Slides from a webinar presented in March 2019 by Matthew Earnhardt, assistant professor of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Dr. Earnhardt looks at 10 personality traits that will destroy effective leadership.
2. Today’s Agenda
• Welcome/Introduction —Bill Gibbs
• Presentation – Dr. Matthew Earnhardt
• Questions and Answers
• Upcoming Webinars
• Certificate of Participation
• Optional SurveyBill Gibbs
Director Campus Outreach
& Webinar Coordinator
3. Dr. Matthew Earnhardt
• Associate Professor, College of Business,
ERAU-Worldwide
• Chair of Department of Leadership and
Management
• Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership
• MBA, MS Aeronautics, BS Psychology
• Research in several leadership areas
• Veteran and former Analyst for Lockheed
Martin
4. Ten Fatal Flaws That
Leaders Make
Matthew P. Earnhardt, Ph.D.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
So, on Sunday morning I do a bike ride with some people out of my local bike shop. This past Sunday I was thinking about this presentation and an example of collaboration. As I was riding and the wind was kicking up, I was getting frustrated with the ride and not having an example. As I was in the worst part of my misery and sick of being alone in the front I dropped back and watched the group. What I saw was awesome. I saw the other riders working together to defeat the wind by taking turns up front, I saw them pointing out road hazards, and pulling along those that were suffering. As I sat on the back and watched, I saw collaboration in action.
As leaders, to foster collaboration we need to give individuals confidence to take some risks and begin to trust others (Gardner, 2017). With my bike ride, the reason the peloton worked so well together is because each member trusted each other to point out hazards and to take turns at the front. This moment of clarity was important for me and refocused what I wanted to say. To consider if you are a collaborative leader maybe we should ask ourselves the following questions?
Can you inspire commitment? Do you invest your energy in people? Are you credible? Are you open and inclusive? Can you sustain hope when others become discouraged?
In thinking about my biking group, I can answer each of these questions about the people in a group with a yes. So too, should we be able to say this about our own leadership style
There is a Forbes article by Morgan (2015) titled the Art of Passionate leadership. In the short article Morgan talks about the mindset when approaching work. In the article, it stated that people who are passionate don’t do it for the sake of doing stuff. A Harvard Business Review article by Craig and Snook (2014) put it more bluntly, figure out your passion and put it to work. In other words, find your purpose and seek it in your work and share that with others. Help others find their purpose and passion in what they do. In the article by Craig and Snook they talk about Richard who found his passion for his work by discussing sailing and how he was able to translate those same passions into his work in procurement. So to, can we bring out the passions that our followers have and cultivate those.
An article in the HBR is titled this. If you’re not helping people develop , you’re not management material. One of the things I found fascinating were the comments on that article that were posted online. Some of the comments were:
to sustain a company, you need to invest in your people
Every leader should have coaching skills
If you aren’t helping others grow, you are not good at your job
The comments go on and on but all say the same thing. Grow your people!
One of my favorite quotes is by Isaac Newton and says that “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. The ability to grow and effect change in others is important and has meant something to me personally. In looking at my mentors, I can see the difference that they have made in my life. They have taken the time to develop and grow me into a leader. They gave up their personal time and sometimes their own goals to grow me. They believe in helping people reach their potential and that makes me want to run through a brick wall for them and has built up incredible loyalty in both them and the organizations.
Karayaz found communication as one of the most important factors in the success of teams. In an article by Groysberg and Slind (2012) titled leadership is a conversation they stated that smart leaders engage in communication that is “normal and every day” rather than a bunch of commands. They stated that conversation sensibility must be the hallmark of leaders communications with their subordinates. So, it is not just about communicating frequently, but communicating in a way that fosters flexibility and engagement.. So, there is a company that does some defense work in Colorado and the CEO is very good at this type of communication. Communication that is frequent and is, in many ways, conversational. The results have worked as the employees are bought into the mission. In interviews with the employees, one of the things that is constantly cited is that they feel they can “really talk” to the CEO and he is a “normal guy”. When asked what this meant to them, they felt that is gave them input into the process, and made them feel that everyone is part of the team and able to effect change. They were almost more comfortable to share what wasn’t going right and the CEO was able to be agile to meet both the needs of the customer and his employees.
Zenger and Folkman stated that an exceptional leader does not compromise on efficiency or standards. In countless surveys, employees demand leaders to have high moral standards for themselves. So, setting high standards may involve being beyond reproach and going back to our earlier discussion includes modeling the way and honesty.
For this one, Mikkelesen and Jarche said it all in their piece titled “The best leaders are constant learners”. As similar to another trait we discussed, the comments on the article give a lot of insight:
Lifelong learning is the lifeblood of a leader
Live as if you were to die tomorrow and learn as if you will live forever
These comments say the same thing. To be an effective leader we must be learning .
In considering creativity as a leader it is important to engage the right people at the right times to the right degree.
Some insights from Teresa Ambile regarding creativity are as follows:
Bring in others from all ranks, open up the organization to diverse perspectives, encourage collaboration through the process, provides paths for creativity within the organizational structure, allow people to pursue their passions, provide intellectual challenges, and be willing to accept failure.
In other words, support creativity by supporting your followers.