The Lens of Leadership: Being the Leader Others WANT to Follow

By Cory Bouck

The leadership exodus of the Baby Boomers is creating dramatically-accelerated promotions in organizations and leaving behind a significant leadership skills gap.
•Do you aspire to build a truly high performance team?
•Is your career not moving forward quickly enough?
•Are you in a little over your head as a leader?
If so, this book can help!
All intentions, actions, and results should be viewed through what Cory Bouck calls “The Lens of Leadership” to bring focus to the leader’s ultimate accountability for results. Doing so will magnify your personal performance, improve your organization’s results, and accelerate your career progression. Failing to accept total responsibility sets low performance expectations, perpetuates a culture of mediocrity, and cripples the career opportunities of those you lead.
Whether you are an experienced leader with broad responsibilities, an early leader who wants to get ahead faster, or an aspiring future leader who wants to expand your influence, viewing your role through The Lens of Leadership will ensure that you deliver better results, get promoted faster, and inspire those around you.
In The Lens of Leadership, you will learn:
•How to set yourself apart from your peers by developing an accountability mindset that consistently examines results through The Lens of Leadership.
•How to earn a reputation for strong leadership at every level through your "followership."
•How to act, paradoxically, as both a leader and follower at the same time throughout your career.
•How to develop all of the must-have tools for your leadership toolbox.
•How to increase your impact, develop more bench strength, and build a high performance team by learning to serve, build, and inspire others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cory Bouck
• Release date: Apr 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626756540

Cory Bouck

Cory Bouck is the Director of Organizational Development & Learning (OD&L) at Johnsonville Sausage and is the author of The Lens of Leadership: Being the Leader Others WANT to Follow. He is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, and also served there as a leadership instructor. Cory graduated in the top 1 percent of student leadership ranks as a Midshipman. As an instructor, he led a team of civilian PhDs and military instructors in managing the content and delivery of the advanced core leadership course. He is a former Naval Flight Officer. Cory led a P-3 Orion combat aircrew around the world, including missions over Bosnia-Herzegovina. His crew was twice named #1 of 48 crews in the Atlantic Fleet. He led brand and event marketing teams at General Mills, Newell-Rubbermaid, and Johnsonville Sausage. Cory led the team that developed a NASCAR strategy for the Chex cereal portfolio with Richard Petty Enterprises. At Newell-Rubbermaid’s Little Tikes toy division, the product development team he led earned a Parent’s Magazine “Best Toys of the Year” award. The Johnsonville brand team he led more than doubled net-margin dollar growth in two years and grew household penetration by 10%. That team also earned an “EFFIE” from the North American Marketing Association for effective advertising. He joined Johnsonville's OD&L team to create a leader-development system. In three years, the internal promotion rate for leadership positions increased from 40% to 70%. He now leads the OD&L function and is responsible for employee development, technical training, and executive coaching. He is active in leadership outside of work. He served two terms as an elected city councilman, chairing several committees while working with state and federal legislators. Cory is a pilot and youth mentor in the Civil Air Patrol. His personal purpose is, “To help coach the people whose lives I connect with to high achievement in whatever drives their purpose.”

Book preview

The

Lens of

Leadership

icon.jpg

Being the leader others want to follow

3947.png

NEW YORK

Cory Bouck

The Lens of Leadership

Being the Leader Others Want to Follow

The leadership exodus of the Baby Boomers is creating dramatically-accelerated promotions in organizations and leaving behind a significant leadership skills gap.

• Do you aspire to build a truly high performance team?

• Is your career not moving forward quickly enough?

• Are you in a little over your head as a leader?

If so, this book can help!

All intentions, actions, and results should be viewed through what Cory Bouck calls The Lens of Leadership to bring focus to the leader’s ultimate accountability for results. Doing so will magnify your personal performance, improve your organization’s results, and accelerate your career progression. Failing to accept total responsibility sets low performance expectations, perpetuates a culture of mediocrity, and cripples the career opportunities of those you lead.

Whether you are an experienced leader with broad responsibilities, an early leader who wants to get ahead faster, or an aspiring future leader who wants to expand your influence, viewing your role through The Lens of Leadership will ensure that you deliver better results, get promoted faster, and inspire those around you.

In The Lens of Leadership, you will learn:

• How to set yourself apart from your peers by developing an accountability mindset that consistently examines results through The Lens of Leadership.

• How to earn a reputation for strong leadership at every level through your followership.

• How to act, paradoxically, as both a leader and follower at the same time throughout your career.

• How to develop all of the must-have tools for your leadership toolbox.

