Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?

1. Authentic Leadership: Be Yourself—More—with Skill

In our view, there are no universal leadership characteristics.

Leadership is a relationship. The core question, "Why should anyone be led by you?", highlights that leadership is not an inherent trait but a dynamic relationship between leader and led. Many organizations inadvertently stifle leadership by promoting conformity, while traditional literature often focuses on individual characteristics rather than the crucial relational aspect. Effective leadership is fundamentally situational, nonhierarchical, and relational, meaning it adapts to context, isn't confined to senior roles, and requires active engagement from both parties.

Discover your unique assets. Instead of trying to emulate "heroic CEOs" like Jack Welch, aspiring leaders must identify and deploy their own personal leadership assets. This involves understanding what makes them unique and how these differences can inspire others. Authenticity is key, manifesting as consistency between words and deeds, coherence across different roles, and a deep comfort with one's true self, which followers instinctively recognize and value.

Be yourself, skillfully. The ultimate advice is to "be yourself—more—with skill." This means leveraging your genuine differences in a way that resonates with followers and the specific context. It's about self-awareness and strategic self-disclosure, not about faking sincerity or adopting a persona that isn't truly yours. This nuanced approach allows leaders to connect deeply and inspire extraordinary levels of achievement and meaning.

2. Know and Show Yourself—Enough

What characterizes effective leaders is a sense of what works for them with others.

Self-knowledge and disclosure. To lead, you must know yourself and be willing to show that self to others. Workplaces often make authentic self-expression difficult, leading individuals to reserve their "real" selves for private life. However, effective leaders understand that a degree of self-knowledge (self-awareness) combined with appropriate self-disclosure is crucial for inspiring trust and connection. Without both, efforts to lead can appear enigmatic or, worse, inauthentic.

Leverage your unique differences. Successful leaders identify what is genuinely different about them and skillfully use these qualities to their advantage.

• Bill Gates turned his "computer geekiness" into a symbol of deep technological expertise.
• Sir Richard Branson uses his casual appearance to convey nonconformity and an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Martin Sorrell leverages his legendary email responsiveness and "workaholic accountant" image to balance WPP's creative culture with business rigor.
  These leaders don't necessarily have deep self-knowledge but possess sufficient self-awareness to pragmatically deploy what works for them.

Embrace your origins and mobility. Authentic leaders are comfortable with their personal biographies, understanding how factors like family, locale, gender, or social class have shaped them. They are also at ease with the mobility that life brings, adapting to new contexts without losing their core identity. This groundedness, combined with continuous learning through new experiences, honest feedback, and self-reflection, allows them to refine their leadership presence.

3. Take Personal Risks and Reveal Humanity

Great leaders are driven by an unbending sense of purpose—and it is this that impels them to take personal risks.

Care enough to be vulnerable. Real leaders genuinely care about their cause, whether it's a vision, values, or a dream. This profound commitment drives them to take personal risks, making themselves vulnerable by revealing their authentic selves, including their weaknesses. This "tough empathy" means giving people what they need rather than what they want, always balancing respect for individuals with the overarching task and higher purpose.

Strategic revelation of weaknesses. Leaders don't reveal all weaknesses indiscriminately; instead, they skillfully choose which ones to expose. These revealed weaknesses must be:

• Real: Not fabricated to distract from deeper flaws.
• Non-fatal: Not undermining core competence (e.g., an accountant admitting they don't understand cash flow).
• Humanity-confirming: Making the leader relatable and showing they are a person, not just a role-holder.
• Help-eliciting: Signaling to followers where their contributions are needed, fostering solidarity.
  This selective vulnerability builds trust and solidarity, as followers see a genuine person who isn't afraid to be imperfect.

Purpose as the driving force. The willingness to take personal risks stems from an unbending sense of purpose, what Alistair Mant calls the "third corner." This higher purpose allows leaders to transcend personal survival instincts, observe their own actions with detachment, and make difficult decisions for the greater good. Leaders like John Latham (picking up litter) or Alain Levy (blunt feedback) demonstrate that their passion for the mission outweighs the fear of appearing flawed, ultimately earning respect and inspiring commitment.

4. Master Situation Sensing: Read and Rewrite the Context

What a leader needs to have is not a set of rules but a good method of analyzing the situation in which he must act.

Context is everything. Leadership is inherently contextual; there's no universal formula. Effective leaders possess excellent "situation-sensing" capabilities, allowing them to observe, understand, and interpret the social realities around them. This involves picking up subtle signals, both verbal and non-verbal, to gauge team morale, identify unspoken opinions, and understand the underlying dynamics of any given situation.

