The Art of Chaordic Leadership
by Dee Hock , Leader to Leader, No. 15 Winter 2000
About the Author
Dee Hock is founder and coordinating director of the Chaordic Alliance.
Its purpose is to develop, disseminate and implement new concepts of organization.
Hock is also founder and CEO emeritus of both Visa USA and Visa International, now a $1.25 trillion enterprise jointly owned by more than 20,000 financial institutions.
He is a laureate in the Business Hall of Fame and author of the recently released Birth of the Chaordic Age. (1/2000)
This article appears as "The Art of Chaordic Leadership" (Chapter 7) in On Mission and Leadership.
There was a time a few years back when for one brief moment the essence
of leadership was crystal clear to me. Strangely, it was after leaving
Visa and moving to a small, isolated ranch for a life of study and
contemplation, raising a few cattle. I was attending to chores in the
barn, comfortable and secure from the wind howling about the eaves and
the roar of torrential rain on the tin roof. Through the din, I became
aware of the faint, persistent bellowing of one of the cows. Awareness
gradually rose that the bellowing was unusual.
Flashlight in hand, I plunged into the storm and worked my way across
the pasture in the direction of the sound. On the far side, in the
circle of light from the flash, I could make out Eunice, the huge,
one-horned mother cow. Sheltered in the corral to await the imminent
birth of her calf, she had somehow gotten out and sought a private
place to give birth -- unfortunately, on the brink of a steep bank
fifteen feet above a flooded creek which raged through a ravine choked
with poison oak and wild blackberry vines.
I raced to the spot and saw from trampled ground and smashed bushes
what had happened. She had given birth. The calf, struggling to gain
its feet, had slipped over the edge and plunged down the bank into the
creek, then desperately tried to climb the sheer bank to get free of
the water. Eunice had done all that she could, racing up and down the
bank, bellowing and searching in vain for a way down. By the time I
responded to her cries, the calf had been swept downstream beneath
tangled vines and brambles.
Grabbing at limbs and bushes, I half fell, half stumbled down the sheer
bank into the creek. Pushed by the rushing, icy water, I worked my way
under and through the thickets and brambles. In a bend of the creek a
hundred feet downstream, I spotted the exhausted calf fighting to keep
its head above water. By the time I arrived, it had given up and was
submerged. I pulled it onto a shelf of rocks beneath the mass of
tangled growth and began pumping its ribs trying to eject water and
assist its breathing. It was a magnificent, dark-red, bull calf, the
hair on its flank a mass of curls, its soft hoofs torn and bleeding
from efforts to climb the bank. It revived a little and began to kick
and struggle. Pocketing the flashlight I managed to heave it across my
shoulders and began a struggle upstream to the place where I had
entered, and might have a chance to climb out.
That does a one-horned mother cow have to do with leadership? The
answer requires a bit of reflection. Let's begin with a few words about
words. Words are only secondarily the means by which we communicate;
they're primarily the means by which we think. One can scarcely think
or talk of organizations or management these days without coming across
what leading thinkers from many disciplines believe will be the
principal science of the next century: the understanding of
autocatalytic, nonlinear, complex, adaptive systems, usually referred
to as "complexity."
The word is much too vague to describe such systems. After searching
various lexicons in vain for a more suitable word, it seemed simpler to
construct one. Since such systems, perhaps even life itself, are
believed to arise and thrive on the edge of chaos with just enough
order to give them pattern, I borrowed the first syllable of each,
combined them and chaord (kayord) emerged.
By chaord, I mean any self-organizing, self governing, adaptive,
nonlinear, complex organism, organization, community or system, whether
physical, biological or social, the behavior of which harmoniously
blends characteristics of both chaos and order. Loosely translated to
business, it can be thought of as an organization that harmoniously
blends characteristics of competition and cooperation; or from the
perspective of education, an organization that seamlessly blends
theoretical and experiential learning. As I learned from the formation
and operation of Visa, an early archetype of such organizations, they
require a much different consciousness about the leader/follower
dichotomy.
Leader presumes follower. Follower presumes choice. One who is coerced
to the purposes, objectives, or preferences of another is not a
follower in any true sense of the word, but an object of manipulation.
