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Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Leadership, Audiobook, Management, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Buisness
Book
Hardcover
2020
Jossey-Bass
English
9781119600459
PDF | EPUB
Have you ever watched as a promising leader took the helm of an organization, only to see them slowly drift away from the very responsibilities that define leadership? This puzzling phenomenon plays out in boardrooms, government offices, and non-profits around the world. A person works tirelessly for years to reach a leadership position, then upon arrival, begins to selectively engage only with the aspects of leadership they find personally rewarding or interesting. At the heart of this book lies a profound insight: there are fundamentally only two motives that drive people to become leaders. The first – responsibility-centered leadership – views leadership as a duty to serve others and willingly embraces the difficult, uncomfortable aspects of the role. The second – reward-centered leadership – sees leadership as a prize earned through years of hard work, entitling one to status, comfort, and the freedom to choose which responsibilities to fulfill. This distinction isn't merely academic; it profoundly shapes how leaders approach their work, which tasks they prioritize, and ultimately, how effectively they serve their organizations. By understanding the leadership motive that drives you, you'll gain clarity on why certain aspects of leadership feel burdensome rather than fulfilling, and discover how shifting your perspective can transform not just your leadership effectiveness, but the entire culture of your organization.
Shay Davis had been CEO of Golden Gate Security for six months when he realized something wasn't working. Though the company was growing, it was doing so more slowly than competitors, particularly Del Mar Alarm, led by British-born CEO Liam Alcott. Desperate for solutions, Shay reached out to Lighthouse Partners, the consulting firm that had helped Del Mar achieve its remarkable success. To his surprise, instead of the consultants, Liam himself offered to visit and share what he had learned. During their meeting, Liam asked Shay to describe his typical day and priorities. Shay proudly explained how he focused on marketing strategies, financial reviews, and meeting with important customers – all areas where his expertise shined. When asked about meetings, Shay admitted, "I definitely don't enjoy them. They're too long, frustrating, and usually boring." Then came the revelation that stunned Shay: Liam declared that he actually loved meetings, considering them one of his most important responsibilities. "I want to be the CEO of Del Mar because I see my job as a responsibility and a sacrifice," Liam explained. "You're the CEO of Golden Gate because you see your job as a reward." Liam continued, "When I have to dive into a petty political issue between departments, or have an uncomfortable conversation with someone about their behavior, or work late to handle an emergency – I smile and thank God that I'm making a difference. I have the worst and best, loneliest and most social, most appreciated and most thankless job in the company. And I do it with pride and without complaint." This contrast in motives explained everything about their different results. Reward-centered leaders like Shay avoided difficult responsibilities that didn't align with their interests or comfort. Responsibility-centered leaders like Liam embraced all aspects of leadership, especially the uncomfortable ones that no one else could do. The difference wasn't in skill or knowledge – it was in their fundamental motive for leading. This foundational story illustrates the book's central premise: your motive for leadership – whether you see it as a reward or a responsibility – determines which tasks you'll embrace and which you'll avoid. And those seemingly small choices have enormous consequences for organizational health and performance.
Mark Stevens took over as CEO of Riverton Manufacturing with great fanfare. Having risen through the ranks of operations, he was known for his brilliant process improvements and cost-cutting measures. Within his first year, however, a troubling pattern emerged. Meetings with his executive team grew shorter and more infrequent. He delegated uncomfortable conversations to HR. When asked about his leadership philosophy, Mark proudly declared, "I hire adults. They shouldn't need me to babysit them." Despite Mark's technical brilliance, morale began to plummet. Department heads operated in silos, pursuing conflicting priorities. When an executive complained to Mark about a peer's uncooperative behavior, Mark's standard response became, "You two need to work it out." Seemingly small interpersonal issues festered into significant organizational dysfunctions. By year three, turnover had increased by 40%, and the company missed its financial targets for the fourth consecutive quarter. The board finally intervened, bringing in an executive coach who helped Mark see the disconnect between his behavior and his responsibilities. The coach explained that Mark was operating as a reward-centered leader – someone who saw leadership as a prize for years of hard work, entitling him to focus only on aspects he enjoyed. His avoidance of uncomfortable conversations, team development, and meeting facilitation wasn't strategic – it was abdication. Reward-centered leadership is particularly dangerous because it often masquerades as delegation or strategic focus. Leaders justify their selective engagement by claiming they're "empowering their team" or "focusing on what matters." But there's a critical difference between thoughtful delegation and convenient abdication. The former involves careful consideration of who can best handle a responsibility; the latter involves avoiding responsibilities because they're uncomfortable. The most insidious danger is that reward-centered leaders don't just harm their organizations – they model behavior that cascades throughout the company. When middle managers see the CEO avoiding difficult conversations, they feel permission to do the same. The result is an organization where accountability fades, conflicts simmer, and alignment disintegrates. As one executive put it: "What the leader tolerates, the culture embraces." Remember this vital distinction: delegation is transferring a responsibility to someone better positioned to handle it; abdication is abandoning a responsibility because you don't want to deal with it.
