Letters to a Young Leader

A New Leadership for a New Generation

Robert B. Denhardt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000020632
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Mentoring & Coaching

If you are interested in becoming a better leader, this book is a great place to start. Rather than using the familiar textbook approach, leadership expert Robert Denhardt offers practical lessons drawn from a lively year-long correspondence with two (fictional) former students about their experiences in leadership.

The letters explore the deeply personal issues these and other young and emerging leaders are facing – what the skills and personal qualities are that you need for contemporary leadership, what will leadership mean to you and those you lead, and even why or why not you might want to become a leader. Along the way, the book speaks to the big picture, arguing that leadership today has been stripped of its historic contribution to creating meaningful human experience and has been reduced to a technical exercise in executive management.

Based on his experience of teaching leadership to thousands of undergraduates, graduate students, and advanced practitioners, Denhardt speaks person-to-person with young leaders about their questions and their concerns as they enter into the somewhat flawed world of leadership today. The result is a call for a new leadership for a new generation.

This book will be valuable to students enrolled in regular and executive degree programs in leadership, business management, public administration, nonprofit management, educational administration, and many other fields. It also speaks to young leaders out of school but committed to enhancing their leadership. Indeed, readers of all ages will learn lessons relevant to their own professional development.

1
Letter from Bob

August 21

Dear Kayla and Mike,

Since we talked a few weeks ago, I’ve thought a lot about how to frame our conversations, and especially about how I can be most helpful to you.

I could follow the popular road, one well traveled by executive coaches, consultants, columnists, and bloggers, and offer practical advice on what you should do to be “successful” – that is how you, as an emerging leader, can work your way to the top of your organization . . . and stay there.

There’s plenty of speaking and writing of this type, and frankly, while I find some of it helpful, much of it seems somewhat “scripted” and a little hollow. Typically, the writer/commentator will identify a problem, present several solutions (either numbered or called “secrets” or both), then urge the reader to follow these nuggets of advice with the promise of significant professional rewards.

The titles for these lessons often follow a familiar pattern, such as “Ten Ways to Cultivate New Partnerships,” or “Five Minds of the Millennial.” (You can substitute three or five or seven, though rarely four or six or eight – other than ten, even numbers don’t seem to fare well in the virtual world).

If the title doesn’t contain numbers, it at least implies an offer to let the reader in on something hidden from others – for example, “The Secrets of Slow Marketing.” The “secrets” may be preceded by a number (e.g., “Three Secrets . . .”), but it always implies something hush-hush and is typically followed by a phrase no one has ever heard before – such as “Slow Marketing.” (I made up that term, then discovered there is such a thing!)

The content that follows in these works is generally common sense dressed up in clever phrases or slogans, such as one of mine: “You must learn to be uncomfortable with the comfortable,” that is, if you get too complacent, others will pass you by. The key phrase is always written or spoken in knowing tones and always repeated at least once. The ideas are always memorable, just as pictures are, but they are usually vague and of limited use in real life. My advice then is – don’t read columns or posts that have either numbers or the word “secrets” in the title – not even mine!

Rather than providing such guideposts along the road to “success” as a leader, I think I can be helpful in a different way – by working with you to provide perspective, to put leadership into context. By this I mean considering not just the skills of leadership, the techniques, but thinking about how your leadership affects you, how it affects those close to you, and how it affects the broader community. I hope we can sort through the way that leadership builds from inside, exposing what Parker Palmer calls “the leader within.”

That process, the personal work of leading, is not easy; it takes a great deal of self-reflection, self-critique, and self-understanding. There will be days that yield great insight and excitement, and days you feel barren and resentful. But don’t despair. Your persistence and resilience will carry you forward.

In contrast to the hype and pretense typical of many discussions of leadership today, I hope we can model a sincere, thoughtful, insightful, and, most of all, caring way of talking about leadership. I hope we can focus less on the noisy world of power in which many so-called leaders reside and more on the quiet confidence that shines from within the best leaders, allowing them to connect with others in a way that energizes them and causes them to act.

I hope we can also strive for clarity and simplicity in our words and ideas. That doesn’t mean that our discussion needs to be simplistic. Rather, we need to understand the subject deeply, but then draw out the essential meaning of the terms we use and the activities we describe. Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” I hope we can come to understand leadership sufficiently to explain it in simple terms. And I hope that the resulting clarity in our thinking about leadership will carry over into your practices as a leader and those of many others in your generation and beyond.

Many young leaders (the two of you are exceptions) accept without question the current model of leadership and are not willing to engage in critiques of that model. It’s not that they actively defend the model, but in leadership, as in everything else, we often depend on “the way we’ve always done it.”

But the way we’ve always done leadership may no longer be acceptable. While the traditional approach to leadership in organizations has benefitted many, there have been serious and mounting negative consequences as well.

