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THE HIGH-PERFORMANCE ORGANIZATION «

Leaders are at the top of their game when

they act from their deepest values and instincts.

Usually they tap into these fundamental qualities during

a crisis, but it's possible to do soanytime-in the

right frame of mind.

MOMEN F GREATNESS

ENTERING THE FUNDAMENTAL STATE

OF LEADERSHIP by Robert E. Quinn

s leaders, sometimes we're truly "on," and sometimes we're not Why is that? What separates the episodes of ex- cellence from those of mere competence? In striving to tip the balance toward excellence, we try to identify great leaders' qualities and behaviors so we can develop them ourselves. Nearly alt corporate training programs and books on leadership are grounded in the assumption that we should study the behaviors of those who have been successful and teach people to emulate them.

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But my colleagues and I have found that when leaders do their best work, they don't copy anyone. Instead, they draw on their own fundamental values and capabili- ties-operating in a frame of mind that is true to them yet, paradoxically, not their normal state of being. I call it the fundamental state of leadership. It's the way we lead when we encounter a crisis and finally choose to move forward. Think back to a time when you faced a significant life chal- lenge: a promotion opponunity, the risk of professional failure, a serious illness, a divorce, the death of a loved one, or any other major jolt. Most likely, if you made de- cisions not to meet others' expectations but to suit what you instinctively understood to be right-in other words, if you were at your very best-you rose to the task because you were being tested.

Is it possible to enter the fundamental state of leader- ship without crisis? In my work coaching business execu- tives, I've found that if we ask ourselves-and honestly answer-just four questions, we can make the shift at any time. It's a temporary state. Fatigue and external resistance pull us out of it. But each time we reach it, we return to our everyday selves a bit more capable, and we usually elevate the performance ofthe people around us as well. Over time, we all can become more effective leaders by deliberately choosing to enter the fundamental state of leadership rather than waiting for crisis to force us there.

Defining the Fundamental State Fven those who are widely admired for their seemingly easy and natural leadership skills-presidents, prime min- isters, CEOs-do not usually function in the fundamen- tal state of leadership. Most of the time, they are in their normal state - a healthy and even necessary condition under many circumstances, but not one that's conducive to coping with crisis. In the normal state, people tend to stay within their comfort zones and allow external forces to direct their behaviors and decisions. They lose moral infiuence and often rely on rational argument and the ex- ercise of authority to bring about change. Others comply with what these leaders ask, out of fear, but the result is usually unimaginative and incremental-and largely repro- duces what already exists.

To elevate the performance of others, we must elevate ourselves into the fundamental state of leadership. Get- ting there requires a shift along four dimensions. (See the exhibit "There's Normal, and There's Fundamental.")

First, we move from being comfort centered to being re- sults centered. The former feels safe but eventually leads to a sense of languishing and meaninglessness. In his book

The Path of Least Resistance, Robert Fritz carefully ex- plains how asking a single question can move us from the normal, reactive state to a much more generative condi- tion. That question is this: What result do 1 want to create? Giving an honest answer pushes us off nature's path of least resistance. It leads us from problem solving to pur- pose finding.

Second, we move from being externally directed to being more internally directed. That means that we stop merely complying with others' expectations and con- forming to the current culture. To become more inter- nally directed is to clarify our core values and increase our integrity, confidence, and authenticity. As we become more confident and more authentic, we behave differ- ently. Others must make sense of our new behavior. Some will be attracted to it, and some will be offended by it. That's not prohibitive, though: When we are true to our values, we are willing to initiate such conflict.

Third, we become less self-focused and more focused on others. We put the needs of the organization as a whole above our own. Few among us would admit that personal needs trump the collective good, but the impulse to control relationships in a way that feeds our own in- terests is natural and normal. That said, self-focus over time leads to feelings of isolation. When we put the collec- tive good first, others reward us with their trust and re- spect. We form tighter, more sensitive bonds. Empathy increases, and cohesion follows. We create an enriched sense of community, and that helps us transcend the conflicts that are a necessary element in high-performing organizations.

Fourth, we become more open to outside signals or stimuli, including those that require us to do things we are not comfortable doing. In the normal state, we pay atten- tion to signals that we know to be relevant. If they suggest incremental adjustments, we respond. If, however, they call for more dramatic changes, we may adopt a posture of defensiveness and denial; this mode of self-protection and self-deception separates us from the ever-changing external world. We live according to an outdated, less valid, image of what is real. But in the fundamental state of leadership, we are more aware of what is unfolding, and we generate new images all the time. We are adaptive, credible, and unique. In this externally open state, no two people are alike.

