An interview with John H. Zenger on extraordinary leadership.

John H. (Jack) Zenger writes, teaches, and speaks about extraordinary leadership. Today he is one of most authoritative voices on leadership and performance. He received a degree in psychology from Brigham Young University, an MBA from UCLA, and a doctorate degree in business administration from the University of Southern California. He has been the CEO and President of one of the world's largest performance skills improvement companies, Provant, Inc. In 1977, Jack co-founded Zenger Miller, a leading management and leadership development company. He later became the Chairman of Times Mirror Training, Inc. (which consisted of Kaset, Learning International, and Zenger Miller) for many years. He has authored or coauthored seven books, including The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders, The Handbook for Leaders: 24 Lessons for Extraordinary Leaders, Results-Based Leadership (which was honored as the best book of 2000 by the Society of Human Resource Management), and best-selling The New Self-Directed Work Teams: The New American Challenge. In 1994, Jack was inducted in the Human Resources Development Hall of Fame.

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In his latest research-based book, The Extraordinary Leader, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman discuss leadership as a skill that can be consciously learned and developed by anyone. They introduce a simple conceptual framework, "The Leadership Tent," that involves five elements:

1. Character: The center pole represents the personal character of an individual. It is the core of all leadership effectiveness. "We strongly concur that the ethical standards, integrity, and authenticity of the leader are extremely important" (p. 13).

2. Personal Capability: This tent pole "describes the intellectual, emotional, and skill makeup of the individual. It includes analytical and problem-solving capabilities, along with the technical competence the person possesses. It also requires an ability to create a clear vision and sense of purpose for the organization" (p. 14).

3. Focus on Results: This tent pole of leadership "describes the ability to have an impact on the organization. It means being capable of getting things done" (p. 14). Jack and Joe purport that leaders can be wonderful people but if they don't produce effective results they are not good leaders.

4. Interpersonal Skills: This tent pole includes a cluster of all the interpersonal and people skills. Leadership is "expressed through the communication process and is the impact that one person (the leader) has on a group of other people. It is the direct expression of the character of the individual and is often the window by which people understand the personal character of the leader" (p. 14).

5. Leading Organizational Change: This final tent pole focuses on an individual's ability to produce change within an organization. "The highest expression of leadership involves change. Caretaker managers can keep things going on a steady path, but leaders are demanded if the organization is to pursue a new path or rise to a significantly higher level of performance" (p. 14-15).

Jack and Joe (Zenger & Folkman, 2002) also provide a number of important ideas or insights based on the results of their empirical research. Generally, when compared to "good" leaders, "great" leaders really do make a huge difference, and great leadership consists of possessing several of the building blocks (the tent poles) just described. Second, with regard to the organization, one can have many great leaders, effective leadership practices are specific to each organization, leadership development activities within organizations have been aiming too low, and the quality of leadership in an organization seldom exceeds that of the person at the head. In addition, the organization (including an employee's immediate boss) provides significant assistance in developing leadership. Third, leaders are made (not born), and they can improve their effectiveness through self-development. In fact, leadership attributes are often developed in nonobvious ways. Further, there is no one fight way to lead because the personalities of effective leaders appear to differ widely. Fourth, in developing great leaders the focus should be to build on strengths, and to be concerned with weaknesses only when they constitute fatal flaws. In addition, some competencies differentiate "good" from "great" leaders, while others do not; therefore, competencies are not equal. However, many of these competencies are linked closely together, and there are powerful combinations that produce nearly exponential results. Importantly, greatness is not caused by the absence of weakness; yet, great leaders are not perceived as having any major weaknesses. Fifth, there is not a precisely incremental or linear relationship between improved leadership and increased performance. Finally, leadership culminates in championing change.

Overall, Jack believes in investigating and exploring leadership and organization development truths through scientific research methods. He teaches that leadership as a skill can be learned and developed by most people. Currently, he is the CEO of Zenger-Folkman; for more information about his current projects, Jack can be contacted at jzenger@zfco.com. We recently interviewed Jack about his initial and continued involvement and interest in leadership. We asked him about his research and findings related to extraordinary leadership. He shared his leadership philosophy through intriguing stories, examples, and research.

Interview

Madsen and Gygi: How did you first become involved and interested in leadership?

Zenger: It all goes back to my days as a graduate student at UCLA. They used to run a program called "Skill Practice and Supervision." The fascinating reality about it was that the professors didn't ever talk about supervisors; and there was never any attempt to actually develop any skills. It was totally interpersonal awareness and sensitivity training. At this time I was fascinated by the question of leadership. It was obvious that what any group, department, and organization did was so much a reflection of their leader. But, it always seemed to be such an ambiguous topic. No two people had the same definition, and everyone was going in different directions. So, much of my work later on in Zenger-Miller was an attempt to be more practical and concrete about the things people should do if they were in supervisory or leadership positions; more specifically, what were the skills that really defined success, and how could we help people acquire them.

Madsen and Gygi: What is your definition and philosophy of leadership?

Zenger: The simplest and clearest conception is in our book titled The Extraordinary Leader. We describe a tent, with a center pole and four outside poles holding it up. Each pole is a cluster of differentiating competencies. There are five of them. The center tent pole is character, and one of the side poles is a cluster we call "personal capabilities," another pole is "interpersonal skills," another is "focus on results" and the final one is "leading change." Our research showed that these were the behaviors that separated the extraordinary leaders from the ineffective ones.

Madsen and Gygi: In your writings you seem to focus primarily on corporate leadership and results. What about people who lead in the community and other types of organizations?

Zenger: It is true that our clients are mostly corporations; but, there is a chapter in the book about the Marine Corps being very effective in developing leadership. I think that the principles of leadership and the fundamental behaviors of an effective leader in a business organization are exactly the same as those required in a public agency, government, hospital, or university. There may be some small nuances of difference but fundamentally there is probably a 95% overlap in my mind.

Madsen and Gygi: So, are you saying that if an individual wants to lead change in other types of organizations, he or she should also focus on the other attributes you've described: character, results, interpersonal skills, personal capability, and leading change?

Zenger: I think those are very consistent, and that's why you see a person quite successfully function as a military leader, then a business leader, a university president, and then a pro bono or public agency executive. Leadership skills are highly transferable.

Madsen and Gygi: You seem to look at leadership somewhat differently when compared to other leadership experts like Meg Wheatley, John Kotter, Stephen Covey, and others. What unique piece have you brought to the leadership field that is different than these others?