The Hindu Business Line : Wanted clear thinkers, not rabbit-chasers

DO YOU know what Patricia `Pat' Russo, the CEO responsible for the turnaround of Lucent Technologies, looks for? People with `clarity of thought.' There are clear thinkers, muddled thinkers, and people that fall in between, explains Russo. "If you get yourself a team of clear thinkers, the possibilities are endless."

Andrea Jung, who graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in English literature and went on to become the CEO of Avon, would agree. "Clear thinking in senior leadership is a primary attribute, says Jung. "I've seen little correlation between those that have received a formal business education and those that possess clear thinking," she notes. As if to affirm, Jack Welch declares, "I don't care if an executive went to a top business school... It's more about a way of thinking, something I call a `healthy scepticism'."

Such people are the ones who truly determine `whether an organisation thrives or fails', notes Justin Menkes in, Executive Intelligence, from Collins (www.executiveintelligence.com). They are the `right people' according to Jim Collins, `stars' in the lexicon of Jack Welch, and `masterful conductors' as per Peter Drucker. What is their secret?

"It's all very well to be kind, compassionate, and charismatic. But the most crucial predictor of executive success has nothing to do with personality or style," writes Menkes in an article titled `Hiring for Smarts' (Harvard Business Review). "Being likable doesn't mean you have the intellectual horsepower to be a stellar leader," reads a margin note!

If that hits you like a tonne of bricks, the book has more such: "Management science is a massive industry that is responsible for identifying the best leadership practices, but the field has become overrun by faddish and unproven ideas." Menkes is aghast that much focus has been bestowed on attributes and so on that are "only tangentially related to how well executives actually do their job". A 12-minute IQ test can predict job performance nearly as well as the best two-hour job interview, he writes, citing research by Katrina Brooker.

Executive Intelligence is defined as "a distinct set of aptitudes that an individual must be able to demonstrate in three central contexts of work: The accomplishment of tasks, working with and through other people, and judging oneself and adapting one's behaviour accordingly."

There is no magic formula, notes the author. The secret behind a star's success lies in his/ her ability "to create a solution tailored to suit each situation at hand." Menkes dissects the decision-making process of exceptional executives to find that they consistently ask `perceptive questions that identify core issues.'

Also, "They discriminate among different sources of data and disregard the less reliable ones." They have `an uncanny sense of direction' — not in the geographic sense, but "a rather highly developed intuition for the analytic path that will get them to their destination" which may yet seem fluid and elastic.

They instantly process the underlying assumptions, and instinctively note if there are any flaws in the suggestions being made.

What about the opposite, i.e. the non-critical thinkers? "They are always chasing rabbits," rues Dick Parsons, CEO of Time Warner. "They hinder the quality and the results of the discussion, because they ask the wrong questions or focus on the wrong issues." And, they may not know! Menkes writes about the study done by Justin Kruger and David Dunning. "They found that not only were the most incompetent individuals oblivious of their own poor performance, but they were also unable to recognise the superior decisions of others, even when the differences were dramatic. The worse their performance, the more exaggerated their self-perceptions became."

Apart from delivering poor results, these `unskilled thinkers' can `negatively impact the quality of work around them,' alerts Menkes. "If executives are forced to function in an atmosphere that consistently fails to recognise and reward their most valuable suggestions, they will quickly become frustrated and lose the motivation to fight for what they believe to be right."

Speed can be a myth, please note. Fast is not synonymous with good, and slow with bad, reminds Menkes. "Driving full speed in the wrong direction can send an organisation straight off a cliff." Yet, "the vast majority of executives almost never pause to think before they act," because of their bias towards `taking immediate action with little regard to consequences'.

Hurry, however, to lay hands on this essential read!

ManageMentor@TheHindu.co.in