These four qualities-being results centered, internally directed, other focused, and externally open - are at the heart of positive human infiuence, which is generative and attractive. A person without these four characteristics can also be highly influential, but his or her influence tends to

Robert E. Quinn ([email protected]) is the Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Professor of Business Administration in the organization and management group at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor. His most recent book is Building the Bridge as You Walk on It: A Guide for Leading Change (Jossey-Bass, 2004). Additional tools for entering the fundamental state of leadership are available at Deepchange.com.

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Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership

be predicated on some form of control or force, which does not usually give rise to committed followers. By entering the fundamental state of leadership, we increase the likelihood of attracting others to an elevated level of community, a high-performance state that may continue even when we are not present.

Preparing for the Fundamental State Because people usually do not leave their comfort zones unless forced, many find it helpful to follow a process when they choose to enter the fundamental state of leadership. I teach a technique to executives and use it in my own work. It simply involves asking four awareness-raising questions designed to help us transcend our natural denial mechanisms. When people become aware of their hypoc- risies, they are more likely to change. Those who are new to the "fundamental state" concept, however, need to take two preliminary steps before they can understand and employ it.

Step 1: Recognize that you have previously entered the fundamental state of leadership. Every reader of this pub- lication has reached, at one time or another, the funda- mental state of leadership. We've all faced a great per- sonal or professional challenge and spent time in the

There's Normal, and There's Fundamental Under everyday circumstances, leaders can remain in their normal state of being

and do what they need to do. But some challenges require a heightened perspec-

t ive-what can be cailed the fundamental state of ieadership. Here's how the two

states difFer.

In the normal state, I am..

COMFORr CENrERED

Stick with what 1 know.

EXTERNALLY DIRECTED

In the fundamental state, I am.

I comply with others' wishes in a n effort to keep the peace.

SELF-FOCUSED

I place my interests above those ofthe group,

INTERNALLY CLOSED

I block out external stimuli in order to stay on task and avoid risk.

RESULTS CENTERED

I venture beyond familiar territory to pursue ambitious new outcomes.

INTERNALLY DIRECTED

behave according to my values.

OTHER FOCUSED

I put the collective good first.

EXTERNALLY OPEN

1 learn from my environment and recognize when there's a need for change.

dark night ofthe soul. In successfully working through such episodes, we inevitably enter the fundamental state of leadership.

When I introduce people to this concept, I ask them to identify two demanding experiences from their past and ponder what happened in terms of intention, integrity, trust, and adaptability. At first, they resist the exercise be- cause I am asking them to revisit times of great personal pain. But as they recount their experiences, they begin to see that they are also returning to moments of greatness. Our painful experiences often bring out our best selves. Recalling the lessons of such moments releases positive emotions and makes it easier to see what's possible in the present. In this exercise, I ask people to consider their be- havior during these episodes in relation to the character- istics ofthe fundamental state of leadership. (See the exhibit "You've Already Been There" for analyses of two actual episodes.)

Sometimes I also ask workshop participants to share their stories with one another. Naturally, they are reluc- tant to talk about such dark moments. To help people open up, I share my own moments of great challenge,the ones I would normally keep to myself. By exhibiting vul- nerability, I'm able to win the group's trust and embolden other people to exercise the same courage. I recently ran

a workshop with a cynical group of executives. After I broke the testi- monial ice, one ofthe participants told us of a time when he had ac- cepted a new job that required him to relocate his family. Just before he was to start, his new boss called in a panic, asking him to cut his va- cation short and begin work im- mediately. The entire New England engineering team had quit; clients in the region had no support what- soever. The executive started his job early, and his family had to nav- igate the move without his help. He described the next few months as "the worst and best experience" of his life.

Another executive shared that he'd found out he had cancer the same week he was promoted and relocated to Paris, not knowing how to speak French. His voice cracked as he recalled these stress- ful events. But then he told us about the good that came out of them-how he conquered both the disease and the job while also be- coming a more authentic and in- fluential leader.

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Others came forward with their own stories, and I saw a great change in the group. The initial resistance and cynicism began to disappear, and participants started exploring the fundamental state of leadership in a seri- ous way. They saw the power in the concept and recog- nized that hiding behind their pride or reputation would only get in the way of future progress. In recounting their experiences, they came to realize that they had become more purposive, authentic, compassionate, and responsive.

