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Leadership Lessons From the Emperor's New Clothes

Let's talk about "The Emperor's New Clothes." It offers us a heads up and invites us to the best of our human nature.

We begin the story with two traveling rogues who scheme to make lots of money by capitalizing on the vanityof the king. This king loves clothes and would change them often, admiring himself and requiring others to do the same. The "tailors"gain an audience with the king saying that after years of work they have discovered a way to make a fabric so light and fine that itis almost invisible; as a matter of fact, stupid and incompetent people cannot see it at all. The kingis easily convinced and pays them a fortune to weave this cloth and tailor it into a kingly outfit.

After a while, the Prime Ministeris sent to report on their progress. When heis shown the cloth he of course sees nothing. He breaks out in a sweat fearing the worstis true about his stupidity and incompetence and so to hide this terrible truth, he declares how beautifulthe clothis to the tailors and then the king. The tailors appear with the bolt of imaginary cloth to show the king who, like the Prime Minister, hides the fact that he too must be stupid and incompetent by declaring the cloth beautiful. It is then tailored into an outfit that the king tries on. All present admire the beauty of the cloth and beg the king to show it to his subjects.The king is a little squeamish about this but isreassured that only the stupid among them will Garbage Pail Kids see its beauty.

The two tailors hold his imaginary train as he begins the parade. The people are eager to see the cloth but also to see which of their neighborsare toostupid and incompetent to see it. Of course,they are dismayed when they cannot see it for themselves. As a result, all declare it to be a beautiful outfit. But there is a child among them with no important job or position to protect who declares, "But he's naked!" The father tries to hush the child but, too late. The word spreads and finally all acknowledge that the king is naked. The king waddles his way, head up, back to his castle.

So whatdoes the story suggest we watch forin the workplace?

1) The two scoundrelsdisplay behavior motivatedby self-centeredness and deceit. Theirdesire forwealth leads the twoto behave in any way needed to get it. Their values go out the window as they use Star Trek action figures to take advantage ofthe king'sweakness to get what they want. They're not citizens of the kingdom and if they ruin reputations ordamage relationships to attain their goal, it is of no concern because their focus is on what they want alone and if they're lucky, they'll be gone before the impact of their dishonesty is discovered.

Lesson:Be ateam player. By definition, being a team membermeans we sacrifice our individual needs/preferences for the good of the whole.Differences of opinion are natural and become the grist for the creative discussion mill. Holding our positions is important for our own integrity and the decision-making process but must be balanced with the flow of that process, the effectiveness of the group, and our future relationships with our team members.Once made,the team's decision must be supported by all team members in all venues regardless of their position on the issue during the process.Conflict and commit. All need to weigh in during the discussion with their true opinion but then, once a decision is made, all must commit to it privately and publicly.

2) The king shows us vanity andthe resultingabuse of his leadership position. The king is fixated on his appearance and changes clothes many time a day. The thrill of each new outfit and the recognition that results lasts only for a while and so his need for more attention and self-admiration is insatiable. It ishisvanity that the two "tailors" capitalize on to manipulate the king. The king's egois at the center of the kingdom and his court knows that if they want to keep their position they had better serve it well.

Lesson:Leadership is service.While the king has position, he is not a leader.He has substituted the appearance of kingliness for the function of genuine leadership.Our egos create the blind spots that others see and must deal with because we don't. It is essential to create enough safetyso trusted others can 1957 Topps baseball cards us the feedbackneeded to protect thequality of our leadership from personal blind spots.And like the king, we need to remember that the success of our leadership is based, not on others serving us but on our servingothers and our organizations.

3) The Prime Minister and thesubjects show us the impact of judgment/criticism.They fear being judged and seenas stupid andincompetent. Absorbed in this fear of what others' might think and, fearing that they could be right, theydeny their experience of reality - the king is naked - and say whatever they think will sound good to others. Because they fear judgmentthemselves, they takepleasure in the opportunity to confirm their neighbor's stupidity.

Lesson:Create safety.The fear of judgment is a powerful driver that can take over the culture of a department, team, or company. If this dynamic and the fear it creates isn'teliminated - surviving it will become thegoal and people will focus on what they think others want to hear rather than what needs to be said. Reality gets lost and the ridiculous becomes the norm. If you see this happening - do some exploring. Find out whose ego is being protected or what people are afraid of. Then refer to the lesson below.

4) The child shows us the freedom to speak the truth that comes when we are not attached to any particular outcome and are fearless. He makes no judgmentaboutthe king's nakedness - he just states that he is. One small statement of reality spreads like wildfirebecause it has the power of truth behind it. Thisgives others the freedom to deal with the reality their fear previouslycaused them to deny.

Lesson: Be courageous! The child has nothing to lose and so can afford to be fearless in his description of the king.Most of us have something to lose and socan find it tough to be literallyfearless. We need courage instead. Courage is being afraid of what's in front of you and taking a step towards it anyway - much tougher than fearlessness. It's what we see heroes do on battlefields and shop floors, as firefighters and as managers, in conference rooms and kitchens.Life offers each of us the opportunity to be heroic by telling and being willing to hear the truth a littlemore each day.

So the Emperor's New Clothes is not just about the foibles of leadership. It has lessons for us all.

1) Be a team player.2) Leadership is service. 3) Create safety. 4) Be courageous.

Try this exercise:

Consider that each one of the fourtypes of characters in the story represents not individual people but characteristics within us all. We are all scoundrels, vain kings, fearful prime ministers and subjects, and heroic or at least innocent children, unafraid to speak the truth. Think about times when less desirable responses show up and how you'd like to change them. Planning aheadwill prevent them from taking you by surprise and help you respond to them in ways you prefer.


Copyright 2009

Rick Piraino, founder of True North Consulting, has been working in the field of human behavior, education, and change dynamics for over twenty years. He is a certified Covey trainer and holds both a bachelors and a Masters Degree in Education. As an entrepreneur, Rick has developed 3 businesses since 1985

Since 1996 he has been applying his experience to support businesses in the areas of people management, supervisor/manager training, assessment, internal customer/supplier cultures, coaching, and team building all designed to create cultures of excellence

He is the author of Responsibility-Based Performance Management (RPM), a people/performance management training and organizational system with over 400 leaders trained in education, sales, manufacturing, printing, publishing and service industries

In all his work, Rick integrates immediately practical skills with the opportunity for leaders to grow as people. He brings this reminder in all his service: who we are is how we lead

Visit his website at culturesofexcellence.comculturesofexcellence.com

posted by besnda @ 4:54 AM