Nor is the relationship materially altered if both parties voluntarily
accept the dominance of one by the other. A true leader cannot be bound
to lead. A true follower cannot be bound to follow. The moment they are
bound they are no longer leader or follower. If the behavior of either
is compelled, whether by force, economic necessity, or contractual
arrangement, the relationship is altered to one of
superior/subordinate, manager/employee, master/servant, or owner/slave.
All such relationships are materially different from leader/follower.
Induced behavior is the essence of leader/follower. Compelled behavior
is the essence of all the other relational concepts. Where behavior is
compelled, there you will find tyranny, however benign. Where behavior
is induced, there you will find leadership, however powerful.
Leadership does not necessarily imply constructive, ethical, open
conduct. It is entirely possible to induce destructive, malign, devious
behavior, and to do so by corrupt means. Therefore, a clear,
constructive purpose and compelling ethical principles evoked from and
shared by all participants should be the essence of every relationship
in every institution.
A vital question is how to insure that those who lead are constructive,
ethical, open, and honest. The answer is to follow those who behave in
that manner. It comes down to both individual and collective sense of
where and how people choose to be led. In a very real sense, followers
lead by choosing where to be led. Where an organizational community
will be led is inseparable from the shared values and beliefs of its
members.
True leaders are those who epitomize the general sense of the community
-- who symbolize, legitimize and strengthen behavior in accordance with
the sense of the community -- who enable its shared purpose, values and
beliefs to emerge and be transmitted. A true leader's behavior is
induced by the behavior of every individual choosing where to be led.
The important thing to remember is that true leadership and induced
behavior have an inherent tendency to the good, while tyranny
(dominator management) and compelled behavior have an inherent tendency
to evil.
Management inevitably is viewed as exercise of authority -- but that
perception is mistaken.
Over the years, I have had long discussions with thousands of people
throughout many different organizations about management: aspirations
to it, dissatisfaction with it, or confusion about it. To avoid
ambiguity, I always ask each person to describe the single most
important responsibility of any manager. The incredibly diverse
responses always have one thing in common: they are downward-looking.
Management inevitably is viewed as exercise of authority -- with
selecting employees, motivating them, training them, appraising them,
organizing them, directing them, controlling them. That perception is
mistaken.
The first and paramount responsibility of anyone who purports to manage
is to manage self: one's own integrity, character, ethics, knowledge,
wisdom, temperament, words, and acts. It is a complex, unending,
incredibly difficult, oft-shunned task. We spend little time and rarely
excel at management of self precisely because it is so much more
difficult than prescribing and controlling the behavior of others.
However, without management of self no one is fit for authority no
matter how much they acquire, for the more authority they acquire the
more dangerous they become. It is the management of self that should
occupy 50 percent of our time and the best of our ability. And when we
do that, the ethical, moral and spiritual elements of management are
inescapable.
Asked to identify the second responsibility of any manager, again
people produce a bewildering variety of opinions, again
downward-looking. Another mistake. The second responsibility is to
manage those who have authority over us: bosses, supervisors,
directors, regulators, ad infinitum. Without their consent and support,
how can we follow conviction, exercise judgment, use creative ability,
achieve constructive results or create conditions by which others can
do the same? Managing superiors is essential. Devoting 25 percent of
our time and ability to that effort is not too much.
Asked for the third responsibility, people become uncertain. Yet, their
thoughts remain on subordinates. Mistaken again. The third
responsibility is to manage one's peers -- those over whom we have no
authority and who have no authority over us -- associates, competitors,
suppliers, customers -- one's entire environment if you will. Without
their respect and confidence little or nothing can be accomplished. Our
environment and peers can make a small heaven or hell of our life. Is
it not wise to devote at least 20 percent of our time, energy, and
ingenuity to managing them?
Asked for the fourth responsibility, people have difficulty coming up
with an answer, for they are now troubled by thinking downward.
However, if one has attended to self, superiors, and peers there is
nothing else left. Obviously, the fourth responsibility is to manage
those over whom we have authority. The common response is that all
one's time will be consumed managing self, superiors and peers. There
will be no time to manage subordinates. Exactly! One need only select
decent people, introduce them to the concept, induce them to practice
it, and enjoy the process. If those over whom we have authority
properly manage themselves, manage us, manage their peers, and
replicate the process with those they employ, what is there to do but
see they are properly recognized, rewarded -- and stay out of their
way?