Janet Montgomery, CEO of Vortex Solutions, sat across from her executive coach, visibly frustrated. "I don't understand," she sighed. "I hired experienced executives. Why do I need to keep telling them what to do?" The coach slid a document across the table – a list of five critical responsibilities that Janet had been consistently avoiding. First was developing the leadership team. Janet had delegated team-building to HR, resulting in superficial exercises that never addressed the team's real dysfunctions. When the coach suggested Janet needed to personally facilitate difficult conversations among her executives, she recoiled: "That's not my strength. Besides, they're adults." The coach countered: "If you don't model productive conflict and accountability, who will?" Second was managing subordinates. Janet admitted she rarely had one-on-one meetings with her direct reports. "I hire experienced people so I don't have to micromanage them," she explained. The coach helped her see that managing isn't micromanaging – it's providing clarity, feedback, and alignment. "Even world-class athletes need coaches," he reminded her. Third was having difficult conversations. Janet had been avoiding a discussion with her brilliant but abrasive CFO whose behavior was driving away talent. "I hate confrontation," she admitted. The coach asked, "Are you avoiding it for his sake or yours?" This insight struck her – her avoidance wasn't kindness; it was selfishness that left problems unsolved. Fourth was running effective meetings. Janet complained about boring meetings but never invested in making them better. The coach explained that meetings are to leaders what surgeries are to surgeons – the arena where their most important work happens. "Bad meetings lead to bad decisions," he emphasized. The fifth responsibility was communicating constantly to employees. Janet believed her quarterly town halls were sufficient. The coach explained that employees need to hear key messages at least seven times before they truly believe them. "You're not just the CEO," he said. "You're the Chief Reminding Officer." This framework revealed a profound truth: what makes these five responsibilities challenging isn't their complexity – it's that they're emotionally uncomfortable and seemingly thankless. They require vulnerability, repetition, and patience. Yet they're precisely the responsibilities that only a leader can fulfill. When Janet began embracing these five areas, the organization's performance improved dramatically within months. The lesson is clear: leadership isn't about doing what you excel at or enjoy; it's about doing what the organization needs most, especially when those tasks are uncomfortable. What separates great leaders from mediocre ones isn't their talent or vision – it's their willingness to embrace the full spectrum of leadership responsibilities, particularly the ones they'd rather avoid.
Carlos Mendez, the newly appointed president of Meridian Healthcare, couldn't understand why his strategic initiatives weren't gaining traction. Six months into his role, he sought feedback from a trusted colleague who observed his leadership team meeting. The feedback was blunt: "Carlos, you're treating the most important work of leadership as an inconvenience." During the three-hour meeting Carlos had checked his phone repeatedly, allowed conversations to meander without resolution, and rushed through crucial strategic discussions to get to "more important work." When team members disagreed, Carlos quickly moved to the next topic rather than exploring the conflict. He ended by delegating action items without clarity on who was responsible for what. "But I hate meetings," Carlos protested. "They're a necessary evil." His colleague challenged this assumption: "Meetings aren't a distraction from your real work – they are your real work. They're where decisions get made, alignment happens, and culture forms. If your meetings are ineffective, your organization will be too." The colleague suggested Carlos reframe meetings as "decision theaters" – the arena where the organization's most consequential choices take shape. He helped Carlos restructure his approach: separate strategic from tactical discussions, establish clear decision rights, and actively facilitate rather than merely attend. Most importantly, Carlos learned to see conflict not as something to avoid but as the necessary precursor to commitment. Within three months, Carlos transformed his leadership meetings. He banned devices, insisted on preparation, and ruthlessly focused on the most consequential decisions. He learned to draw out quieter voices and challenge dominant ones. When conflicts emerged, he slowed down rather than speeding up, knowing that artificial harmony would only lead to passive resistance later. The impact rippled throughout the organization. As Carlos's team experienced more effective meetings, they replicated the approach with their teams. Decisions that once took months were made in weeks. Alignment improved as leaders left meetings with genuine buy-in rather than reluctant compliance. Similarly, Carlos transformed his approach to management. Rather than seeing it as "babysitting adults," he reframed it as "ensuring clarity and alignment." His one-on-one meetings with direct reports focused not just on what they were doing but how they were doing it. He realized that even experienced executives need guidance, feedback, and accountability – not because they're incompetent, but because alignment requires ongoing conversation. The fundamental insight is that meetings and management constitute the core work of leadership – they are where leaders add their unique value. When leaders treat these responsibilities as burdens to minimize rather than opportunities to maximize, they abdicate their most essential role. The most successful leaders don't tolerate meetings and management – they master them, recognizing that how decisions are made is as important as what decisions are made.