Step 2: Analyze your current state. When we're in the fundamental state, we take on various positive charac- teristics, such as clarity of vision, self-empowerment, em- pathy, and creative thinking. (See the exhibit "Are You in the Fundamental State of Leadership?" for a checklist organized along the four dimensions.) Most of us would like to say we display these characteristics at all times, but we really do so only sporadically.

Comparing our normal performance with what we have done at our very best often creates a desire to elevate what we are doing now. Knowing we've operated at a higher level in the past instills confidence that we can do so again; it quells our fear of stepping into unknown and risky territory.

Asking Four Transformative Questions Of course, understanding the fundamental state of lead- ership and recognizing its power are not the same as being there. Entering that state is where the real work comes in. To get started, we can ask ourselves four ques- tions that correspond with the four qualities of the fun- damental state.

To show how each of these qualities affects our behav- ior while we're in the fundamental state of leadership, I'll draw on stories from two executives. One is a com-

You've Already Been There Two participants in a leadership workshop at the University of Michigan's Ross School

of Business used this self-assessment tool to figure out how they've transcended their

greatest life challenges by entering the fundamental state of leadership. You can use the

same approach in analyzing how you've conquered your most significant challenges.

PARTICIPANT A PARTICIPANT B

The pivotal crisis:

How did you become more results centered?

How did you become more internally directed?

How did you become more focused on others?

How did you become more externally open?

I was thrust Into a job that was crucial to the orga- nization but greatly exceeded my capabilities. I had to get people to do things they did not want to do.

I kept trying to escape doing what was required, but I could not stand the guilt. I finally decided I had to ciiange. I envisioned what success might look like, and I committed to making whatever changes were necessary.

I stopped worrying so much about how other peo- ple would evaluate and judge me. I was starting to operate from my own values. I felt more self- empowered than ever and realized how fear driven 1 had been.

I realized how much I needed people, and I became more concerned about them, I was better able to hear what they were saying. I talked not just from my head but also from my heart. My colleagues responded. Today, I am still close to those people.

I experimented with new approaches. They often did notwork, but they kept the brainstorming in motion. I paid attention to every kind of feedback. I was hungry to get it right. There was a tot of dis- covery. Each step forward was exhilarating.

I was driving myself hard at work, and things kept getting worse at home. Finally my wife told me she wanted a divorce.

I felt I'd lost everything: family, wealth, and stature. I withdrew from relationships. I started drinking heavily. I finally sought professional help for my sorrow and, with guidance, clarified my values and made choices about my future.

I engaged in a lot of self-reflection and journal writing. It became clear that I was not defined by marriage, wealth, or stature. I was more than that. I began to focus on how I could make a differ- ence for other people. I got more involved in my community.

As I started to grow and feel more self<onfident, I became better at relating. At work, I now ask moreof people than I ever did before, but I also give them far more support, i care about them, and they can tell.

I began to feel stronger. I was less intimidated when people gave me negative feedback, I think it was because I was less afraid of changing and growing.

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Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership

pany president; we'll call him John Jones. The other, Robert Yamamoto, is the execu- tive director of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce. Both once strug- gled with major challenges that changed the way they thought about their jobs and their lives.

I met John in an executive course I was teaching. He was a successful change leader who had turned around two compa- nies in his corporation. Yet he was frus- trated. He had been promised he'd become president ofthe largest company in the cor- poration as soon as the current president retired, which would happen in the near future. In the meantime, he had been told to bide his time with a company that every- one considered dead. His assignment was simply to oversee the funeral, yet he took it as a personal challenge to tum the com- pany around. After he had been there nine months, however, there was little improve- ment, and the people were still not very engaged.

As for Robert, he had been getting what he considered to be acceptable (if not ex- ceptional) results in his company. So when the new board president asked him to pre- pare a letter of resignation, Robert was stunned. He underwent a period of an- guished introspection, during which he began to distrust others and question his own management skills and leadership ability. Concerned for his family and his fu- ture, he started to seek another job and wrote the requested letter.

As you will see, however, even though things looked grim for both Robert and John, they were on the threshold of posi- tive change.

Am I results centered? Most ofthe time, we are comfort centered. We try to con- tinue doing what we know how to do. We may think we are pursuing new outcomes, but if achieving them means leaving our comfort zones, we subtly - even uncon- sciously-find ways to avoid doing so. We typically advocate ambitious outcomes while designing our work for maximum administrative convenience, which allows us to avoid conflict but frequently ends up reproducing what already exists. Often, others collude with us to act out this de- ception. Being comfort centered is hypo- critical, self-deceptive, and normal.