It is not making better people of others that leadership is about. In
today's world effective leadership is chaordic. It's about making a
better person of self. Income, power and position have nothing to do
with that. In fact, they often interfere with it.
The obvious question then always erupts. How do you manage superiors,
bosses, regulators, associates, customers? The answer is equally
obvious. You cannot. But can you understand them? Can you persuade
them? Can you motivate them? Can you disturb them, influence them,
forgive them? Can you set them an example? Eventually the proper word
emerges. Can you lead them?
Of course you can, provided only that you have properly led yourself.
There are no rules and regulations so rigorous, no organization so
hierarchical, no bosses so abusive that they can prevent us from
behaving this way. No individual and no organization, short of killing
us, can prevent such use of our energy, ability, and ingenuity. They
may make it more difficult, but they can't prevent it. The real power
is ours, not theirs, provided only that we can work our way around the
killing.
It is easy to test this chaordic concept of leadership. Reflect a
moment on group endeavors of which you are an observer rather than
participant. If your interest runs to ballet, you can undoubtedly
recall when the corps seemed to rise above the individual ability of
each dancer and achieve a magical, seemingly effortless performance. If
your interest runs to sports, the same phenomenon is apparent: teams
whose performance transcends the ability of individuals. The same can
be observed in the symphony, the theater, in fact, every group
endeavor, including business and government.
Every choreographer, conductor, and coach -- or for that matter,
corporation president -- has tried to distill the essence of such
performance. Countless others have tried to explain and produce a
mechanistic, measurably controlled process that will cause the
phenomenon. It has never been done and it never will be. It is easily
observed, universally admired, and occasionally experienced. It
happens, but cannot be deliberately done. It is rarely long sustained
but can be repeated. It arises from the relationships and interaction
of those from which it is composed. Some organizations seem
consistently able to do so, just as some leaders seem able to cause it
to happen with consistency, even within different organizations.
To be precise, one cannot speak of leaders who cause organizations to
achieve superlative performance, for no one can cause it to happen.
Leaders can only recognize and modify conditions which prevent it;
perceive and articulate a sense of community, a vision of the future, a
body of principle to which people can become passionately committed,
then encourage and enable them to discover and bring forth the
extraordinary capabilities that lie trapped in everyone struggling to
get out.
The most abundant, least expensive, and most constantly abused resource
in the world is human ingenuity.
Without question, the most abundant, least expensive, most
under-utilized, and constantly abused resource in the world is human
ingenuity. The source of that abuse is mechanistic, Industrial Age,
dominator concepts of organization and the management practices they
spawn.
In the deepest sense, distinction between leaders and followers is
meaningless. In every moment of life, we are simultaneously leading and
following. There is never a time when our knowledge, judgment and
wisdom are not more useful and applicable than that of another. There
is never a time when the knowledge, judgment and wisdom of another are
not more useful and applicable than ours. At any time that "other" may
be superior, subordinate, or peer.
Everyone was born a leader. Who can deny that from the moment of birth
they were leading parents, siblings, and companions? Watch a baby cry
and the parents jump. We were all born leaders; that is, until we were
sent to school and taught to be managed and to manage.
People are not "things" to be manipulated, labeled, boxed, bought, and
sold. Above all else, they are not "human resources." We are entire
human beings, containing the whole of the evolving universe, limitless
until we are limited, whether by self or others. We must examine the
concept of leading and following with new eyes. We must examine the
concept of superior and subordinate with increasing skepticism. We must
examine the concept of management and labor with new beliefs. And we
must examine the nature of organizations that demand such distinctions
with an entirely different consciousness.
It is true leadership -- leadership by everyone -- chaordic leadership,
in, up, around, and down that this world so badly needs, and industrial
age, dominator management that it so sadly gets.
But what about Eunice, the one-horned cow? A frantic thirty minutes
after shouldering the calf, I arrived, shaking, bruised and bleeding
from cuts and scratches, at the bottom of the cut bank where the calf
had tumbled in. Legs braced against the force of the rushing water, I
paused to recover breath and strength before trying to clamber out.
Suddenly, over the sound of pulse pounding in my ears, the rushing
water, shrieking wind and pelting rain, from directly overhead came a
furious, heart-stopping roar. In stark terror, I let go the calf's
front legs and fumbled for the flashlight. Another earth-shaking roar,
then another. The light came on as I swung the beam in the direction of
the sound.
