Omar Usman – The Motive Patrick Lencioni 3 Things I Learned

In this video, I'm sharing 3 things I

learned from the book The Motive by Patrick

Lencioni.

This is a book that explains 2 different

motives that a leader may have for becoming

the CEO of an organization

and the cascading effect of either of those

two intentions.

So the first thing I learned really was

exactly that.

The organ the health on

the impact on organizational

health of the two different motives. So the

first motive that he outlines is the wrong

one, which is that people ascend the ladder

of leadership

as a reward. So they see their moving

up or them taking a role as a

CEO or a lead manager, whatever the case

may be, as the reward or the prize

for all of the hard work that they've

put in. And so when that person becomes

a leader, they act in a certain way.

So for example,

they don't like to do the things that

they don't want to do. So now that

I'm the leader, if I don't like meetings,

I'm not gonna hold meetings.

If I my interests align with marketing, I'm

gonna go full force in marketing

and delegate the rest out.

The problem with this is that, he says,

the role of the chief executive, which he

says the chief executing

officer,

as he renames it,

is that the primary role of that job

is managing and leading people. So coaching them,

holding them accountable,

helping them navigate different issues.

And so that requires doing a lot of

other work that the CEO might not want

to do. So when they come in with

the wrong motive, when they come in seeing

it as a reward, they're going to be

less likely to do the things that they're

supposed to be doing. And so things like,

I don't like meetings. I think they're boring,

so I'm not gonna have them. On the

other hand, there's the CEO that sees leadership

as a responsibility,

and so they come in as the servant

leader. And one thing that Linconi says in

the book is that we need to do

away with the term servant leader because

all of good leadership is actually servant leadership.

And so when that person comes in, they

see their role as a responsibility

of helping other people.

The second thing I learned is where a

leader is held accountable. So when Tony gives

the example that a an athlete is held

accountable by their performance on the field, a

surgeon is judged by their

performance, for example, in the operating room, a

leader is held accountable or or judged by

their performance in meetings

and the outcome of those meetings, which is

the decisions that they make. That's the primary

role and responsibility

of a leader. Now one thing that happens

in kind of the trap that people fall

into, when a leader

doesn't want to have meetings, or they see

that now that I'm the leader, I can

choose not to do these things, they're not

having the right amount of communication in a

healthy decision making process.

And the thing that they hide behind, and

to me this was really interesting,

was they hide behind labeling all these things

as micromanagement.

Well, I don't wanna be a micromanager, so

I have smart people around me, and I

delegate to them, and I don't have to

worry about it. They're they're grown ups. They

can do their job. And on the flip

side, people that don't want to be held

accountable, they'll say, I don't want to be

micromanaged. I don't want someone checking in on

me constantly, and so on, and that starts

the breakdown

of accountability and culture, and it cascades its

way down the organization.

But instead, what a leader is supposed to

be doing, according to Lancione,

is

providing guidance and coaching,

providing a sense of accountability to their leaders.

And he says that doesn't show a lack

of trust.

What it does show that

the leader is there to provide the benefit

of guidance and coaching, and helping people to

maximize their potential. So even the best, even

the most competent, they still need some of

that direction and coaching, and that's the primary

responsibility

of the leader, and that's where they should

be focusing their time. And if they're not

focusing their time on that, then actually, it's

a sign of them coming in with the

wrong motive.

One other thing that he mentioned was

a lot of times leaders will try to

avoid difficult conversations,

and so they'll shy away from it. Politics

will continue to fester within the organization

because the leader doesn't like having those uncomfortable

conversations,

or they don't want to make someone feel

bad. And he said that, actually, this is

an act of selfishness,

because when a leader is avoiding those difficult

conversations,

they're doing it because they themselves don't want

to feel uncomfortable,

and in turn,

the consequence

of that is that the bad type of

behavior will continue. So the leader with the

responsibility

mindset

will tackle those things head on.

The third thing that I learned

was,

and this really is more of a warning,

which is that when someone does come in

with the right intentions, they come in with

the right motive,

there's still a trap that they can fall

into. Because when they come in with the

right motive, and they're coaching people, and they're

helping people, and they're serving people,

people will end up praising them quite a

bit, and they'll say, oh, this person is

so humble. This person is so responsible. I

love working for this person, and so on,

and so on, and so on.

And it becomes easy to drink your own

Kool Aid. And so Linconi says that it's

vital

that as people ascend the leadership ladder, as

they take on more responsibility,

especially

when they're doing it and with that sense

of responsibility,

that they have a strong inner circle

that can help to call them out on

behavior or hold them accountable as well. So

that's 3 things I learned from this book.

I highly recommend it. You can read it

in a short sitting.

One question that I have that I'd like

to hear your thoughts on.

So, Lenconi outlines the 2 motives. 1 person

that comes in with a sense of responsibility,

and 1 person that comes in with a

sense of this is my prize and my

reward. My question is,

how do we tackle the structures,

or the setup in different companies

that incentivize you to seek that reward?

Because a lot of times people are seeking

that leadership as the reward because that's how

the incentive structure is aligned. So how would

you suggest that we tackle that? I'd love

to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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