Are You in the Fundamental State of Leadership? Think of a time when you reached the fundamental state of leadership-that is, when you were at your best as a leader-and use this checklist to identify the qualities you displayed. Then check ofFthe items that describe your behavior today. Compare the past and present. If there's a significant difference, what changes do you need to make to get back to the fundamental state?

At my best Today 1 was... I am...

RESULTS CENTERED

Knowing what result I'd like to create

Holding high standards

Initiating actions

Challenging people

Disrupting the status quo

Capturing people's attention

Feeling a sense of shared purpose

Engaging in urgent conversations

INTERNALLY DIRECTED

Operating from my core values

Finding motivation from within

Feeling self-empowered

Leading courageously

Bringing hidden conflicts to the surface

Expressing what I really believe

Feeling a sense of shared reality

Engaging in authentic conversations

OTHER FOCUSED

Sacrificing personal interests for the common good

Seeing the potential in everyone

Trusting others and fostering interdependence

Empathizing with people's needs

Expressing concern

Supporting people

Feeling a sense of shared identity

Engaging in participative conversations

EXTERNALLY OPEN

Moving forward into uncertainty

Inviting feedback

Paying deep attention to what's unfolding

Learning exponentially

Watching for new opportunities

Crowing continually

Feeling a sense of shared contribution

Engaging in creative conversations

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Clarifying the result we want to create requires us to re- organize our lives. Instead of moving away from a prob- lem, we move toward a possibility that does not yet exist. We become more proactive, intentional, optimistic, in- vested, and persistent We also tend to become more ener- gized, and our impact on others becomes energizing.

Consider what happened with John. When I first spoke with him, he sketched out his strategy with little enthusi- asm. Sensing that lack of passion, I asked him a question designed to test his commitment to the end he claimed he wanted to obtain:

What if you told your people the truth? Suppose you told them that nobody really expects you to succeed, that you were assigned to be a caretaker for 18 months, and that you have been promised a plum job once your assignment is through. And then you tell them that you have chosen instead to give up that plum job and bet your career on the people present. Then, from your newly acquired stance of optimism for the com- pany's prospects, you issue some challenges beyond your eiTiployees' normal capacity.

'iny surprise, John responded that he was begin- iiing to think along similar lines. He grabbed a napkin

Then there was Robert, who went to what he assumed would be his last board meeting and found that he had more support than he'd been led to believe. Shockingly, at the end of the meeting, he still had his job. Even so, this fortuitous turn brought on further soul-searching. Robert started to pay more attention to what he was doing; he began to see his tendency to be tactical and to gravitate toward routine tasks. He concluded that he was managing, not leading. He was playing a role and abdi- cating leadership to the board president - not because that person had the knowledge and vision to lead but because the position came with the statutory right to lead."! suddenly decided to really lead my organization," Robert said. "It was as if a new person emerged. The deci- sion was not about me. I needed to do it for the good of the organization."

In deciding to "really lead," Robert started identifying the strategic outcomes he wanted to create. As he did this, he found himself leaving his zone of comfort-behaving in new ways and generating new outcomes.

Am I internally directed? In the normal state, we comply with social pressures in order to avoid conflict and re- main connected with our coworkers. However, we end up

When leaders do their hest work, they don't copy anyone. They draw on their own

values and capahilities.

and rapidly sketched out a new strategy along with a plan for carrying it out, including reassignments for his staff. It was clear and compelling, and he was suddenly full of energy.

What happened here? John was the president of his company and therefore had authority. And he'd turned around two other companies - evidence that he had the knowledge and competencies of a change leader. Yet he was failing as a change leader. That's because he bad slipped into his comfort zone. He was going through the motions, doing what had worked elsewhere. He was imitat- ing a great leader- in this case, John himself. But imita- tion is not the way to enter the fundamental state of lead- ership. If I had accused John of not being committed to a real vision, he would have been incensed. He would have argued heatedly in denial ofthe truth. All 1 had to do, though, was nudge him in the right direction. As soon as he envisioned the result he wanted to create and com- mitted himself to it, a new strategy emerged and he was reenergized.

feeling less connected because conflict avoidance results in political compromise. We begin to lose our uniqueness and our sense of integrity. The agenda gradually shifts from creating an external result to preserving political peace. As this problem intensifies, we begin to lose hope and energy.

