By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Management guru Peter Drucker once said, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

Given today's challenging economic times, Drucker's words ring truer than ever, said Emmett Murphy, author of Leadership IQ and cofounder of The Wilson Center, a leadership training nonprofit in Akron. Murphy, a leadership consultant to corporations worldwide, said in times like these, companies will survive or falter based on the quality of their leaders.

Murphy believes many of the factors that led to the current recession can be attributed to poor leadership at some of America's top companies.

"Too many of today's leaders have a style that is predatory, and it doesn't work," he said. "So many of them are intrinsically sociopathic - doing (their work) to get a specific thing solved for the moment to the betterment of a small group of people, and that is where I think we fail.

"There is an amoral dimension to today's leadership training," he continued. "We have been focusing on things that are expedient, and we have had a 20-year run of where that can lead us."

So what can managers, owners and CEOs do to steady the ship and ensure that their leaders are capable of navigating the rough seas ahead? Murphy said companies need to invest more in their leaders, and to be wary as to what message their lieutenants are being taught.

He likens the current economic climate to imprisonment.

"If you want to get out of this jail, put some investment into making sure your people know what they have to do to keep your customers," he said. "What is needed today is highly focused training that is very responsibility-driven and results driven."

CEO Bill Gisel is overseeing the rollout of a new leadership training program at Rich Products Corp.

"Now, more than ever, is the time to focus on leadership," Gisel said. "Our focus, like so many companies in this economy, is on tighter execution, which is really a direct product of your leaders."

Gisel said there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building effective leaders within an organization.

"We believe in approaching leadership development from multiple angles to make sure that when it comes together, it is a very comprehensive leadership-development program that will best meet our needs," he said.

A mentoring program at Rich's pairs emerging company leaders in informal settings so they can learn from each other. In her role as a mentor to another Rich's employee, Amy Herstek, Georgia Dachille said she has grown as a leader too.

"It is nice to be able to help and to impart some of your experience to people just coming into the company," said Dachille, a senior vice president at Rich's.

For her part, Herstek, who sees herself as a future leader within the company, appreciates the opportunity to learn from someone with Dachille's experience as she acclimates herself to the Rich Products culture.

"She has been instrumental in helping me learn about the company and, specifically, focusing on areas where I would like to grow," said Herstek, corporate counsel for the company.

Murphy said the principles of leadership are the same whether you are looking at Bill Gates at Microsoft or a local mom-and-pop operation.

Sandy Langs, director of human resources and professional development at Buffalo-based law firm Phillips Lytle LLP, said it's important to train employees from the outset of their career, with both internal exercises and external programs offered by Leadership Buffalo and the Bar Association of Erie County.

Langs believes those trainings are key to the firm's efforts to attract and retain clients.

"Leadership initiatives have the ripple effect in so many ways," she said. "They are a huge part of what we do."

 

The brass tacks of good leadership
What makes a strong, competent, effective leader?

Clarence resident Emmett Murphy, a best-selling author, has worked alongside some of America's most prominent corporate bosses. He shared what he sees as three essential qualities every leader must possess:

• Leaders need to come with proven records of accomplishment.
Follow these rules: Don't hire friends; don't hire because the union threatens you or the government threatens you; and hire people who have done something with their lives.

• Leaders can't try to please the employees.
Do what is in the best interest of your customer, client or patient. When resolving a conflict, the person with the better solution for the customer should stay, and others should go.

• Effective leaders must own their lives.
Own your job, make it yours and don't perform in your job as a leader for someone else - perform for yourself. This is an area where, Murphy says, many younger workers get it right, because they don't try to perform for their bosses.

It's a leader's job to report to the customer, and an effective leader has to be able to know they can live with themselves and be satisfied with what they contributed toward the benefit of the end user.

- Matt Chandler