Three elements of situation sensing:

• Observational and Cognitive Skills: Leaders see and interpret soft data, tuning into the organizational frequency. Examples include sensing the atmosphere in a meeting or discerning if a deal "feels right."
• Behavioral and Adaptive Skills: Having understood the context, leaders adjust their behavior without losing their sense of self. They become "authentic chameleons," adapting their style (e.g., Rudy Giuliani's presence on the streets post-9/11) to maximize impact.
• Rewriting the Context: Leaders are not passive recipients; they actively use their behavior to change the situation, exemplifying an alternative reality. Greg Dyke, for instance, modeled a positive, energized vision for the BBC to counter cynicism.

Understanding individuals and groups. Situation sensing extends to understanding the motives, values, skills, and emotions of key individuals and the dynamics of groups. Leaders gather this data through informal interactions, indirect questioning, and continuous observation, building a nuanced picture of their people. They also recognize that groups evolve through stages (forming, storming, norming, performing) and skillfully manage the balance between task-related and relationship-related behaviors to foster high-performing teams, even across diverse or remote settings.

5. Conform Enough to Gain Traction

Leaders who succeed in changing organizations challenge the norms—but rarely all of them, all at once.

Adaptation for impact. To instigate change, leaders must first gain acceptance as insiders. This requires "conforming enough" to the existing organizational context without compromising their authenticity. Leaders who ride roughshod over established norms, like Michael Ovitz at Disney or Robert Horton at BP, often fail because they alienate those they need to influence. A.G. Lafley at P&G, by contrast, preserved the core culture while subtly guiding people toward radical change.

The Double S Cube. Understanding organizational culture involves assessing two key relationships:

• Sociability: Affective relations, friendship, mutual help (can lead to indulgence or cliques).
• Solidarity: Task-focused cooperation, shared interest, desire to win (can lead to intolerance of dissent or instrumentalism).
  These combine to form four cultural types: Networked (high sociability, low solidarity), Mercenary (high solidarity, low sociability), Fragmented (low on both), and Communal (high on both). Leaders must read these nuances to adapt their approach effectively.

Navigating social mobility: Freeze, Please, Tease. As individuals move through organizations, they encounter different cultural capital.

• Freeze: Individuals become overwhelmed by the new environment, losing their original leadership attributes.
• Please: They inauthentically mimic the new culture, losing their unique voice and effectiveness.
• Tease: The most effective approach, where leaders retain their authenticity but make strategic cultural adjustments to operate effectively and achieve their purpose. Sarah, an executive search firm leader, exemplifies "teasing" by maintaining her distinctive accent and personality while navigating a rarefied social milieu.

6. Skillfully Manage Social Distance

Effective leaders are able to evoke high levels of emotional response, loyalty, and affection. They can empathize with those they lead, step into their shoes, get close to them. Yet they also seem able to communicate a sense of edge, to remind people of the job at hand and the overarching purpose of the collective endeavor.

The dance of closeness and distance. Effective leaders master the art of managing social distance, moving skillfully between empathy and warmth (closeness) and maintaining perspective and focus on the task (distance). This dynamic balance is crucial, especially as flatter hierarchies mean leaders can no longer rely on formal status to create distance. Rick Dobbis, for example, inspires loyalty through closeness but can abruptly switch to intense questioning to drive performance, a "tough love" approach that works because it's built on trust.

Benefits of closeness and distance:

• Closeness: Enables leaders to understand followers, fosters disclosure (of strengths and weaknesses), and builds strong relationships. It's vital for team building, coaching, and gathering personal information.
• Distance: Signals an overarching purpose, allows for objective perspective on complex issues, and is necessary for making tough decisions or setting non-negotiable norms. Leaders like Charles de Gaulle or Karel Vuursteen (Heineken) used distance to establish authority and drive change.

Navigating the shift. Leaders must be adept at signaling shifts between closeness and distance. A smile or informal remark can invite closeness, while a formal tone or strategic silence can establish distance. Leaders like Nigel Morris (Capital One) even warn colleagues when they're about to switch to a "harder edge." Mismanaging this balance—being too close too soon, or too distant when closeness is needed—can undermine authenticity, lead to perceived manipulation, or hinder performance. The goal is to operate within a "recognizable bandwidth" that maintains credibility.

7. Communicate with Care, Pace, and Purpose

In order to properly engage others, leaders need to construct a compelling narrative.

Strategic communication. Effective leaders don't just communicate; they communicate with care, considering the message, context, audience, and their own strengths. This involves choosing the right channel—whether a one-on-one meeting, a small group discussion, or a large-scale speech—to maximize impact. John Major's shift to impromptu "soapbox" speeches during his election campaign, for instance, allowed him to connect more authentically with voters than formal platform addresses.

