This is an article I never expected to write.
Recent events and some troubling trends over the past thirty years have broken my silence about some important ingredients of sound leadership: kindness and mercy. Mean, recent public commentary, and cruelty for cruelty’s sake, have reminded me that we all deserve better leaders in all walks of life.
Kindness is being friendly, generous, and considerate. Mercy is about compassion or forgiveness. There is a noticeable shortage of these behaviors today in many public and work settings.
Kindness and mercy are good for people. Good for the world. And they are good for business.
Marketing and agency services are, at their core, “people businesses”. Marketers work to influence the behaviors of consumers. They try to get consumers to think, feel and/or do specific things. And they invariably work with team members or agency people to create the strategies and tactics needed to accomplish their objectives. I believe they do their best work when respected and treated with the kindness and dignity they deserve.
The business world has a history of idolizing jerks
I don’t need to name the jerks since you likely know who they are. Many people place certain executives and entrepreneurs on pedestals because of the success of their businesses or ideas and are quick to ignore awful personal behaviors by these same executives. More than one revered executive has been known to routinely scream at subordinates and one recently told their customers to “go f” themselves.
The business world often looks past jerkish behavior in the context of enormous financial success. We deserve better.
Leaders don’t have to be jerks
No one should experience jerkish behavior in the workplace.
And luckily, not everyone behaves so poorly.
My friend John Pepper, retired CEO of Procter & Gamble, has written extensively on leadership and respectful behaviors. John’s behaviors role modeled friendliness, generosity, consideration, and compassion. He was a kind and compassionate leader.
A few of his views on strong leaders include:
“They have a deep respect for other people and themselves.”
“They are “non-political” and relatively “non-defensive”. They are interested in what’s right – not who’s right. They carefully consider points of view of senior managers, as they do the views of peers and those reporting to them.”
“They know that the Company’s success is dependent on its people — their ability, training and motivation.”
John also developed his own “components of effective leadership” and some of the key aspects included:
“We have one life to live – do it fully and authentically.”
“Effective personal leadership comes with a powerful commitment to service, leadership and growth.”
“Take pleasure in the opportunity to serve and contribute.”
“Take joy in (and contribute to) the success and growth of others.”
“Have fun.”
Don’t they sound good? The marketing and agency world would benefit from a wholesale adoption of values like those.
Let’s lead
The marketing and agency community can be an example for the rest of our world – one of kindness and compassion. We can live those values without sacrificing our effectiveness. Let’s make our industry the best place in the world to work.
Steve Boehler, founder, and partner at Mercer Island Group has led consulting teams on behalf of clients as diverse as Ulta Beauty, Microsoft, UScellular, Nintendo, Kaiser Permanente, Holland America Line, Stop & Shop, Qualcomm, Brooks Running, and numerous others. He founded MIG after serving as a division president in a Fortune 100 when he was only 32. Earlier in his career, Steve Boehler cut his teeth with a decade in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, leading brands like Tide, Pringles, and Jif.
Mercer Island Group helps marketers and agencies succeed. Company leadership is as much at home with marketers and their C-Suites as in an agency’s boardroom. With marketers, Mercer Island Group is a top 5 agency search consultancy covering all types of agency relationships (creative, media, web, PR, experiential) and assists marketers with marketing organization structure, workflow and critical skill development (briefing, creative evaluation & feedback, etc.). The company also supports leading and aspiring agencies with positioning, pitch and strategy training and pitch support.
