The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities by Patrick Lencioni ($9.99 for the Kindle edition on Amazon) is another best-seller from one of my favorite authors. However, in a departure from all of Lencioni’s previous works, this book isn’t about how to lead. It is about the leader’s motive, the “WHY” of leadership. Amazon describes the book as Lencioni’s “edgiest page-turner to date.” Indeed, there are a number of leadership coaching points that many will find both challenging and uncomfortable.
The Two Leadership Motives
Lencioni’s primary contention is that there are two basic leadership motivations for those who want to lead an organization. He refers to these as “Reward-centered Leadership” and “Responsibility-centered Leadership.” He describes these leadership-defining beliefs as follows:
Reward-centered Leadership: the belief that being a leader is the reward for hard work; therefore, the experience of being a leader should be pleasant and enjoyable, free to choose what they work on and avoid anything mundane, unpleasant, or uncomfortable.
Responsibility-centered Leadership: the belief that being a leader is a responsibility; therefore, the experience of leading should be difficult and challenging (though certainly not without elements of personal gratification).
Reward-centered leaders believe “it’s good to be the king.” Many such leaders “don’t really want to” manage the people on their team. Therefore, Lencioni’s book makes a case for the importance of being a responsibility-centered leader – one who does the hard and uncomfortable things that are best for the organization, not merely what’s enjoyable or rewarding for the leader personally.
The Five Omissions of Reward-Centered Leaders
In typical Lencioni fashion, he uses a leadership fable to introduce and explain the rationale for his key points. Boiled down to the essential elements, the book unpacks five important responsibilities that reward-centered leaders typically avoid.
- Developing the Leadership Team. Lencioni observes that reward-centered leaders often attempt to delegate and even abdicate the development of their team. He insists, “The leader simply must take personal responsibility for, and participate actively in, the task of building his or her team.”
- Managing Subordinates. Lencioni says team members must be managed “as individuals” rather than collectively as a group. He advises leaders to help team members “set the general direction of their work . . . (stay) informed enough to identify potential . . . problems as early as possible . . . (and coach) leaders to improve themselves behaviorally . . .”
- Having Difficult and Uncomfortable Conversations. The author writes, “One of the main responsibilities of a leader is to confront difficult, awkward issues quickly and with clarity, charity, and resolve.” He adds, “Failing to confront people quickly about small issues is a guarantee that they will become big issues . . . if the leader doesn’t do it, no one will . . .”
- Running Great Team Meetings. Rather than dread or complain about meetings, it is the leader’s responsibility to make sure meetings are engaging, focused, relevant and intense. Bad meetings “lead to bad decision making.” Plus, bad meetings set the “precedent for the rest of the organization. What is tolerated at the top . . . is often the ceiling of what can be expected . . .”
- Communicating Constantly and Repetitively to Employees. Most leaders “greatly underestimate the amount of communication that is necessary . . . employees have to hear a message seven times before they believe executives are serious about it.” Lencioni says the very best leaders “ . . . see themselves as CROs – chief reminding officers.”
Start with this Book First
Lencioni has written twelve leadership books. I find all of them excellent. However, if you are new to his writings, Patrick recommends that you start with this one. As you can see from the five “omissions” noted above, this is hard-hitting material. However, Lencioni’s use of a leadership fable to introduce and illustrate the principles makes the book an easy read. He doesn’t hit you over the head. All of his coaching points are introduced in a thoughtful and reasonable narrative. At only 176 pages, this one doesn’t take long to read. I highly recommend The Motive by Patrick Lencioni.