• How to increase your impact, develop more bench strength, and build a high performance team by learning to serve, build, and inspire others.

What Others Are Saying About

The Lens of Leadership

"The world is in desperate need of a different leadership role model. My goal is that someday, everyone, everywhere will lead at a higher level and be a situational leader. The great news is that The Lens of Leadership can help leaders reach that place. Cory Bouck’s principles of leadership excellence are a true outline for success. Read this book and you, too, will lead at a higher level."

- Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Great Leaders Grow

Cory Bouck has taught leadership and lived it in demanding roles in the military and business. Here he distills the lessons of his own impressive experience into practical insights that will help individuals and organizations make the most of their leadership talent.

– John R. Ryan, President & CEO, Center for Creative Leadership

Bouck gets it. Skill without character is manipulation, not influence. This book will help you greatly expand your capacity to generate real and lasting influence.

– Joseph Grenny, co-author of the international best-selling Crucial Conversations, and Influencer

"Lots of people get promoted into a leadership role, but too few of them become skilled, effective leaders. The Lens of Leadership will help you become a leader that others will follow eagerly to create great results."

– Ralph C. Stayer, Owner and CEO, Johnsonville Sausage

"The Lens of Leadership is the playbook for building any kind of championship team."

– Boomer Esiason, NFL quarterback; Chairman, Boomer Esiason Foundation

"By taking a look at yourself through The Lens of Leadership, you’ll gain enormous insight into what it takes to become an even better leader and, just as importantly, to develop the untapped leaders around you."

– Michael Zuna, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Aflac, Inc.

The Lens of Leadership gets it right: The best leaders know how to share power to get more done.

– Joe Iarocci, CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

"Where in the hell was this book fifteen years ago? The Lens of Leadership touches on many of the factors that are the key to successful leadership. It not only motivated me to become a better boss, but I believe it will also inspire everyone to become a better leader. It will definitely put your career in the ‘fast lane.’"

– Randy Bernard, CEO, Indy Racing League

"We need government leaders that have great skills and strength of character in our capitols and municipalities so they can help build a better future for America. The Lens of Leadership’s ‘Serve-Build-Inspire’ model is just the tool to build those leaders."

– Ed Rendell, former Governor of Pennsylvania and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee

"Cory Bouck’s The Lens of Leadership is destined to become a seminal piece. The insights will benefit both fledgling and seasoned leaders. Apply its principles to any organization, and you will see serious positive results, both immediate and for the long haul."

– Admiral Joseph W. Prueher, former U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China

"Cory Bouck’s Lens of Leadership principles are time-tested, and his timing is perfect. So much leadership talent is retiring. This book will help build better leaders that are ready to follow, serve, and lead."

– Matt Blunt, former Republican Governor of Missouri; President of The American Automotive Policy Council

"The Lens of Leadership is a very helpful book for individuals who are motivated to become great leaders. Its ‘Serve – Build – Inspire’ framework is supported by a series of practical examples and exercises to help hone leadership skills. Ultimately, the book contains a strong affirmation of personal accountability coupled with a useful path to achieve leadership impact."

– Rick Searer, President, Kraft North America (Retired)

The leadership exodus has begun: Baby Boomers are retiring in droves and there aren’t enough Gen Xers to replace them. The Lens of Leadership is a practical field manual for getting Millennials ready to lead.

– Haydn Shaw, Practice Leader, Franklin-Covey Co., author of Sticking Points: How to Get 4 Generations Working Together in the 12 Places They Come Apart

"This powerful, practical book shows you how to create, lead, manage, and motivate a team of high-performing people—in any business."

– Brian Tracy, Professional Speaker, International Best Selling Author, Entrepreneur, and Success Expert

Retiring U.S. workers are taking decades of job skills and leadership experience with them. They are being replaced by a labor force that is ambitious but untested. If America’s younger workers can adopt Cory Bouck’s ‘Serve—Build—Inspire’ model, they will strengthen the companies that create great jobs for American families.

– Dr. Donnie Horner, Education Commissioner, City of Jacksonville, Florida

"The Lens of Leadership uses the best tools from the training world to ensure you convert what you learn from this book into better behaviors that deliver better results."

– Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick, professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin, creator of the four Kirkpatrick Levels for

evaluating the effectiveness of corporate training programs

The Lens of Leadership explains how the skills of great followership build better organizations today and better leaders tomorrow.

– Peter Nicholas Lengyel, President & CEO, Safran USA

"No matter who you are, The Lens of Leadership will help you achieve your professional goals and leave an enduring and endearing legacy. This book is a blueprint designed to bring leadership and character together."