As I stood eye to eye with two tons of bovine fury, the essence of
management was clear.
Exhausted, thigh deep in swirling, icy water with sixty pounds of
kicking calf draped around its neck, 175 pounds of Homo Sapiens stared
in pure panic directly up into the blood-red eyes of three quarters of
a ton of frantic mother cow convinced I was butchering her baby and a
ton of enraged bull determined to save his family. In that brief
instant, eye-to-eye with nearly two tons of bovine fury, the essence of
management was simple and clear. First: manage myself and get mind,
body, and emotions under control before they ceased to exist. Second:
manage two tons of enraged, bovine superiors who most certainly had
power over me. Third: manage my environment and find a way out of the
ravine. Fourth, and by far the least important, manage my only
subordinate, the kicking calf. And, oh, how I wished the calf knew the
theory and had managed himself, his superiors and his environment, and
not put the whole outfit into such an unholy mess in the first place.
What then happened in the middle of the night to Eunice, her calf and a
panic stricken Homo Sapiens in a ditch need not be told, for that is
not the point of the story. But for those who must find a moral in
every story it is simply this: If your keep your wits about you, you
can learn everything you need to know about leadership from a
one-horned cow.
Many convictions about leadership have served me well over the years.
Although each of these few examples could benefit from pages of
explication, a few words may provide insight to chaordic leadership.
Power: True power is never used. If you use power, you never really had
it.
Human Relations: First, last, and only principle -- when dealing with
subordinates, repeat silently to yourself, "You are as great to you as
I am to me, therefore, we are equal." When dealing with superiors,
repeat silently to yourself, "I am as great to me as you are to you,
therefore we are equal."
Criticism: Active critics are a great asset. Without the slightest
expenditure of time or effort, we have our weakness and error made
apparent and alternatives proposed. We need only listen carefully,
dismiss that which arises from ignorance, ignore that which arises from
envy or malice, and embrace that which has merit.
Compensation: Money motivates neither the best people, nor the best in
people. It can rent the body and influence the mind but it cannot touch
the heart or move the spirit; that is reserved for belief, principle,
and ethics.
Ego, Envy, Avarice, and Ambition: Four beasts that inevitably devour
their keeper. Harbor them at your peril, for although you expect to
ride on their back, you will end up in their belly.
Position: Subordinates may owe a measure of obedience by virtue of your
position, but they owe no respect save that which you earn by your
daily conduct. Without their respect, your authority is destructive.
Mistakes: Toothless little things, providing you can recognize them,
admit them, correct them, learn from them, and rise above them. If not,
they grow fangs and strike.
Accomplishment: Never confuse activity with productivity. It is not
what goes in your end of the pipe that matters, but what comes out the
other end. Everything but intense thought, judgment, and action is
infected to some degree with meaningless activity. Think! Judge! Act!
Free others to do the same!
Hiring: Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to
replicate your strength. It is stupid to replicate your weakness.
Employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability and judgment
are radically different from your own and recognize that it requires
uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom.
Creativity: The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts
into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building
filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and
creativity will instantly fill it.
Listening: While you can learn much by listening carefully to what
people say, a great deal more is revealed by what they do not say.
Listen as carefully to silence as to sound.
Judgment: Judgment is a muscle of the mind developed by use. You lose
nothing by trusting it. If you trust it and it is bad, you will know
quickly and can improve it. If you trust it and it is consistently
good, you will succeed, and the sooner the better. If it is
consistently good and you don't trust it, you will become the saddest
of all creatures; one who could have succeeded but followed the poor
judgment of others to failure.
Leadership: Lead yourself, lead your superiors, lead your peers and
free your people to do the same. All else is trivia.
Copyright © 2000 by Dee Hock. Reprinted with permission from Leader to
Leader, a publication of the Leader to Leader Institute and
Jossey-Bass.
Print citation:
Hock, Dee "The Art of Chaordic Leadership" Leader to Leader. 15 (Winter
2000): 20-26.
This article is available on the Leader to Leader Institute Web site,
http://leadertoleader.org/leaderbooks/L2L/winter2000/hock.html.
Permission to copy:
Send a fax (+1-201-748-6008) or letter to John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
Permissions Department, 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA. Or
online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.