What are two of the keys to being an effective Leader? Ruth Simmons, rightly, feels that being amicable and keeping your ego in check are essential elements of being such a leader. An interview she had with a New York Times reporter in 2011 sheds light on her insightful thoughts on these and other leadership qualities. In this Series on Ruth Simmons, this interview, other interviews she has done, and videos will serve as a way to see how one non-profit Leader has made her mark – and how you can ‘Lead like Ruth’ too.
To put it simply, egomaniacal leaders who are nasty and publicly berate those on their staff won’t be effective; they’re likely merely managers. That’s the focus of this Your Outcomes Well Series post.
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In an article entitled “I Was Impossible but Them Saw How to Lead” (New York Times, Adam Bryant, December 3, 2011), an interview with Ruth Simmons, when she was President of Brown University, offers a lot of food for deep thought and better leading.
After being asked about the leadership lessons she took from an experience by Bryant, Ruth Simmons replied:
“It’s not all about you. It’s very important in a leadership role not to place your ego at the foreground and not to judge everything in relationship to how your ego is fed. And that seems to be all-important if you’re going to lead well. The other thing is just how unpleasant it is to work in an environment where you’re demeaned or disrespected.”
After speaking candidly about being “impossible” as a young girl (she was the youngest of 12), the following exchange took place between her and the journalist:
Bryant: But at some point, particularly when you became a manager, you realized you couldn’t be so impossible.
Simmons: It was living, frankly. And the experience of understanding that the ways in which I was trying to solve problems and to interact with people were getting in the way of achieving what I want. And that’s what did it for me. Ultimately, I came to understand that I could achieve far more if I worked amiably with people, if I supported others’ goals, if I didn’t try to embarrass people by pointing out their deficiencies in a very public way. So, I think it was really experience that did it more than anything else.
LEARN
- First and foremost, be an amicable leader
- Ego-driven leaders are not effective leaders; know “it’s not all about you”.
- Support the goals of others, when possible
- Avoid publicly criticizing people
- Always promote a ‘pleasant environment’
GROW
No-ego Leadership
When I stumbled onto the video below, Ruth Simmons’ name immediately came to mind!
“The Rarest Commodity is Leadership Without Ego” is the title of the powerful, 12-minute TEDx Talk of Bob Davids. As I mused on a leader who vividly reflects the perils of ego-driven leadership, the man who succeeded Barack Obama serves as a good example IMHO. Ruth Simmons (President of her 3rd major University) and former President Barack Obama, I feel, personify the merits of leaders who are amicable and know ‘it’s not always about them’. Conversely, leaders driven by ego -at their worst- feel that everything’s about them. Successful amicable Leaders like Simmons and Obama know better! You should too.
In the video, Bob Davids discusses a classic business book written by Robert Townsend, “Up the Organization”; Townsend is the former CEO of Avis (Do you remember We Try Harder?). Instead of being myopically focused on self-aggrandizing acts, those who lead without ego strive to support others instead. Ironically, by earnestly supporting others such Leaders gain more power.
As Bob Davids states in the video:
- “You need to be in touch with people you lead. You need to be in their shoes”.
- “Power comes when the people that you are leading give you their support”.
- The Essence of Leadership (Bob Davids):
- Management revolves around the ‘triple constraints’ of quality, time, and money. When a person emphasizes one of these control constraints the other two typically suffer. Leadership is about people. Management is about control, nothing more.
In closing, Ruth Simmons’ candor about how she came to she the value of amicability is refreshing and revealing. It was ‘living’, not a video or workshop lecture, that triggered this life-changing epiphany. Three different academic communities can attest to her leadership and vision.
Want to be a great non-profit leader? Don’t be ruthless, Lead like Ruth.
- Look for the next post in this Simmons Series soon.