Crafting a compelling narrative. Beyond facts and data, leaders must construct a compelling narrative that allows followers to understand and be excited by their role in the vision. This involves:

• Engaging stories: Drawing people in with challenges, quests, and personal anecdotes (e.g., Pete Goss's tales of sea rescue).
• Personalization: Using familiar experiences, analogies, and humor to reduce social distance and reveal authentic biography (e.g., Jack Welch's childhood stories).
• Emotional connection: Skillfully revealing emotions to evoke a similar response in others, making the message resonate deeply.
  Authentic storytelling is woven into daily interactions, not just added as an afterthought, making the vision tangible and inspiring.

Mastering pace and timing. Communication is also about rhythm and orchestration. Leaders must understand the organization's tempo and decide when to accelerate change and when to proceed gradually.

• "Hares" (like Marconi's CEO) push for rapid, dramatic change, which can lead to spectacular failures if market conditions shift or foundational disciplines are lost.
• "Tortoises" (like PricewaterhouseCoopers' regional practice or Peter Brabeck at Nestlé) adopt a more gradual, carefully crafted approach, building capability and relationships over time for sustainable success.
  Leaders must communicate sufficient pressure for change, a clear vision, address capability gaps (nurturing "learners" and celebrating "regular performers"), and provide actionable steps with targeted rewards, balancing short-term wins with long-term aspirations.

8. Cultivate Authentic Followership

Without them, there is no relationship and no leadership.

Followers' expectations. Followers are the other side of the leadership coin, and their expectations are crucial for effective leadership. Our research shows followers primarily seek four things from their leaders:

• Authenticity: Leaders who are genuine, reveal their true selves, and skillfully display their unique differences.
• Significance: Recognition for their contributions, making them feel valued and important (e.g., Martin Sorrell's email responses, Jack Welch's handwritten notes).
• Excitement: Inspiration to achieve higher levels of effort and performance, often through a leader's passionate commitment to values and vision.
• Community: A sense of belonging, a desire to feel part of something bigger, and to relate to others beyond just the leader.

Qualities of good followers. Just as leaders have responsibilities, so do followers. Good followers are actively engaged, not passive conscripts. They contribute to effective leadership by:

• Speaking up: Willingness to voice concerns and criticisms, even if it involves personal risk, driven by a shared commitment to the overarching purpose.
• Complementing the leader: Understanding the leader's strengths and weaknesses and providing counterweights or support where needed, adapting their own contributions to the situation.
• Skillful appreciation of change and timing: Recognizing when leaders need to conform or challenge, and tolerating shifts between closeness and distance, understanding that separation can be necessary for the shared purpose.
  Ultimately, followers have a duty to resist blind obedience and know when to withdraw support from a failing leader, fostering a process of mutual exploration and learning.

9. Embrace the Price and Prize of Ethical Leadership

The price they have to pay for leadership is unceasing self-discipline, the constant taking of risks, and perpetual inner struggle … whence that vague sense of melancholy which hangs about the skirts of majesty.

Leadership is not a formula. There are no easy recipes for leadership; it's a lifelong journey of being yourself—more—with skill. Leadership is situational, nonhierarchical, and relational, requiring constant adaptation, keen situation sensing, and the ability to connect authentically with others. Leaders who fail often do so due to poor situation sensing, an inability to connect, or fatal flaws, as seen in the dramatic downfall of Greg Dyke at the BBC, who underestimated his political opponents and overidentified with his news team.

The ethical imperative. Leadership is never an end in itself; it's always in pursuit of an overarching purpose. This choice of purpose is fundamentally ethical. Whether the goal is increasing profit, healing the sick, or building community, leaders cannot evade the moral consequences of their actions. Max Weber argued that charismatic leadership, driven by ethical purpose, is a defense against the "disenchantment of the world" by technical rationality.

Beyond shareholder value. While Milton Friedman argued for maximizing shareholder value as the sole corporate purpose, we contend that this alone is insufficient for inspiring exceptional performance. People are energized by helping colleagues, delighting customers, or pursuing noble goals, with shareholder value often being a byproduct. Immanuel Kant's principle, "Always regard every man as an end in himself, and never use him merely as a means to your ends," provides an inspirational moral compass for leaders to create organizations that are sources of meaning and communities where individuals can express their authentic selves.

The ultimate reward. Leadership is hard, demanding unceasing self-discipline, constant risk-taking, and perpetual inner struggle. Yet, the prize is profound: the ability to bring meaning and high performance to organizations, to excite others, and to make a tangible difference in the world. The example of "Dr. John," a community doctor, illustrates how authentic leadership, characterized by care, passion, and skillful self-disclosure, can profoundly impact lives and build thriving communities, proving that the effort is truly worth it.

Last updated: December 7, 2025