When Shay Davis returned to his office after his eye-opening conversation with Liam Alcott, he felt a strange mix of defensiveness and recognition. That evening, while describing the conversation to his wife Dani, something shifted. "Since you've become CEO," she observed, "I think you've complained more about work than you did in the last ten years. Are you having fun?" Her innocent question pierced through his defenses. "Maybe I prefer to delegate," he had told Liam earlier that day. But Dani's question made him confront a deeper truth: he wasn't delegating – he was abdicating the parts of leadership he found uncomfortable or tedious. He was leading for himself, not for his organization. The next few weeks became a crucible of transformation for Shay. He started with meetings, the area he most dreaded. Instead of viewing them as administrative chores to minimize, he reimagined them as the arena where the most important organizational decisions happened. He prepared thoroughly, banned phones, and actively facilitated rather than merely attended. The first few sessions were awkward, with team members surprised by his engagement. "Are you feeling okay?" one executive joked when Shay redirected a meandering discussion. Next, Shay tackled his avoidance of difficult conversations. He scheduled a long-overdue meeting with Jackie, his talented but abrasive CFO. "I've been unfair to you," he began, surprising her. "I've let you continue behaviors that hurt the team without giving you honest feedback." Their conversation was uncomfortable but transformative. Jackie admitted she had interpreted his silence as approval and appreciated the clarity, even if the feedback stung. The most profound shift came in how Shay viewed communication. Rather than seeing repetition as tedious, he embraced his role as "Chief Reminding Officer." He created a communication calendar to ensure consistent messaging about priorities and values. When an executive teased him about "saying the same things over and over," Shay smiled and responded, "That's exactly my job." Three months into his transformation, Shay faced the ultimate test. His private equity investors proposed acquiring a competitor to boost market share. The old Shay would have jumped at the deal – it was exactly the kind of strategic work he enjoyed. Instead, he asked: "Do we have the leadership capacity to integrate another company when we're still building our own culture?" His investors were surprised by the question but respected his perspective. Shay's transformation wasn't about becoming a different person – it was about embracing the full spectrum of leadership responsibilities, especially those he naturally avoided. The reward wasn't immediate gratification but something deeper: the satisfaction of seeing his organization become healthier, his team more cohesive, and his own leadership more authentic. This story illustrates a profound truth: the journey from reward-centered to responsibility-centered leadership isn't about acquiring new skills – it's about shifting one's fundamental motive for leading. When Shay stopped asking "What do I want to do?" and started asking "What does my organization need me to do?", everything changed.
