New Leadership For A New War

>asymmetrical leadership, the motivators and the
Military analysts call this "asymmetrical" war (as if warmotivatees are the same people.
has a terrible symmetry); and we know that it will beTo engage in asymmetrical leadership, leaders must
as different from conventional war asrecognize that they are motivating people only when
three-dimensional, blindfolded chess is fromthey, the leaders, create an environment in which those
conventional chess. But one thing is certain, leadershippeople are actively motivating themselves. Motivation is
lies at the heart of achieving victory. You only have tothe people's choice, not the leader's choice. It's the
look to history to understand that when people neededpeople's free choice. If that principle is not driving
to accomplish great things, whether in war or peace,leadership activities, people are not engaged in
great leaders had to rise to the occasion.asymmetrical leadership.
Because asymmetrical war is a new kind of war, aFor instance, a critical battlefield of the war are the
war that is more about waging peace on manystreets of the Islamic world where hatred of America
different levels than waging actual war itself, a warseems to be rampant. As long as masses of people
peace in which accountants, logisticians, diplomats,hate America, as long as they continue to see the
economic experts will also be the front-line troops, itAmerican government as the actual terrorist, our
calls for a new kind of leadership — asymmetricalnation cannot bring this war to a just conclusion.
leadership.Clearly, this isn't a command-and-control issue. People
Just as asymmetrical war is fluid, multi-dimensional, andcannot be ordered to stop hating. We have to employ
global, asymmetrical leadership must be too. But weasymmetrical leadership. We have to motivate them
don't have to create asymmetrical leadership from— in other words, we must set up, through a variety
scratch. To some extent, it's already being developedof means, the environment in which they motivate
and modeled in a few forward-thinking Americanthemselves to become our allies, in which they make
businesses. What does business leadership have to dothe choice to work along side us as full partners in
with waging asymmetrical war? During the past 15 orconcluding the war. It will take a long, superhuman,
20 years, many businesses have had to compete inmultifaceted endeavor, an endeavor that cannot
asymmetrical markets, markets that are global,succeed without our employing asymmetrical
multi-faceted and swiftly changing. To succeed inleadership.
these markets, the leaders of these businesses haveAsymmetrical leadership is action-based: Businesses
had to discard old leadership methods and practicesfaced with rapid, global change have come to
and put into action new ones. In short, they've had tounderstand that motivation isn't what people think or
develop asymmetric leadership.feel but what they physically do. A key aspect of how
To understand such leadership, first, let's look at theasymmetrical leadership views motivation lies in the
basic concept of leadership itself. The wordfirst two letters of that word. Those letters — "mo"
"leadership" itself comes from old Norse root meaning— are also found in the words "motion," "momentum,"
"to make go." But leaders often stumble when trying to"motor," "mobile," etc. The words denote action —
understand who makes what go? Generally, thephysical action. To engage in asymmetrical leadership,
conventional view of leadership has been one of anleaders must constantly be challenging others to take
order-giving process. Many leaders believe that theyspecific physical action across all the dimensions that
must "make" people go by ordering them to do things.leads to results.
Order-leadership in business has its roots in theOur motivating people who hate us to ultimately
beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. "Order" comesbecome our partners in peace will entail not our simply
from a Latin root meaning to arrange threads in apaying lip-service to such a partnership. We must
weaving woof. The captains of the Revolution dealtundertake concrete actions that will begin to establish
with the relatively uneducated country people whothe motivational environment. Asymmetrical leadership
flocked to their factories by ordering them where, how,demands that we and "they" ultimately take action
and when to work. The most efficient and effectivetogether to redress the many social, political, and
production methods resulted from workers beingmilitary wrongs that breed hatred.
"ordered" or ranked like threads in the woof ofAsymmetrical leadership is results-driven: Businesses
production lines. Refined and empowered by thehave discovered that in order to succeed in
Victorian commercial culture, with its patriarchal powerasymmetrical markets, their leaders and employees
structure and strong links to Prussian militarymust have a passion to achieve results. After all,
organization, the culture of the order-giver leaderpeople who simply take action are useless to a
reached its zenith in the United States after Worldbusiness. Only those people who get results are useful.
War II.This seems like a simple enough dictum; any leader will
During the post-war years, many U.S. businesses weresay that they have a passion to get results. But I have
like ocean liners plowing through relatively calm seas,found out that what most leaders have a passion for,
their leaders, like liner captains and mates, running thingswhether they know it or not, is engaging in the tradition,
by getting orders from superiors, giving orders tolinear, captain-to-mate-to-crew leadership — either
subordinates and making sure that those orders werebecause they know no other way of leading or
carried out.because they are more comfortable being engaged in
But roughly since the mid-1980s, with competitionsuch leadership. For such leadership has a materially
increasing dramatically on a global scale, businessdifferent focus than asymmetrical leadership.
leaders have come to need skills not akin to oceanTraditional leadership focuses on the activities that get
liner piloting but white-water canoeing. Order leadershipresults; whereas asymmetrical leadership focuses on
founders where lines of authority are blurring, thethe results that get the activities. When you are leading
volume and velocity of information proliferating,organizations in asymmetrical markets, you must not
markets rapidly changing, and alliance and coalitionbe wedded to activities but instead to results and only
building multiplying. This is where asymmetricalto those activities that achieve those results. This
leadership comes in. Asymmetrical leadership is tomeans that if activities are not getting results, you
traditional leadership as white water canoeing is tochange them or eliminate them and institute new
ocean liner piloting.activities. In organizations run by traditional leadership,
Here are a few characteristics of asymmetricalchanging activities means changing the status quo, a
leadership.vastly difficult job.
Asymmetrical leadership is motivational: BusinessesFor instance, to get results in asymmetrical markets,
that engage in asymmetrical leadership find thatmany businesses have had to eliminate those
motivation is a critical factor in achieving success. Aftertraditional activities that achieve results and engage in
all, since leaders do nothing more important than getnew, innovative ways. They had to break up their
results and since they can't get results all bylinear lines of reporting. They've had to reduce the tiers
themselves, they need the people they lead to getof leadership, they've had to downsize their staffs and
results. In markets where speed, innovation, changedecentralize their functions, they've had to institute
acceleration, and global reach are important, motivatedjust-in-time inventory systems, they've had to cultivate
people get far more results than people who arethe capability of quickly formulating and disbanding
simply responding to orders. And if our nation's leadersresults-focused teams — all with one aim in mind: to
expect to meet the challenges of asymmetricalget more results, faster results, and "more, faster" on a
warfare, they must come to grips with the motivationalcontinual basis. In short, they have had to become
aspects of asymmetrical leadership. In fact, ifmasters of asymmetrical leadership.
asymmetric leadership isn't motivational, it's simplyAmerica's new war demands new leadership. We
running around in the dark.don't have to invent this leadership. It already exists.
But leaders often misunderstand motivation simplyWith the emergence of new, global markets, a
because the English language fails to describe how itcorresponding new vision of leadership has been
takes place. English construes motivation as an activeemerging with some businesses. Asymmetrical
verb — as something one person does to anotherleadership is being developed and applied in the crucible
person. The truth is that leaders can't motivateof global business competition. It is the very kind of
anybody to do anything. Leaders communicate — theleadership that can and must be applied to all the
people whom they lead motivate. They motivatemulti-faceted endeavors of asymmetrical war.
themselves. Only they can motivate themselves. In