leadership roles by accident. They excel at something technical, and organizations go to these individuals and promote them into leadership roles. The underlying assumption is that strong technical performance would translate into strong leadership performance. Sometimes that is true; but we’ve learned in practice that most of the time it isn’t. As a result, many companies have significant leadership accountability gaps. They have people in leadership roles who simply are not stepping up or leading in a way that their company expects.
My clients asked me to help them find a way forward to resolve this problem. In my book, I positioned the critical idea of a leadership contract that stipulates those in leadership roles must understand they are held to a higher standard of behavior. This idea of a leadership contract has always existed, but we have never made it explicit with leaders. In fact, many people who are in leadership roles have treated the leadership contract like an online contract—you know, the one that comes up on your laptop or tablet with all the terms and conditions. When it does, most of us simply scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click “agree” without reading a single word. You know you are bound to something; you are not quite sure what that is. This analogy has resonated with a lot of leaders I work with. They acknowledge that they haven’t been deliberate in considering what they signed up for when they took on a leadership role. Now, given the challenges that leaders will face today and over the next decade, it’s critical that this idea of a leadership contract becomes explicit and that leaders appreciate what they actually signed up for in their roles.
In 2013, when the first edition of The Leadership Contract was released, these ideas immediately resonated in the marketplace. No matter where I went, or whom I talked to, I repeatedly heard the same thing: “This is what we’ve been missing. We need people in leadership roles to understand what it means to be a leader. They need to understand that they’ve signed up for something important, and we need them to step up and be accountable.” “They can’t simply be committed to only the technical parts of their roles; they need to fully commit to being accountable leaders.” Those who read my book described it as a mindset book about leadership because it helps leaders understand how they need to think about their roles and what they must pay attention to every single day.
I believe this idea of leadership accountability resonated because I’ve come to appreciate that as humans, we expect more of people in leadership roles. We hope that they will step up and lead, create exceptional organizations, and even make the world a better place. When they succeed, we praise them, admire them, and even want to emulate them. However, when they fail, misbehave, or are simply mediocre, we feel a sense of disappointment, despair, and even disgust.
As a leader, you need to understand that you signed a leadership contract and that it comes with four terms and conditions (see Figure I.1). Let’s explore them now.
Figure I.1 The Four Terms of The Leadership Contract
1. Leadership Is a Decision
When you are in a leadership role, you must be fully committed to your role. You must be clear on the expectations of the role and be ready to set the tone for others. You will not be successful as a leader until you are fully committed because this is what the role demands. You can’t approach your leadership role lightly or be ambivalent about it. You certainly can’t opt out. You must be all in, especially in today’s world. The constant change, disruption, and complexity that leaders face today is considerable. If you aren’t prepared to lead in this environment, then you must decide that a leadership role may not be for you and have the courage to make that decision. If, however, you decide you want to be an accountable leader, then you must fully commit.
2. Leadership Is an Obligation
Once you decide to be an accountable leader, you quickly realize that you will be held to a higher standard of behavior. We expect a lot from anyone in a leadership role today. You must also recognize that you will have obligations that go beyond yourself. It’s not just about what is best for you and your career. You are obligated to your customers and employees, your organization, and the communities in which you do business. You need to create enduring value and leave things better than you found them. In this book, we will discuss your obligation to hold others accountable to be leaders, to build truly accountable teams, and to work with other leaders to establish strong leadership accountability throughout your organization.
3. Leadership Is Hard Work
Leadership isn’t for the feeble—you need resilience, resolve, and determination. You will need personal tenacity to rise above the daily pressures and lead your organization into the future. You will need confidence and courage to have tough conversations and to push through barriers to strategy execution. This term of the leadership contract demands that you get tough with yourself and do the hard work that you must do as a leader. Unfortunately, too many leaders shy away from the hard work. You can’t avoid or wimp out on it. If you do, it will weaken you, weaken your team, and impede your progress, and ultimately prevent you from delivering results.
4. Leadership Is a Community
The fourth term of the leadership contract demands that you connect with others to create a strong community of leaders in your organization. You need to work with your peers to create a leadership culture in which there is a sense of deep trust and mutual support, where you know everyone has your back, and where all leaders share the collective aspiration to be truly accountable. You will need to break down silos, work across departments and functions, and learn to bring a one-company perspective to your role. If you can, you will stand out as an invaluable leader in your organization.
The Ripple Effect—Accountability Breeds Accountability
Take some time to reflect on the four terms of the leadership contract. To what extent are you a truly accountable leader? Is your team as accountable as it can be? Does your organization have a culture that inspires others to step up and deliver results? If you are honest with yourself, like most leaders I work with, you will come to realize that there is an opportunity for you to be more accountable in your current role. That’s one lesson I learned in my own leadership roles. As accountable as I thought I may have been, if I were honest with myself, I could see more ways to step up and be even more accountable. Here’s something else I learned along the way: You can’t ask anyone else to be accountable if you are not accountable yourself. You must lead by example. Why? Because accountability breeds accountability. Let me repeat that: Accountability breeds accountability.
If you set the right tone, most everyone will follow. It’s like a ripple effect that can happen in a still pond. I’m sure you have experienced it. Once you touch the water with your finger or throw a pebble in it, you watch the ripples take form and expand throughout the entire pond. That’s how accountability works in organizations. If you step up, and others see you setting an example of accountability, you create a positive ripple effect that inspires and encourages others to also step up and be accountable.
However, a ripple effect can work the other way as well—mediocrity breeds mediocrity. When mediocrity ripples throughout an organization, then you have a problem. I believe we have too many