This loss was readily apparent in the case of John. He was his corporation's shining star. But since he was at least partially focused on the future reward-the plum job-he was not fully focused on doing the hard work he needed to do at the moment. So he didn't ask enough ofthe peo- ple he was leading. To get more from them, John needed to be more internally directed.

Am I other focused? It's hard to admit, but most of us, most of the time, put our own needs above those of the whole. Indeed, it is healthy to do so; it's a survival mecha- nism. But when the pursuit of our own interests controls our relationships, we erode others' trust in us. Although people may comply with our wishes, they no longer de- rive energy from their relationships with us. Over time

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Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership

we drive away the very social sup- port we seek.

To become more focused on oth- ers is to commit to the collective good in relationships, groups, or organizations, even if it means in- curring persona! costs. When John made the shift into the funda- mental state of leadership, he com- mitted to an uncertain future for himself. He had been promised a coveted job. All he had to do was wait a few months. Still, he was un- happy, so he chose to tum down the opportunity in favor of a course that was truer to his leadership val- ues. When he shifted gears, he sac- rificed his personal security in favor of a greater good.

Remember Robert's words: "The decision was not about me. I needed to do it for the good of the organi- zation." After entering the funda- mental state of leadership, he pro- posed a new strategic direction to the board's president and said that if the board didn't like it, he would walk away with no regrets. He knew that the strategy would ben- efit the organization, regardless of how it would affect him person- ally. Robert put the good of the or- ganization first. When a leader does this, people notice, and the leader gains respect and trust. Group members, in tum, become more likely to put the collective good first. When they do, tasks that previously seemed impossible become doable.

Am I externally open? Being closed to extemal stimuli has the benefit of keeping us on task, but it also allows us to ignore signals that suggest a need for change. Such sig- nals would force us to cede control and face risk, so deny- ing them is self-protective, but it is also self-deceptive. John convinced himself he'd done all he could for his fail- ing company when, deep down, he knew that he had the capacity to improve things. Robert was self-deceptive, too, until crisis and renewed opportunity caused him to open up and explore the fact that he was playing a role ac- corded him but not using his knowledge and emotional capacity to transcend that role and truly lead his people.

Asking ourselves whether we're externally open shifts our focus from controlling our environment to leaming from it and helps us recognize the need for change. TWo things happen as a result. First, we are forced to improvise in response to previously unrecognized cues-that is, to depart from established routines. And second, because

trial-and-error survival requires an accurate picture of the results we're creating, we actively and genuinely seek honest feedback. Since p)eople trust us more when we're in tbis state, they tend to offer more accurate feedback, understanding that we are likely to leam from the mes- sage rather than kill the messenger. A cycle of leaming and empowerment is created, allowing us to see things that people normally cannot see and to formulate trans- formational strategies.

Applying the Fundamental Principles Just as I teach others about the fundamental state of lead- ership, 1 also try to apply the concept in my own life. I was a team leader on a project for the University of Michi- gan's Executive Education Center. Usually, the center runs weeklong courses that bring in 30 to 40 executives. It was proposed that we develop a new product, an integrated week of perspectives on leadership. C.K. Prahalad would begin with a strategic perspective, then Noel Tichy, Dave Ulrich, Karl Weick, and I would follow with our own pre- sentations. The objective was to fill a 400-seat auditorium.

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Since each presenter had a reasonably large following in some domain ofthe executive world, we were confident we could fill the seats, so we scheduled the program for the month of July, when our facilities were typically underutilized.

In the early months of planning and organizing, every- thing went perfectly. A marketing consultant had said we could expect to secure half our enrollment three weeks prior to the event. When that time rolled around, slightly less than half of the target audience had signed up, so we thought all was well. But then a different consultant indi- cated that for our kind of event we would get few addi- tional enrollments during the last three weeks. This stun- ning prediction meant that attendance would be half of what we expected and we would be lucky to break even.

As the team leader, I could envision the fallout. Our fapikyrnembef^raccustomed to drawing a full house, i/ould be offended by a half-empty room; the dean would

Finally, I thought about how f could become externally open. It would mean moving forward and learning some- thing new, even if that made me uncomfortable. I needed to engage in an exploratory dialogue rather than preside as the expert in charge.

I immediately began making a list of marketing strate- gies, though I expected many of them would prove fool- ish since I knew nothing about marketing. The next day, I brought the staff together - and they, naturally, were guarded. I asked them what result we wanted to create. What happened next is a good example of how conta- gious the fundamental state of leadership can be.