I think that we are at a crucial turning point in the study and practice of leadership. The way you and other young leaders conceive of leadership, and the way that you model leadership over the next fifty years or so will set a pattern that may be followed for centuries to come. That’s why it’s important that we get this right.

Images of Leadership

It’s important to begin by examining the ideas we have in our heads and the feelings we have in our hearts about leading. Of course, we already know that interpretations of leadership can be elusive and range from the mystical to the mundane. The practice of leadership contains elements of both – and everything in between. Leadership remains an enigma: we know leadership when we see it, but we’re not sure what it is, and we’re not sure how to get it.

Some think of leadership as something people are either born with or not. Others think leadership can be developed either through experience or through education or both. Some think leadership primarily involves skills or techniques such as creating a vision, communicating the vision, and motivating others to pursue that vision. Others see leadership as dependent on more personal qualities such as courage, empathy, tolerance, and patience. Still others emphasize the importance of ethics and values in leadership.

Despite this confusion, leadership continues to be a popular, almost faddish topic. The shelves of any large chain bookstore – if you can still find one – are filled with literally hundreds if not thousands of texts, biographies, and self-help books on leadership. Meanwhile, television commentators and social media “experts” call for more effective and responsible leadership in our country and around the world. Yet despite all the books and articles that have been written about leadership, despite all the discussions, leadership remains hard to understand and even harder to practice.

Now, I’m not one who believes that all the ills of the world can be solved by improved leadership. Many people seem to hold that point of view, and that probably contributes to the faddishness of the topic. Indeed, those in what Barbara Kellerman calls the “leadership industry” – leadership consultants, executive coaches, retired military and corporate executives, and scholars who teach and write about leadership – have probably oversold their product, especially in comparison to the limited impact they can have on the development of individual leaders and the limited effect leadership by itself can have on society. (Society is probably moved as much by accident, failure, miscommunications, and pure luck as by leadership.)

This is not to say that leadership is unimportant. To the contrary, leadership is a significant factor in achieving important goals and in shaping the quality of our experience in groups, organizations, communities, and societies. Leaders help us find purpose and direction, they provide a sense of security, and they help us cope with uncertainty, confusion, and change. Leadership is important, and worthy of careful thought and diligent practice. But it’s not all-important. So, let’s be realistic about both its opportunities and its limitations.

What Can You Expect of Me?

After years of working with students moving into public, private, and nonprofit organizations, while at the same time managing and (hopefully) leading in various settings, I’ve witnessed both the possibilities and the limitations of leadership. I’ve experienced personally both the highs and the lows of leading.

So, when someone says that they are confronting roadblocks and frustration in trying to lead, or that leading is like sailing in rough seas, I can relate to that. I can empathize – at least in part. But that doesn’t mean I nor we can “fix it.” Our discussions are not likely to eliminate the ups and downs of life in organizations and in leadership, but I do hope that we will be able to smooth the seas a little. And we should be able to point the direction in which future interpretations of leadership should move. In fact, I think we must!

To get us started, maybe each of you could write about the path that you are on in your leadership journey and identify some of the potential bumps you have encountered along the way. At the same time, you might talk about some of the opportunities that you see ahead of you. That should be helpful in starting and “grounding” our discussion!

Thanks for your help! I’m really looking forward to our discussions!

Yours,

Bob

2
Letter from Kayla

September 5

Dr. Denhardt

I’m excited to be involved in the “letters” project and hope I can be helpful. You asked Mike and me to begin by describing some of the opportunities and challenges we have encountered in our workplaces.

I’m only a few years out of school and new to the consulting business, but I think I landed a really good job. The people I work with most closely, my peers, are smart and hard-working. Of course, most are technical folks (while my degree is in sociology with a minor in management). But our teams include people from various disciplines and, for the most part, that works just fine. We learn a lot from one another.

I’ve also found that this company, and especially its CEO, Robert, provides many development opportunities for younger employees, something that is especially important to me and others of my generation. I think I will learn a lot while I’m here and this experience will provide a good stepping-stone for advancing my career.

Don’t get me wrong – there are problems that arise from time to time. This place is not perfect. Some of the difficulties involve tension between our younger employees and some of the more senior managers. Others arise from differences in the way people of all ages approach their work: some seem to get real joy and satisfaction from what they’re doing, while others are just putting in the hours. Finally, there are occasional issues of sexism and gender discrimination that really bother me.

There have been some things that have surprised me, both about the organization and about myself. I’ll mention three.

First, I remember a human resources training session on “diversity” we had shortly after I got here. We were talking in groups about bringing different perspectives to the workplace. The conversation was pretty much what you would expect, until the representative of one group stood up and spent his entire time criticizing the “millennials” who worked in the company.

He described the millennials, my generation, as self-absorbed, lazy, and apathetic, having short attention spans, and as incapable of commitment. It was all negative, extremely so, and delivered in a very demeaning tone – at least that’s the way I heard it.