– Dr. Mark Huberty, DDS, Chairman, American Dental Association’s Global Mission of Mercy; Deputy Regent, International College of Dentists

Emerging markets are growing at an astonishing pace. Businesses attempting to succeed in this arena are in dire need of leaders who can apply Bouck’s ‘Serve—Build—Inspire’ model to unleash the power embedded in the universal human desire to achieve.

– Scott Chandler, Finance Director, Asia, Middle East, & Africa, General Mills, Inc.

"If you are a leader today and you don’t understand how to be a follower at the same time, The Lens of Leadership should be the next business book you read."

– Chuck Goddard, President & CEO, Marinette Marine Corp.

"Like great actors, great leaders are born and made: skilled people still need great coaching. The Lens of Leadership brilliantly provides you with your own personal leadership coach. Read it now. You simply can’t afford to wait until tomorrow."

– Christopher Olsen, Hollywood screenwriter, and producer of the upcoming feature Lombardi

Cory Bouck speaks from and to the heart of leadership. His easy to use tools and practical advice are based on many years of proven experience, and can be readily used by any leader to inspire people working together to achieve exemplary results.

– Dr. Robert O. Brinkerhoff, creator and best-selling author of The Success Case Method, and internationally-recognized expert in training effectiveness and measurement

"Looking at your skills through The Lens of Leadership, you will see how easy it is to focus your development, magnify your impact, and set your career on fire!"

– Patrick Snow, International Best-Selling Author of Creating Your Own Destiny and The Affluent Entrepreneur

"The Lens of Leadership clearly defines three imperatives for the next generation of great leaders: Serve, Build and Inspire. I encourage anyone interested in fully developing as a leader to use this book as a practical guide and personal coach."

– Kevin D. Wilde, VP, Organization Effectiveness and Chief Learning Officer, General Mills; 2007 Chief Learning Officer Of the Year; author of Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves That Matter Now

"The Lens of Leadership provides useful and practical advice for leaders. A good resource for first time managers and anyone who wants to expand their knowledge about leadership fundamentals."

– Tamar Elkeles, Ph.D., Chief Learning Officer, Qualcomm, and the 2010 CLO of the Year

"A company’s and country’s most cherished asset is its leaders. Weak leadership will guarantee mediocrity and decline. Strong leadership will position the company/institution to be the best. Cory’s book is timely in a world where true leadership is in dangerously short supply. The Lens of Leadership is a phenomenal book. I wish that I had had Cory’s book early in my career. Here comes a much-needed best seller!"

– Neal Whitten, Best-selling author and Project Management Expert; President, The Neal Whitten Group

The Lens of Leadership

© 2013 by Cory Bouck

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Please address all inquiries to:

Cory Bouck LLC.

www.TheLensOfLeadership.com

ISBN: 978-1-935586-89-0

Editor: Tyler Tichelaar

Cover and Interior Book Design: Fusion Creative Works,

www.fusioncw.com

Impact Map adaptation used with permission of the authors Robert Brinkerhoff & Anne Apking, High Impact Learning, Strategies for Leveraging Performance and Business Results from Training Investments (Basic Books, 2001).

Content found in chapters 15, 18, and 20 is copyright-protected and owned by VitalSmarts and used herein with permission.

CLOSING TIME—Words and Music by DAN WILSON

© 1998 WB MUSIC CORP. and SEMIDELICIOUS MUSIC

All Rights Administered by WB MUSIC CORP.

The Lens of Leadership is also available as an e-book.

For additional copies please visit: www.TheLensOfLeadership.com

Dedication

To Beth, my one particular harbor.

To my children: You are inheriting a glorious-but-broken world that will require greatness just to solve the simple problems. I know this stuff works, so I wrote it down for you. Use it to become great, along whatever path you choose. Your future – with the families you will Serve, Build, and Inspire one day – is the only legacy that matters.

And to every person around the world who answers the call, and steps up to the challenges of leading: Leadership is Noble.

Acknowledgments

We often never know the extent to which we impact the lives of others. There are many people—too many to list here—who have no idea that they contributed to this book. In moments big and small, by what was done or left undone, and by their great or not-so-great example: I was changed and inspired by scores of people. I am grateful.

Scotty Chandler, my leadership yardstick. If I could impress you, I knew I was on to something. Thanks for your friendship and help, shipmate.

Tim Ahrens, my right brain and my professional other half. Thank you for your role in my finding my voice.

Sean Liedman, who taught me how to fight: Fight to Fly, Fly to Fight, Fight to Win. Bing Lengyel, who taught me how to write. Patrick Snow, whose example inspired me to write a book. And Tyler Tichelaar, who taught me not to split my infinitives.

