Page 44 - The extraordinary leader

Demystifying Leadership • 21

is the key to being highly effective. For example, the person who is focused
only on getting results often fails to obtain those results. Why? It is akin to a
person attempting to row a boat with one paddle. Instead, good results come
from a combination of skills, especially those joining the emphasis on results
with strong interpersonal behavior and relationships with people. Neither one,
by itself, takes you very far. Together, they produce spectacular outcomes. In
one study, we found that if you are in the top quartile in Interpersonal Skills
but rated poorly on Focus on Results, the likelihood of you being perceived
as a great leader is only 9 percent. If you are in the top quartile on Focus on
Results but given low ratings on Interpersonal Skills, the likelihood of being
perceived as a great leader is 13 percent. But if you possess both strong Inter-
personal Skills and a Focus on Results, then your probability of being per-
ceived as a great leader jumps to 66 percent. It is the powerful combination
of those factors that makes a huge difference.
Whether you are working with complex organizations or with one
subordinate, there is seldom any one thing responsible for producing a
positive outcome. Instead, it is the combination of several forces that pro-
duces desired outcomes. In general, leaders are most effective when they
possess strengths in each of the major clusters of competencies. Chapter 6
provides further insight into this finding, along with empirical evidence for
this conclusion.

Insight 13. Greatness Is Not Caused by the
Absence of Weakness

Our data reveal that a large percentage of leaders, approximately 84 per-
cent, do not possess any severe weakness, and yet they are not perceived as
strong leaders. They are “blah.” Subordinates do not single out any one
weakness as the root cause of the leader being weak. Instead, the combina-
tion of being in the “midrange” on a number of dimensions is the pattern
of the mediocre manager. In sum, the absence of weaknesses combined with
the absence of any pronounced strengths commits you to being no better
than average.
Our research shows that the self-evaluation of most leaders in this category
is highly distorted. They feel like they are good leaders. Possibly because they
are not really bad at any one area of leadership, they come to believe that they
are good. But rather than trying to convince them that they are bad leaders,
we think it far more valuable to help this group see what they can do to