USF Health's Mo Kasti on Leadership 2.0
Posted by Bernie Ritchie & Mo Kasti on Dec 01, 2009

Harvard Business Review has an article out this month [How to pick a good fight : December 2009] which contends that strong leaders can create the kind of conflict that can spark creativity and innovation. They say .....

Most leadership experts argue that the best way to manage change is to create alignment, but our research indicates that for large-scale change or innovation initiatives, a healthy dose of dissent is usually just as important. Within an acceptable range of competition and tension, science shows, dissent will fire up more of an individual's brain, stimulating more pathways and engaging more creative centers. In short, more of what makes people unique, innovative, and passionate is available for use.

The HBR article points to the recent Lehman demise and argues that a peaceful, harmonious workplace can be the worst possible thing for a business. In the case of Lehman, they point out ...

The effort to eliminate discord at the firm had backfired. Lehman's board of directors and management team became too agreeable-and too loyal, content to follow even when they knew better. In 2007 and 2008, numerous signals indicated that the firm was heading into a crisis, but insiders who paid attention to them were afraid to point out the elephant in the room. It turned out that loyalty meant loyalty to Fuld, according to accounts from former employees. That loyalty led Lehman executives to an almost willful blindness. Nobody wanted to disrupt the peace.

Mo Kasti, Chief Transformation Officer for USF Health, questions in his guest blog below whether in these tough and changing times do we really need ‘NEW' Leadership Practices?

Or, as he says, should we instead be looking back to the experiences of our ancestors for true inspiration and learning about how best to cope with the challenges of our times.

As Mo points out, our ancestors "took risks, went without and braved the unknown ...they persevered, and have contributed to our existence".

Read on to see what Mo has to say ....

LEADERSHIP 2.0 : Do we need NEW Leadership Practices in these tough and changing times?

I offer the following:

1) If we expand our time horizon to say 2000 years or more and expand our view to a global view with global cultures, we can quickly realize that Leadership has always been there (fundamentally) but always has evolved.

2) There is something to be learned by reflecting on our ancestors' experiences and outcomes. There is great value in going back to our roots and revive a devotion to our distant elders. They took risks, went without and braved the unknown. Many of them came from common stock and were neither rich nor well educated. But they persevered and have contributed to our existence. While money may have been in short supply for them, talent was not.

3) Sun Tzu in the Art of War (500BC) one of the oldest and best strategy books, discussed the criticality of leadership and the characteristics of good and dangerous characteristics.

Sun Tzu Said:

Warfare is the greatest affair or state, the basis of life and death ...
Therefore, structure it according to five factors

1. "The Tao (The leadership Offer) causes people to be fully in accord with their ruler (Leadership Offer)
2. Heaven encompasses yin and yang, cold and heat, and the constraints of the seasons.
3. Earth (Situation) encompasses far or near, difficult or easy, expansive or confined, fetal or tenable terrain
4. The Generals (the Leaders) encompass wisdom, credibility, benevolence, courage and strictness
5. The Laws encompass organization and regulations"

4) Cheng/Chi - Orthodox versus Unorthodox Leadership

Sun Tzu said: In general, in battle one engages with the orthodox and gains victory through the unorthodox. ... the colors do not exceed five, but the changes of the five color can never be completely seen. The unorthodox and orthodox mutually produce each other just like an endless cycle...
Orthodox leadership includes employing troops in the normal conventional "by the book" expected ways, while stressing order and deliberate movement. "Unorthodox" leadership tactics are primarily realized through employing forces, especially flexible ones, in imaginative, INNOVATIVE, unconventional, unexpected ways.

5) What we are seeing today is ANOTHER shift in the TERRAIN (In paradigm) that requires a shift in leadership Practices (since what was Unorthodox (Chi) has become orthodox(Cheng) and the need for Innovation - Unorthodox (chi) is now due. However, Leadership fundamentals are still the same:

1) Leading with Strategy
2) Leading People
3)Leading for Results

Anchored in behavioral and emotional intelligence and innovation.

6) Dynamic change demands transformation leaders. Facing today's complex challenges as a leader requires a personal readiness for transformation. Transformation does not mean abandoning what the fundamentals are, but having the COURAGE to jump to a SECOND CURVE. Because a shift from the first curve to the second curve is not linear or incremental. It is dynamic. That means letting go of 1/3, keeping 1/3 and learning new 1/3 practices based on the new terrains.

In summary:

The Art of Leadership 2000.0 is about : ...

1. Leading with Terrain Based Strategies (formless like water) - Agile, flexible
2. Leading People through partnership: Leading with Orthodox and Unorthodox practices
3. Leading for Results: Shifting the paradigm of what results means in the new world

If you would like to learn more about the Art of Leadership and Terrain Based Strategy, please feel free to contact Mo Kasti at: mkasti@health.usf.edu. Mo is the Chief Transformation Officer at the Center for Transformation & Innovation (CTI) for USF Health.

USF Health is part of the University of South Florida and dedicated to improving the full spectrum of health - from the environment, to the community, to the individual. This unique partnership is formed by the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health at the University of South Florida.

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