Ralph, Launa, and Shelly Stayer, Don McAdams, Brian Klepke, Leah Glaub, and 1,400 other Johnsonville members, who have helped build a company where people belong to something very special: a team that builds leaders and helps its members find their voices, so they can achieve their God-given potential.

I am also indebted to my Naval Academy classmates, Pelican squadron mates, ProDev Luce Cannons, and the fine people of General Mills, Newell-Rubbermaid, and my hometowns of Owosso, Michigan and Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

How to Use This Book to Improve Your Performance and Deliver World Class Results

SERVE

Part I: Following

Chapter 1: Following is the First Form of Leading

Chapter 2: Being Intensely Loyal

Chapter 3: Living with Integrity

Chapter 4: Making It Happen

Chapter 5: Acting with Professionalism

Part II: Serving Through Leadership

Chapter 6: Leading is Noble

Chapter 7: Acting Like a Leader: What Great Leaders Do

Chapter 8: Leading is Serving

Chapter 9: Giving Away Your Power (to Get More Done!)

Chapter 10: Building Your Leadership Brand

Chapter 11: Recruiting and Hiring the Best Leaders

BUILD

Part III: Developing Yourself

Chapter 12: Being Great Isn’t Good Enough (So Be Superlative!)

Chapter 13: Becoming Intentionally Agile: A Career is Not a Straight Line

Chapter 14: Nurturing Your Network

Chapter 15: Navigating Change Like a Champion

Chapter 16: Thinking Like Your Boss’ Boss

Part IV: Developing Others

Chapter 17: Leading is Teaching

Chapter 18: Building the Future: The Ultimate Development Toolbox

Chapter 19: Having Performance Conversations: Early and Often

INSPIRE

Part V: Inspiring and Motivating Others

Chapter 20: Leading Your People to Be Like Hybrid Cars

Chapter 21: Pushing Them Beyond What They Think They Can Achieve

Chapter 22: Succeeding in Moments That Count

A Final Note...

About the Author

Book Cory Bouck to Speak at Your Next Event

Introduction

All glory comes from daring to begin.

— Eugene F. Ware

Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.

— Tom Peters

While researching the data that became the book Good to Great, Jim Collins cautioned his team against the Siren song of leadership being attributed as the answer to everything. What the team discovered, however, was that great leadership was present in all of the good companies at the time of their transition to great, and those strong leadership skills were consistently missing in all of the poorly-performing comparison companies.

• Are you in over your head as a leader, and you’re just waiting to be found out?

• Is your career not progressing as quickly—or in the direction—that you would like?

• Is your paycheck suffering because you are not delivering superior results?

• Do you aspire to lead others on a truly high performance team?

If so, this book can help.

During my years as a military leader, all performance—the critical and the mundane—was viewed through what I call The Lens of Leadership. If a mission failed to achieve its goal or was executed sloppily, it was considered a leadership failure. If the floors were dirty or the brass un-shined in a ship’s passageway, that was also a leadership failure. If the meals were bad at the base cafeteria, that was a leadership failure, too. When leaders are held accountable for results, those results almost always improve. Great leadership seeks out accountability.

In my experience outside the military, I have seen business, academic, and community leaders quickly attribute success to leadership, but they often neglect to attribute failure to leadership as well. I have seen bosses—and sometimes even the boss’ boss—shirk accountability and choose instead to cite a long list of other problems, often rationalized as having been beyond someone’s control. That’s no way to lead an organization to greatness.

My earliest leadership skills were developed in a very intentional and structured way in what I believe is the finest leadership laboratory in the world: the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Students there, called Midshipmen, learn and practice the most powerful principles of leadership using a potent combination of formal learning, social modeling, and experiential immersion. Everything students do there is an opportunity to demonstrate or further develop their leadership skills.

While I learned these principles in the context of a military environment, they are universally-applicable, and have direct relevance to other competitive enterprises like business, entertainment, and not-for-profits. Business titans like Malcolm Forbes, Dave Thomas of Wendy’s restaurants, FedEx’s Fred Smith, P&G’s Bob McDonald and A.G. Lafley, George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, Estée Lauder’s founder Leonard Lauder, and Sam Walton formed their leadership skills in the military, as did entertainment leaders like Clint Eastwood, Tony Bennett, and Bill Cosby. Great leaders understand the universal, human principles that drive people and teams. This understanding does not have to be developed in the military, but it does have to be developed because it does translate into organizational success.

