Over 17 years ago I took part in a leadership experiment. It is the only time have witnessed a company investing in its leaders or I should I say the pontential of its leaders. with this kind of effort.
So I found myself on a plane to Greensboro, NC wondering how this was going to go. I wasn't sure how many other leaders would be there, what we going to do, or even why The Hartford decided to do this. All I knew was I had an invitation to The Center for Creative Leadership and some other leaders did too.
I made it in time for the introductory dinner. JB, our executive and a Human Resources sponsor, JS, were there and talked to us for the first time about the purpose of the invitation. I don't remember how many of us there were, but it was at least 10, probably less than 15. It was explained to us that we were all high potential leaders...and we all had an X factor. I'm sure we all know what an X factor is, but I'll explain it in shorthand. It's that thing we do, whatever that thing is, that takes away from our really good qualities, be it as leaders or maybe even as people. An X factor is that negative quality within you that you have to manage or it can prevent you from your potential. And in general, everyone has an X factor.
JB and JS went on to outline the next couple of days. We were going work with The Center of Creative Leadership in role play scenerios that would be recorded, there were guest speakers, and there would be plenty of time to discuss leadership in general and how to set us up with the right base of skills...and be aware of that pesky X factor.
They asked if we had any questions. The room was silent. I didn't know this at the time, but I was the only Director that had been asked to be a part of this leadership experiment. Everyone else in the room was either an Asst VP or a VP. And maybe because of that reason, I had more to gain and everyone else had more to lose. When we got together in the big room to discuss what we did that day, how we were feeling, thoughts on leadership, I almost always started of the discussion with either questions or examples of how felt in the exercises we were doing. It brings up this point about leadership that there is no getting away from. No matter how good of environment you create, no matter how much you are told this is for your skills and not part of any review (i.e. you are not being judged), you are in fact being judged and the stakes are high. Sometimes these things are career making and career ending and you need to know that going in.
Next to me at that first nights dinner was a Norwegian Shipping CEO, I believe. He was older and had come back from retirement to lead the company after a tragic accident in which they lost several of their leadership team. I don't know all the details, but I really liked this man and really wanted to understand from him how he brought the company back after that kind of tragedy. It is one of my greatest regrets that I didn't stay there and pepper this man for his thoughts on life and how to persevere in the toughest of circumstances. But I was exhausted from the flight, I knew I needed to be at my best, and so I went straight to my room and got some sleep. And I missed a moment empathy and shared life experience.
The next few days went very well. I was good at role plays, I was very comfortable in them, and they were something I would do with my own leadership team. What was equally true, is most were not. I started hearing the grumbling, the 'why are we doing this, I'm not going to use this with my team' sentiments. In the q and a's after each day, you could feel the reticence from the leaders to express themselves, in both what went well and when they were uncomfortable. I did not have any problem discussing what went well and what I needed to be better at, because I knew that was what we were there for and that is what JB and JS wanted to hear. They wanted to hear me and every leader. They wanted us to express our understanding of leadership, what we do well and what we don't...and how are we going to learn from it.
I flew back feeling pretty good about the weekend. I thought it was well worth it and that what we did should be a regular program at The Hartford. I also knew that it would not be. The time and expense, without hardcore measurements of success, would doom this as a one time experiment. It would also be a target as a waste of time by some in the company, because of the sentiment of the born leader, an excuse not to invest the money in creating the next leaders.
Being a leader is like any other skill. If you want to be good at tennis, you join a club and get a coach. You then practive and work to the goal of what you want to achieve. Well...if you're leader, you work on the skills that help you, your team, and your company to be successful. It's not inate, you're not born with it, you have to work on it.
The Center for Creative Leadership was a bold experiment by The Hartford and I wished they would have continued it. Shortly after my trip to Greensboro I was promoted to the VP Level and the weekend definitely helped shape my continueing thoughts on what it takes to be a strong leader.
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