The Leadership Era Is Over
Leadership has had a good run. Centuries of theory, frameworks, and TED Talks. Yet by almost any measure — institutional trust, employee engagement, corporate accountability — the leadership era is ending badly. The concept itself has become too passive, too positional, too self-centered. It's time to retire the term.
The Center for Creative Leadership defines leadership as a "social process that enables individuals to work together to achieve results that they could never achieve working alone." Solid, particularly the social process frame. But here's what that definition leaves out: the fire. In a moment when indifference has become its own form of harm, achieving results together isn't the bar. The bar is activation.
Activators ignite change.
The Activators Code
The shift from leader to activator requires a new positioning. Four codes begin the transition.
1 – Philosophy trumps values.
Values have become “my way or the highway.” Values-as-dogma eliminates progress and encourages narrow-mindedness. Instead, Activators embrace philosophy. Philosophy is based on experiences, learning from them, and adjusting accordingly. Philosophy embraces experiments and behaviors; both are tested, lessons are learned and then applied. Activators avoid dogma and encourage progress.
Slack would not exist if it hadn’t put aside its gaming ambitions and refocused on communication and collaborative tools. Lego would not exist if it didn’t evolve from just physical blocks to multimedia offerings. American Express would not exist if it had stuck to its delivery services instead of changing to a financial services company. Each of these companies survived by abandoning what they were certain they were and becoming what they needed to be.
What activators do is define a philosophy for solving challenges and problems that focuses on experimentation, creativity, and learning. Outcomes matter not only for results achieved but for what to do differently when solving the next issue. Activators are agile; they adapt as quickly as lessons are learned and as directions are refined.
2 – Capitalism without morality is not capitalism.
Adam Smith did not create an economic system. Adam Smith created a moral and ethical system enabled through economics. Business leaders have reversed this to the detriment of morality and ethics. Business and community are intertwined more than ever. When economics serve the community, standards rise, and so does the pressure to meet them.
What activators do is define an ethics of care in pursuit of economic value. Economic value by itself does not suffice if others and our natural resources are harmed. Combining moral and financial value yields more comprehensive results than either alone. Create an Adam Smith-centered moral system by focusing on the impact of our decisions on those who are different from ourselves to achieve better economics.
3 – Good for society, good for business.
At one point in our history, it was said that what is good for GM is good for America. The actual quote was more nuanced. When being confirmed as Secretary of Defense, the GM CEO was asked, “if a situation did arise where you had to make a decision which was extremely adverse to the interests” of GM or the interests of other companies in favor of the United States, “could you make that decision?”
Wilson’s response was: “I cannot conceive of one because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country. Our contribution to the Nation is quite considerable.”
Activators contribute equally to business and society. It starts with decisions whose outcomes benefit society and business, pursuing goals and projects that serve both in tangible ways. A good society creates a sustainable future for citizens and employees who are ready to do their best work. Any company will do well when society is doing well. For Activators, business and society aren't competing interests — they're the same investment.
4 – Principles spark collaboration.
To inspire action, principled policy is how Activators operationalize their moral commitments. Knowing the moral value of a business helps inform policies. While policymaking sounds political, it isn’t. Activators know that businesses and society thrive with good policies, and good policies happen when extreme politics are put aside to work toward the valuable middle of what is best for as many as possible. Shared conviction aligns a diverse group to collaborate and facilitate change.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, would not compromise on two principles when negotiating with the Pentagon: no mass surveillance of U.S. citizens and no autonomous weapons. He did not want his AI technology used in this manner. The policy stance seemed lonely, but many citizens were supportive. Microsoft joined Anthropic in its legal filings to seek reprieve from the Pentagon's supply chain risk designation, agreeing with the two principles.
Anthropic’s policy stance has sparked others to support the direction and do their part to make the change happen. Activators know what is vital to who they are and the impact of their actions. Their principles inspire collaboration.
Activators embrace tough decisions because they know their moral duty through a strong sense of principles. When faced with meaningful decisions, those principles inspire actions beyond the scope of one person. Others support Activators and jump in to collaborate and do their part. Principles of betterment and doing no harm bring others into critical initiatives.
Time to Activate
New terminology will not change behaviors, but it begins to change mindsets from leadership to activation. Activators believe differently and act differently, sparking others to engage.
We cannot afford more years of old and self-centered ways. We need activators at the intersection of business and society.
What would you do differently today if you embraced the Activator Code?