Martin G. Moore - No Bullsh!t Leadership

No Bullsh!t Leadership
Copyright 2021 by Martin G. Moore

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact RosettaBooks at marketing@rosettabooks.com.

First edition published 2021 by RosettaBooks

Cover design by Mimi Bark
Interior design by Alexia Garaventa

ISBN-13 (print): 978-1-9481-2278-8
ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-0-7953-5308-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Name: Moore, Martin G., author.

Title: No bullsh!t leadership / Martin G. Moore.

Description: First edition. | New York : RosettaBooks, [2021]

Identifiers: LCCN 2021018900 (print) | LCCN 2021018901 (ebook)

ISBN 9781948122788 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780795353086 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Leadership.

Classification: LCC HD57.7 .M644 2021 (print) | LCC HD57.7 (ebook)

DDC 658.4/092dc23

www.RosettaBooks.com

To every leader with the courage to be better

For the simplicity that lies this side of complexity,
I would not give a fig, but for the simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity, I would give my life.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

This book is based on real and fictionalized events. Where necessary,
identifying features and names of persons and organizations
contained within this book have been changed to protect anonymity.
Except where explicitly named, any correlation to real individuals
is purely coincidental.

Introduction

Every year, organizations across the globe collectively spend hundreds of billions of dollars on leadership development. But its blindingly obvious that the standard and quality of leadership in the world today is woefully inadequate. Something isnt connecting. All that investment isnt making a dent in the problem.

Im not a theorist (although I consider myself to be a student of the human condition). I built my career without the luxury of being an expert in any particular field. My executive career took me across many different industries and job families, each new role thrusting me into an unfamiliar environment in which I had no choice but to give up or engage.

Ive seen all kinds of major organizational change: mergers and acquisitions, geographical expansions, corporate restructurings, IPOs, joint ventures, and asset disposals. These experiences gave me deep insight into what really drives leadership, culture, and business performance.

I also learned very quickly that I possessed some core skills that are transferrable to any context: communication, negotiation, decision-making, influencing, and relationship-building. But what propelled me more than anything else was my ability to get results through others; to unlock the latent potential of my people to achieve extraordinary outcomes.

My upbringing instilled in me a sense of higher purpose, the desire to pursue excellence, and a fundamental belief in doing whats right, not whats easy. My mother was a woman of incredible selflessness and humility, a small measure of which Id like to think rubbed off on me. She had an acute sense of fairness, and put others interests ahead of her own, sometimes to her detriment.

I was incredibly fortunate to be educated at one of Sydneys leading private schools, which proudly bears the Latin motto In Meliora Contende Strive for better things. This was not about the acquisition of material wealth, but rather the obligation that each of us implicitly has to improve our part of the world, however big or small. We were taught to set noble goals, dig deep to find courage and bravery, focus on the greater good, and never succumb to complacency or mediocrity.

It would be disingenuous, though, to suggest that Ive always lived up to those ideals. There was a period in my early adult life when I departed from these values for several years, as I experimented with my identity. Although it was a lot of fun at the time, it ultimately brought me no joy. I learned through trial and error that Im actually happiest when I adhere to the discipline of strong principles and ethics.

Throughout my leadership career, this knowledge has been more valuable than I can possibly describe.

These unshakable ideals have driven me to attack my greatest fears, head straight for the most difficult challenges, and ignore conventional wisdom. Im wired to go against the usual, and that enables me to venture where most leaders wouldnt dare to go. This has opened up vast opportunity to discover the underlying leadership behaviors and competencies that genuinely make a difference.

The leadership development industry is dominated by academics and consultants, many of whom have never experienced the stark reality of leadership in the trenches. Theyve never faced the gut-wrenching dilemmas leaders are often presented with when making difficult decisions.

Theyve never had to tell a young mother with three children, a large mortgage, and an unemployed husband that she no longer has a job. Theyve never had to make a decision that could make or break a business in a highly ambiguous and rapidly evolving world. Theyve never had to muster the strength of character required to lead people through a crisis. Theyve never had to change the culture of a legacy business to establish a higher standard of behavior and performance. Theyve never had to master the discipline required to let go of control and let their people perform at their peak.

I have.

What Ive captured in these pages is the accumulated wisdom of a person, very much like you, who simply chose to make a difference as a leader, and has the scars to show for it.

Thats what makes this book unique. Its based upon my real-life experiences and practical wisdom gleaned on my journey from law school dropout to CEO of a major energy business with a track record for delivering real performance uplift over a sustained period.

Strong Leadership Is Timeless

Leadership has never been more difficult. The new world we find ourselves in has brought us face-to-face with the fragility of our circumstances, our economies, our livelihoods, our longevity, and some of our most prized freedoms. Yep, theres nothing like a global pandemic to focus the attention.

Many leaders have floundered through the COVID-19 crisis because they were unprepared. And I dont mean unprepared simply in terms of business continuity planning, although thats virtually a given. Im specifically referring to their lack of resilience, their inability to function in a highly ambiguous environment, and their unwillingness to make decisions at the necessary speed. In other words, their inability to do the things that great leaders do.

Although the pandemic has shone a spotlight on these shortcomings, what constituted great leadership before still defines great leadership today, and will remain the yardstick for great leadership well into the future. The principles are timeless, if we can only understand what lies at the foundation of strong leadership : To strip away the bullshit and lead.