Alan Mulally, the legendary CEO who led dramatic turnarounds at Boeing and Ford, sat across from a group of Silicon Valley executives who had invited him to share his leadership secrets. One young founder asked, "What's the hardest part of your job?" Without hesitation, Alan smiled and responded, "The hardest parts are my favorite parts." The room fell silent. Alan explained that early in his career, he dreaded difficult conversations, tedious meetings, and repetitive communications. He saw them as distractions from the "real work" of leadership. Everything changed when his mentor challenged him: "You're avoiding the very activities that only you can do. These aren't distractions from leadership – they are leadership." Alan described a pivotal moment at Boeing when he needed to confront a brilliant but toxic executive. He had avoided the conversation for months, hoping the situation would improve on its own. When he finally summoned the courage to address it, something unexpected happened. Though uncomfortable, the conversation was respectful and productive. The executive acknowledged the issues and committed to change. "In that moment," Alan reflected, "I realized that what I'd been avoiding wasn't just necessary – it was actually deeply rewarding." This insight transformed Alan's approach to leadership's difficult aspects. He began to see managing his team not as a burden but as his most important contribution. He reframed meetings as the arena where the organization's most consequential decisions emerged. He embraced repetitive communication not as tedious but as the essential glue holding the organization together. When Alan took over Ford during its darkest hour, he instituted a meeting rhythm that executives initially resisted. Every Thursday, his team gathered for a "Business Plan Review" where each leader reported on their area using a simple color-coded system: green for on track, yellow for concerning, red for off track. Initially, leaders only reported green metrics, fearing the consequences of admitting problems. Alan's response was transformative: he celebrated the first executive who showed red metrics, praising his courage and immediately organizing help. "The privilege of leadership," Alan explained to the Silicon Valley executives, "is that you get to create the conditions where people can do their best work. That often requires doing things that feel uncomfortable in the moment but create psychological safety and clarity for everyone else." The most profound aspect of Alan's approach was what he called "joyful accountability." When confronting performance issues, he combined genuine care with unwavering standards. "I want you to succeed," he would tell struggling executives, "and I'll do everything I can to help you. But ultimately, you need to decide if this is the right role for you." This approach removed the tension and dread from difficult conversations, replacing them with clarity and compassion. Alan's story illuminates a paradoxical truth: the aspects of leadership that initially feel most painful often become the most rewarding when approached with the right mindset. The shift from avoiding difficult tasks to embracing them doesn't happen overnight – it requires a fundamental reorientation from seeing leadership as a reward to seeing it as a responsibility. When leaders make this shift, they discover that what once felt like sacrifice becomes the source of their deepest satisfaction.
The essence of effective leadership comes down to a simple yet profound choice: are you leading to be served, or are you leading to serve? This fundamental distinction determines whether you'll embrace or avoid the critical responsibilities that only you can fulfill. The path forward begins with honest self-assessment – examine your attitude toward meetings, difficult conversations, repetitive communication, team development, and management. If you find yourself consistently avoiding these activities or viewing them as burdens, it's time to recalibrate your leadership motive. Start by reframing how you think about leadership's difficult aspects. Rather than seeing them as distractions from your "real work," recognize them as your most essential contributions. Challenge yourself to invest in one uncomfortable leadership responsibility each week, whether it's confronting a team member about problematic behavior, redesigning how you run meetings, or creating a communication plan for reinforcing key messages. Remember that shifting from reward-centered to responsibility-centered leadership isn't about adding new skills – it's about embracing a fundamental truth: the privilege of leadership lies in shouldering responsibilities that others cannot, especially when those responsibilities are difficult, uncomfortable, and seemingly thankless.
“Management is the act of aligning people’s actions, behaviors, and attitudes with the needs of the organization and making sure that little problems don’t become big ones.” ― Patrick Lencioni, The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities
Strengths: The review praises the book's engaging and effective use of fictional 'fables' to explore nonfiction topics, highlighting the pedagogical approach of teaching by showing rather than telling. It appreciates the book's focus on contrasting self-centered versus service-centered leadership motives and emphasizes the practical insights into executive leadership responsibilities.\nOverall Sentiment: Enthusiastic\nKey Takeaway: The book effectively communicates that true leadership is defined by actions and responsibilities rather than titles, emphasizing the importance of leaders performing essential, often difficult tasks that only they can execute to ensure organizational success.
Patrick Lencioni is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, consultant and founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to helping organizations become healthy. Lencioni’s ideas around leadership, teamwork and employee engagement have impacted organizations around the globe. His books have sold nearly three million copies worldwide.When Lencioni is not writing, he consults to CEOs and their executive teams, helping them to become more cohesive within the context of their business strategy. The widespread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models have yielded a diverse base of clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, universities and churches. In addition, Lencioni speaks to thousands of leaders each year at world class organizations and national conferences. He was recently cited in the Wall Street Journal as one of the most sought-after business speakers in the nation.Prior to founding his firm, he worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. He also served on the National Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
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by Patrick Lencioni
By Patrick Lencioni