I was debating whether to stand up and object. But, being the youngest and newest person in the room, I hesitated. Happily, another group’s representative spoke up, reporting that her group also talked about millennials, but that they had a more positive view. She described our generation as having a strong sense of social responsibility, as being creative, innovative, and imaginative, as well as having the flexibility to move easily from one workplace to another.

Since I happened to be the only millennial in the group, several people encouraged me to speak. I was hesitant to do so, but I had to say something. I pointed out that millennials prefer quality rather than quantity in their work (and are willing to be selective), they seek jobs that give them a sense of meaning and a degree of autonomy (and are likely to move on if they don’t find it), and they want to be recognized as individuals, rather than stereotyped as representative of their generation. A few others agreed, and still others disagreed. I went home that evening feeling a little depressed, not that I didn’t hold my own, but that the conversation even had to take place. Why so much drama?

Second, my niece, Olivia, who is 9 years old, spent a week with my husband and me a couple of months ago. Olivia likes to draw and, during her visit, spent many hours with her sketchpad. One picture that she drew of me showed my face with a happy expression on the left side but a dark, almost fearful expression on the right. When I asked about the sketch, Olivia told me that each day I came home with a different look on my face, so when she drew me I needed more than one face.

I thought the picture reflected the emotional roller coaster of my first few years with the company. I expected that graduating from college and starting into my career would put me in a happy place, and sometimes it does, but the days are mixed. Maybe the picture was connected to the generational differences I talked about earlier. Maybe it was a reaction to the different styles of management that I encounter. Maybe it reflects gender discrimination in the company, which is subtle but still a part of our culture.

I think I would feel better if someone would just say, “Kayla, you’re doing a good job!” But they rarely do – and I don’t get it. It requires so little effort to be nice to people. I mean, how much time does it take to say to someone that they’re doing good job? Apparently too much for some.

Several of the managers around here spend their time so worried about the structure of the organization and their own positions that they are not concerned with building relationships with their employees, or their clients for that matter. It’s like there is this “hidden force” that keeps them confined to playing a certain role and keeping a certain distance. They don’t take the time to really get to know others and they sometimes get burned by it. But they continue to engage in the same behavior – again and again, walking right into the fire.

What about me? I seem to be doing the work well, but I don’t yet feel comfortable and secure. I have this feeling of being just a little out of step, and it’s very disconcerting, especially when I dare to think of myself as being on a path to leadership.

I talk almost every night with my mother, who had a long career as a corporate executive. She suggested it might be related to organizational culture, that I haven’t found the “rhythm” of the organization and how I fit in. But for me, it’s an identity thing – I’m concerned about how I can maintain my own identity and yet make a mark in this organization.

I guess there is considerable tension between these two ideas. The organization wants me to fit in and probably even needs me to do so. I might even be more comfortable that way. But I want to stand out and probably even need to do so. And, ironically, the organization even needs some people to be a little unusual (progressive?). Maybe that tension is what Olivia saw in my face and was trying to draw.

Finally, and I just can’t even believe this . . . We were gathering for the kick-off meeting of a new project team. There w...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Letter from Bob: August 21
• 2 Letter from Kayla: September 5
• 3 Letter from Mike: September 12
• 4 Letter from Bob: October 2
• 5 Letter from Kayla: October 14
• 6 Letter from Mike: October 20
• 7 Letter from Bob: October 31
• 8 Letter from Bob: November 5
• 9 Letter from Kayla: November 10
• 10 Letter from Mike: November 20
• 11 Letter from Bob: December 10
• 12 Letter from Kayla: December 14
• 13 Letter from Mike: December 15
• 14 Letter from Bob: January 15
• 15 Letter from Bob: January 20
• 16 Letter from Mike: January 22
• 17 Letter from Bob: January 25
• 18 Letter from Bob: January 30
• 19 Letter from Kayla: February 2
• 20 Letter from Mike: February 12
• 21 Letter from Bob: February 20
• 22 Letter from Kayla: February 25
• 23 Letter from Mike: February 27
• 24 Letter from Bob: March 8
• 25 Letter from Bob: April 2
• 26 Letter from Bob: April 12
• 27 Letter from Bob: April 14
• 28 Letter from Kayla: May 1
• 29 Letter from Mike: May 5
• 30 Letter from Bob: May 15
• 31 Letter from Bob: May 20
• 32 Letter from Kayla: June 1
• 33 Letter from Bob: June 8
• 34 Letter from Mike: June 21
• 35 Letter from Kayla: July 3
• 36 Letter from Mike: July 16
• 37 Letter from Bob: July 18
• 38 Letter from Bob: July 21
• Endnotes
• A Reader's Guide to the Literature on Leadership
• Bibliography and Works Cited
• Acknowledgments
• Index