Gary Burnison - Leadership U

GARY BURNISON

CEO - Korn Ferry

My wife, Leslie, and I were at the grocery store not long ago, standing in the checkout line behind an elderly woman with six cans of Progresso minestrone soup in her cartand nothing else.

I'm sorry, the cashier said. We have a limit. You can only get four.

Overhearing the conversation, Leslie spoke up: Don't worry, I'll buy the other two for her.

Immediately, the man behind us said loudly, Count me in for

four more!

Leslie pointed to the woman's nearly empty shopping cart. Are you sure that's all you need? We can help.

As a group of us made our way to the paper goods aisle, another shopper was just taking the last packages of toilet paper.

Could we have one of those? Leslie asked.

I'm sorry, the shopper said. I need this for my family.

It's not for us. Leslie pointed to the elderly woman standing at the end of the aisle. It's for her.

Immediately, the shopper reached into her cart. Of course. Take bothI have enough at home.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, stories like this played out all over the worldshared interest defeating self-interest.

To foster shared interest, leaders need to create followership. After all, no leader wants to charge up the mountain, only to discover halfway up that no one is following. That requires an emotional connection on a very real and human level in every interactionand especially in a crisis. To do that, leaders must commit to meeting others where they are. What matters most is not what the leader achieves, but how people are empowered to act.

As we were writing this book, my collaborators, Dan Gugler and Tricia Crisafulli, asked me, Pretend that a leader is about to enter the arena. What advice would you give?

Instinctively, I said, It's not about you. But it starts with you.

Welcome to Leadership U.

Unless you are a sculptor working alone in your studio, chipping marble or molding clay, you aren't a solo performer. Despite all the technological advancements of the past few decades, others stand on the shoulders of leaders to accomplish the goals of the organization.

Knowing how to inspire and motivate people requires emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills. All this and more go into being a leaderstarting with you, but never about you.

Leadership is all about othersinspiring them to believe, and then enabling that belief to become reality. The way you do that is with purpose, which is best and most simply defined as why an organization exists.

Knowing the why is central to transforming self-interest to shared interest. Purpose must precede the first step.

When people understand the purpose, they want to become part of something bigger than themselves. With a strong sense of purpose, they are more likely to act in concert with the mission and objective of the organization. They'll row in the same direction to reach the destination. And that's exactly what you will need to accelerate through the crisis curve.

Purpose also creates the shift from me to we. The reality is that thousands of employees will make hundreds of decisions every day. You will not be looking over their shoulders, nor could you. Rather, your job is to paint the bright linesthe left and right guardrails for making their decisionsand, most importantly, to anchor the organization in purpose. Then others must take it from there.

The endpoint is the organization's vision: what it will look like when the purpose is realized. Together, purpose and vision form the basis of leadership.

As the leader you must embody purpose. It is no less than the basis of everything you do. Others must see purpose in your words and actions.

With purpose as your guide, you can lead others forward: from what we've been to what we will be.

The leader sets the course toward change and possibility, emotionally and sometimes literally. Leadership is a journey, transporting people from one place to another, and inspiring them to believe in what they can achievethat they can, indeed, reach a faraway destination.