Page 109 - The extraordinary leader

86 • The Extraordinary Leader

Let us attempt one more metaphor. Imagine a jar of jellybeans, all different
colors and flavors. At first glance they look separate. Then you see that tiny
wires are connecting them together. You pick up one and 25 more are raised
up with it. You can name the white jellybean “Flexibility” and pretend that
it is an entity to itself. But the reality is that it cannot be separated from the
others. This raises a fascinating question: If the jellybeans are inextricably
linked together, then is there such a thing as the one white one? Or would it
be more accurate to look at them in handfuls? Would it be better to face the
reality that they are stuck together? We think so.
Later in this chapter we present our views of why competencies are linked
together. Later chapters present other important findings about the impor-
tance of multiple competencies, and insights about how leadership effective-
ness increases when competencies are strategically positioned in different
clusters of behaviors.
Assumption 3. The more congruence there is between the organization’s
defined competencies and the individual’s, the greater is the likelihood of
success.
Fact: This is the only one of the assumptions that our data do not challenge.
However, the validity of the assumption hinges on whether the organization
has empirically derived its own list of competencies and whether there are
good ways to measure an individual’s competencies. Our data confirmed that
leaders whose profiles were compatible with the high performers in the organi-
zation were much more likely to be highly rated than those who were not.
Assumption 4. All competencies have roughly the same importance.
Fact: There are huge differences between competencies’ importance. As
described earlier, we began by identifying the top tier of all leaders as seen by
their peers, subordinates, and bosses, and comparing that group with the lowest-
rated group. The question was, “What separates these high and low groups from
each other?” The result was the identification of 16 competencies that actually
separated the high and low groups. These competencies, selected from a pool
of 50 or more, can be grouped into the same categories as the model we intro-
duced in Chapter 1, and are treated more thoroughly later in this chapter.
For example, a common myth in many organizations is that effective exec-
utives are prompt and punctual. They arrive at meetings on time and don’t
keep others waiting. Our data show, however, that the lowest-rated executives
were as apt to be punctual for meetings as the best. So, while we are in no way
advocating that everyone shows up late to the next staff meeting, we think it is