My learning and experience – as a Naval Academy graduate and former leadership instructor, a Naval Flight Officer, a business leader at two Fortune 300 companies and a privately-held firm, and as an elected official – has taught me to see all results through The Lens of Leadership. This book will introduce you to a new mindset, new skills, and new development tools for your leadership toolbox.

A New Mindset

The Lens of Leadership is an accountability mindset. All successes and failures have their roots in leadership, and people in positions of leadership bear responsibility for those successes and failures. Great leaders are not afraid to have their results examined through The Lens of Leadership.

This book will introduce you to this uncommon mindset, which is vital to your success as both a follower and as a leader. All intentions, acts, and outcomes should be viewed through The Lens of Leadership to bring focus to the leader’s ultimate accountability for results.

New Skills

In May 2010, Harvard Business Review published an article titled, How to Keep Your Top Talent. In it, researchers from the Corporate Leadership Council revealed that 70 percent of today’s high performers—tomorrow’s future experts and leaders—lack critical skills essential to their future success.

To bridge that gap, this book offers a powerful set of leadership skills. I have included the highest-leverage tools available for building high performance teams that will consistently deliver winning results. You can apply these skills no matter what your role or level in any kind of organization. These tools are practical, not theoretical. You should apply them immediately to earn the recognition you want to earn by improving the results that you and your teammates deliver.

New Development Tools

This book also is designed to be a leadership development handbook. Each chapter includes a template and resources for you to create your customized personal development plan. This plan should be your commitment—to your organization, to your leader, to your team, and to yourself. If you keep the development commitments you create in this book, your results will improve, your reputation will blossom, and your career will be dramatically enhanced.

This book is a long-term resource for you. People can learn to master only one or two new competencies at a time, usually over the course of twelve to eighteen months. This book has plans for an entire career’s worth of leadership development. As your skills and responsibilities advance, you can choose the chapters that apply to your current needs and changing situations.

The Leadership Exodus

Across centuries, great leaders have written the history we know today by developing themselves and inspiring others. The great leaders of tomorrow will have to do so as well. But what leaders look like in all kinds of organizations is about to undergo a radical transformation driven by a demographic tsunami: The 80 million members of the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) have begun to retire at a rate that will continue to accelerate over the next ten to fifteen years. Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) has had a couple of decades to develop its leadership skills and prove itself, but its 50 million members will be insufficient to fill the leadership vacuum created by the retiring Baby Boomers. As a result, some of the younger and less-experienced Gen Xers and a huge number of undeveloped, unprepared Millennials (born between 1981 and 1999, and also called Generation Y) will soon be sucked up into leadership roles for which their organizations will find them wholly unprepared.

Millennials will make up half of the workforce by 2014. They have many wonderful characteristics they are bringing with them: they are natural collaborators; they grew up using technology to communicate, learn, and solve problems; they are curious and have a constant desire to learn. But Baby Boomers and early Gen Xers had years and years of intentional development and mentoring—in progressively more demanding roles—that the inexorable progress of business will not afford to Millennials.

It’s not that Millennials are not currently leading: they hold 28 percent of today’s managerial positions.¹ It is that the accelerated rate of Baby Boomers’ retirement and the insufficient replacement number of Gen Xers will result in Millennials being advanced into senior roles far faster than previous generations.

This book is not specifically targeted at Millennials, however. The principles of The Lens of Leadership are timeless and applicable at all levels in any type of organization. But unless your organization recognizes and acts on the demographic facts, the leaders you will soon begin rapidly to promote will not be ready to be responsible for the people and roles you are going to give them.

Lloyd’s of London interviewed 500 global CEOs in order to understand and rank business risk factors for their 2011 Risk Index report. Of the ninety risks assessed, those CEOs identified loss of customers as the number one threat. Number two was talent and skill shortages. Think of the catastrophic risk choices they had to choose from: terrorism, the interrupted flow of oil and other material inputs, a natural disaster, political instability, and government interference. But the second biggest risk to the 500 largest companies in the world is that their leaders may not be capable of leading or building a talent bench.

Because of this demographically-influenced leadership exodus, the organizations that will dominate the 2020s will be the ones that have built highly skilled and experienced leaders at several levels—even senior directors and vice-presidents—who happen to be in their late twenties and early thirties. If you want to be winning ten years from now, you need to emphasize and accelerate the leadership development of late Gen Xers and Millennials. If you are an ambitious Gen Xer or Millennial, now is your opportunity to write the history of tomorrow by learning to serve others, build skills, lead teams, and inspire greatness.

The Quality of Leadership Matters

In order to develop future leaders, your organization