Leadership webinar held on 18 June 2020. The presenters were Josh Hayman, Ian Munro (moderator) and Jimmy Furstenburg. Josh and Ian are Legitimate Leadership consultants; Jimmy is an organisational turnaround practitioner. The webinar had 37 attendees.
In the current pandemic people are very insecure. Organisations have to make very tough decisions. Leaders should be frank, upfront and honest with employees.
How have leaders reacted to the situation? Who just chased the money; who really cared for their people; who acted with courage?
Handled correctly, the Covid experience has been an important development opportunity to create a greater sense of shared purpose between employees, leaders and shareholders in organisations.
Courage is not something that organisations are typically not good at. But observation (for instance, https://thriveglobal.com/stories/whats-courage-have-to-do-with-leadership/) indicates that courage in an organisation has huge benefits: it builds accountability; the ability to handle conflict; integrity and moral strength; collaboration and teamwork; capacity for risk-taking; and an engaged, dynamic and inspired work culture.
Said Jimmy Furstenburg, in the webinar: “In the end, you cannot run an organisation successfully without the trust of your people. But when you create an environment of trust you can do amazing things. How do they learn to trust you? A key element is you, the leader, being courageous. How are you courageous? It is not a mystery: by being yourself warts-and-all, by being frank and honest and having integrity and authenticity.”
EVENT REPORT 1: COURAGE IN ORGANISATIONS, IN CONCEPT
Although this webinar is about Legitimate Leadership’s view of courage in organisations we start by referring to the bestselling book by Adam Grant, Give and Take. Grant explored which of two strategies in organisations would tend to be more successful, drawing on research from across the United States.
One conclusion he drew was that some of the most successful people in organisations are givers. We at Legitimate Leadership were pleased because this conclusion is very supportive of our framework.
But there was a fly in the ointment: Grant also concluded that some of the least successful people in organisations were givers.
What then accounts for why some givers are successful and others are not successful? Grant concluded that the answer had a lot to do with the choices that givers made about who to give to or what to give. We agree with this conclusion – we believe the givers of generosity who are less successful find it difficult to make choices about what kind of generosity is appropriate in situations that they face.
But we believe that Grant did not ask the essential question – namely, what the appropriate give is in a particular situation. Grant’s book talked only about generosity, but we say there are two kinds of giving. One of them absolutely is generosity; but the other is courage.
EVENT REPORT 2: COURAGE IN ORGANISATIONS, IN PRACTICE
Jimmy Furstenberg’s first job was as a labour relations officer in what is today Bridgestone Firestone South Africa. At the time, the 1980s, the labour relations environment in South Africa was a virtual war zone because the workplace was the only legal arena for the expression of black aspirations during apartheid. Then Bridgestone International bought Firestone International. A condition of the deal was that Firestone International’s Port Elizabeth factory would be closed if it wasn’t turned around within six months.
Appointed as manufacturing director, Jimmy led the turnaround process, applying legitimate leadership principles.
Jimmy recalls that at the start of the turnaround process, “My MD, Steve Shiller, and I did a trip around the world to benchmark our factory against similar factories. The Port Elizabeth factory had been built in 1938 as part of the World War II effort, so it was an old dog and there was a lot we had to do. We were in a lift in Rome and Steve and I said to each that we would fix the factory no matter what we needed to do. We shook hands on it. We resolved that because it was the right thing to do.
“In December 1994 we faced Irvin Jim (general secretary of NUMSA union and probably South Africa’s most militant union leader then and today – editor). Jim wagged his finger at me and said he would see to it that no people would lose their jobs and that there would be no change. But Steve and I had agreed that there would be change no matter what, so we took on NUMSA. You could call it courageous or foolhardy, but we did it because it was the right thing to do.
“That is the most important thing – somehow it’s easier being courageous when you are driven by a purpose.
But we believe that Grant did not ask the essential question – namely, what the appropriate give is in a particular situation. Grant’s book talked only about generosity, but we say there are two kinds of giving. One of them absolutely is generosity; but the other is courage.
By Benjamin Zander, 81, a British conductor who is the musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
COMMENT ON THIS VIDEO BY WENDY LAMBOURNE, LEGITIMATE LEADERSHIP: Well put, Benjamin Zander! The job of the leader is to make those in his charge “big”; to enable others to become the best that they can be. If people are not realising their full potential, the leader needs to look at himself and ask, “What do I need to give this personal which will enable her to excel?” Only when the leader changes do the people change. The ultimate beneficiary is the leader, he grows.
OUR SUMMARY OF THIS VIDEO: The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. His picture appears on the front of the CD but he doesn’t make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful.
That realisation changed everything for me – it was totally life-changing. People in my orchestra came up to me and said, “Ben what happened?”
What happened is I realised my job was to awaken possibility in other people.
And of course I wanted to know whether I was actually doing that. And you know how you find out? You look at their eyes. If their eyes are shiny you know you’re doing it.
If their eyes are not shiny, ask this question, “Who am I being that my players’ eyes are not shining?”
I have a definition of success. For me it’s very simple, and it’s not about wealth and fame and power. It’s about how many shiny eyes I have around.
EVENT REPORT 2: COURAGE IN ORGANISATIONS, IN PRACTICE 
VIDEO: THE SHINY EYES DEFINITION OF SUCCESS