We talked about strategies for increasing attendance, and after a while, I told the staff that I had some silly marketing ideas and was embarrassed to share them but was willing to do anything to help. They laughed at many of my naive thoughts about how to increase publicity and create pricing incentives. Yet my proposals also sparked

Being closed to external stimuli keeps us on task, but it also allows us to ignore signals

that suggest a need for change.

want te know, what went wrong; and the center's staff would probably point to the team leader as the problem. That night I spent several hours pacing the floor. 1 was filled with dread and shame. Finally I told myself that this kind of behavior was useless. I went to my desk and wrote down the four questions. As I considered them, I con- cluded that I was comfort centered, externally directed, self-focused, and internally closed.

So I asked myself, "What result do 1 want to create?" I v\a-ote that 1 wanted the center to learn how to offer a new, world-class product that would be in demand over time. With that clarification came a freeing insight: Be- cause this was our first offering ofthe product, turning a large profit was not essential. That would be nice, of course, but we'd be happy to learn how to do such an event properly, break even, and lay the groundwork for making a profit in the future.

I then asked myseif,"How can I become other focused?" At that moment, i was totally self-focused-1 was worried about my reputation-and my first inclination was to be angry with the staff. But in shifting my focus to what they might be thinking that night, I realized they were most likely worried that I'd come to work in the morning ready to assign blame. Suddenly, I saw a need to both challenge and support them.

serious discussion, and the group began to brainstorm its way into a collective strategy. Because 1 was externally open, there was space and time for everyone to lead. Peo- ple came up with better ways of approaching media out- lets and creating incentives. In that meeting, the group developed a shared sense of purpose, reality, identity, and contribution. They left feeling reasonable optimism and went forward as a committed team.

In the end, we did not get 400 participants, hut we filled more than enough seats to have a successful event. We more than broke even, and we developed the skills we needed to run such an event better in the future. The pro- gram was a success because something transformational occurred among the staff. Yet the transformation did not originate in the meeting. It began the night before, when I asked myself the four questions and moved ffom the normal, reactive state to the fundamental state of leadership. And my entry into the fundamental state en- couraged the staff to enter as well.

While the fundamental state proves useful in times of crisis, it can also help us cope with more mundane chal- lenges. If I am going to have an important conversation, attend a key meeting, participate in a significant event, or teach a class, part of my preparation is to try to reach the fundamental state of leadership. Whether I am working

82 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

E n t e r i n g t he F u n d a m e n t a l State o f Leade rsh ip

with an individual, a group, or an organization, I ask the same four questions. They often lead to high-performance outcomes, and the repetition of high-performance out- comes can eventually create a high-performance culture.

Inspiring Others to High Performance when we enter the fundamental state of leadership, we immediately have new thoughts and engage in new be- haviors. We can't remain in this state forever. It can last for hours, days, or sometimes months, but eventually we come back to our normal frame of mind. While the fun- damental state is temporary, each time we are in it we learn more about people and our environment and in- crease the probability that we will be able to return to it. Moreover, we inspire those around us to higher levels of performance.

To this day, Robert marvels at the contrast between his organization's past and present. His transformation into a leader with positive energy and a willingness and abil- ity to tackle challenges in new ways helped shape the L. A. Junior Chamber of Commerce into a high-functioning and creative enterprise. When I last spoke to Robert, here's what he had to say:

I have a critical mass of individuals on both the staff and the board who are willing to look at our chal- lenges in a new way and work on solutions together.

At our meetings, new energy is present. What previ- ously seemed unimaginable now seems to happen with ease.

Any CEO would be delighted to be able to say these things. But the truth is, it's not a typical situation. When Robert shifted into the fundamental state of leadership, his group (which started off in a normal state) came to life, infused with his renewed energy and vision. Even after he'd left the fundamental state, the group sustained a higher level of performance. It continues to flourish, without significant staff changes or restructuring.

All this didn't happen because Robert read a book or an article about the best practices of some great leader. It did not happen because he was imitating someone else. It happened because he was jolted out of his com- fort zone and was forced to enter the fundamental state of leadership. He was driven to clarify the result he wanted to create, to act courageously from his core val- ues, to surrender his self-interest to the collective good, and to open himself up to learning in real time. From Robert, and others like him, we can leam the value of challenging ourselves in this way-a painful process but one with great potential to make a positive impact on our own lives and on the people around us. ^

Reprint R0507F; HBR OnPoint 1460 To order, see page 195.

"Listen-v^e're dominating honey, so maybe It's time vi/e diversify Into jelly."

JULY-AUGUST 2005 83

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