Trickle-Up Leadership

"If people are too intimidated or too reluctant to help their leaders lead,
their leaders will fail," says Michael Useem, the author of a new book
about how you can take control — even when you’re not in command.

In a tough business
climate — and even in
boom times, for that
matter — it’s only
natural to want to trust
the people in the
executive suite. After
all, they know what
they’re doing, right?
Not so fast, says
Michael Useem in
Leading Up: How to
Lead Your Boss So
You Both Win, due
out this month from
Crown Business.

by Bill Breen Fast Company

Sometimes, even the people upstairs need help. "If people are afraid to help
their leaders lead, their leaders will fail," says Useem, a professor of
management at the Wharton School and the director of its Center for
Leadership and Change Management. In an interview with Fast Company,
Useem talked about how to take control even when you’re not in command.

It’s up to each of us to lead our leaders.

As technology evolves and organizations decentralize, people on the front lines
have far more independence and responsibility. They are closer to the market
and closer to how their product is used. They can see what their leaders are
missing. When leaders falter, it’s up to the rest of us to step up and help them
lead. But leading up is not some noble calling: When you help those above you
avoid a bad deal or seize an opportunity, you improve your whole
organization’s performance.

You’ve got to speak up to lead up.

In the Marines, the ultimate command-and-control institution, if their superior
issues a flawed order, officers are expected to point out the flaws before that
order goes into effect. That’s the example set by Peter Pace, commander in
chief at the U.S. Southern Command in Miami. A four-star general like Pace is
an intimidating, big-deal guy. But Pace never ends a meeting without asking his
subordinates to tell him what they each think. By challenging them to challenge
him, Pace reinforces a culture where everyone is inspired to lead up.

Before you lead up, you’ve got to team up.

Leading up is riskier in down times. You get close to that CSM point — the
Career Shortening Move — when you challenge a boss at a time when people
are being laid off. David Pottruck, the number-two executive for Charles
Schwab Corp., learned this the hard way. When he was president of Schwab’s
operating company, Pottruck frequently clashed with his boss, Larry Stupski, at
top-management meetings. Whatever Stupski proposed, Pottruck tended to
oppose. The result was that most of the other executives sided with Stupski,
the senior of the two.

Pottruck made two big mistakes: He failed to recruit other people to his cause,
and he disagreed disagreeably. He was arguing up instead of leading up, and he
was almost forced out of the company. But then he met with Stupski and
proposed a solution: He would never publicly argue with him again. He might
disagree, but he would do so only in private. In the months that followed,
Pottruck learned a critical lesson: By questioning his boss behind closed doors
only, he got his ideas into the room and kept the power struggle out of it.

Try to be all things to everybody, and you’ll be nothing to
anybody.

Many of us report to more than one project leader, and that represents a
difficult challenge: How do you meet the demands of multiple managers who
often disagree with one another? General Pace reported to no fewer than six
immediate superiors. His solution was to follow a policy of full disclosure. He
informed each of his bosses of what he was recommending to the others —
especially when he knew that one of those higher-ups would disagree with the
recommendation. A case in point: when Wesley Clark, the European
commander in chief, wanted U.S. Marine troops in the Balkans. Pace thought it
was a bad idea. He was quick to tell Clark: "If you want them, they’re yours.
But when the Pentagon asks what I think, I’ll oppose your plan for the following
reasons."

That’s a tough message to deliver. But Pace knew that by preemptively
disclosing his disagreement with Clark, he was boosting his own credibility. His
superiors could be confident that Pace would speak truth to power. Leaders
don’t have confidence in yes-men.

Which company has done the most to embrace the concept of upward
leadership? The answer, says management professor Michael Useem, is
General Electric. "GE has an extremely hard-hitting culture," says Useem. "But
everyone is expected to challenge their leaders, even if it means challenging
Jack Welch himself." To encourage its people to lead up, GE launched a
program for mentoring up.

For many years, GE had required veteran leaders to mentor the next generation
of top talent. But two years ago, when Welch realized that the Web would
change everything, he asked 600 of his worldwide executives to reach down
into the ranks and pick younger, Webified people to teach them the ways of the
Net.

In his new book, Leading Up, Useem quotes Welch: "E-business knowledge is
generally inversely proportional to both age and height in the organization."
Mentoring up, Welch says, was intended to "change that equilibrium." Welch
himself led the charge by picking Pam Wickham, who ran GE’s main Web site,
to be his Net coach.

The one-on-one sessions did more than give executives a crash course on the
Web. They demonstrated that leadership is a two-way street: "Mid-level
managers reported that they had become more comfortable in feeding ideas
upstairs and pressing their bosses to change," writes Useem. "Top-level
managers reported they had become more comfortable in eliciting insights from
below." Bottom line: Reverse mentoring gets people to challenge their leaders
— and it helps leaders do a better job of leading.

Contact Michael Useem by email ( [email protected] ).

Sidebar: Mentoring Up

Which company has done the most to embrace the concept of upward
leadership? The answer, says management professor Michael Useem, is
General Electric. "GE has an extremely hard-hitting culture," says Useem. "But
everyone is expected to challenge their leaders, even if it means challenging
Jack Welch himself." To encourage its people to lead up, GE launched a
program for mentoring up.

For many years, GE had required veteran leaders to mentor the next generation
of top talent. But two years ago, when Welch realized that the Web would
change everything, he asked 600 of his worldwide executives to reach down
into the ranks and pick younger, Webified people to teach them the ways of the
Net.

In his new book, Leading Up, Useem quotes Welch: "E-business knowledge is
generally inversely proportional to both age and height in the organization."
Mentoring up, Welch says, was intended to "change that equilibrium." Welch
himself led the charge by picking Pam Wickham, who ran GE’s main Web site,
to be his Net coach.

The one-on-one sessions did more than give executives a crash course on the
Web. They demonstrated that leadership is a two-way street: "Mid-level
managers reported that they had become more comfortable in feeding ideas
upstairs and pressing their bosses to change," writes Useem. "Top-level
managers reported they had become more comfortable in eliciting insights from
below." Bottom line: Reverse mentoring gets people to challenge their leaders
— and it helps leaders do a better job of leading.

http://www.fastcompany.com/online/52/useem.html