A VC - Latest Comments in Executives vs Leaders

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Erik — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:57:24 -0000

Keep on blogging, we need you. I’ve got so much useful stuff from your blog and really value you opinion in this stuff.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Eric — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:05:43 -0000

Clinton..Obama...Kinda all the same to me as I'm not from the US. However the points made in your post are key to all of our daily lives...not because of the reach of US politics...and yes, that reach is far. No you comments are important because they relate to how each of us needs to think about our own lives and how we do things.

Are you (Am I) an executive or a leader? Do I need to be both? Which is more important for me in my daily life and what I'm trying to get done? I was reading a blog by James Brausch (http://www.jamesbrausch.org) where he really likes to hit home the fact that without a really clear focus on what you are trying to accomplish, you'll never be able to execute (be an executive) or lead. Your post really brought that all back to me, even if US politics aren't that important in my daily life...
Thanks,
Eric

Re: Executives vs Leaders

fredwilson — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:27:02 -0000

Narcissist is a word Freud used to describe a personality type

Don't take the word too literally

You should read the article if you are curious about it

fred

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Christian Sterner — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:04:11 -0000

Fred, I like that you have to travel back up to the footer of your posts to comment. Often, we get so caught up in the comments section of a blog that we forget to revisit the source. Solid reminder.

I apologize as I have not yet spent time reading "Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons," but I have a pretty major problem with likening visionaries to "narcissists". From memory, the definition of a narcissist is "extreme admiration of oneself." Visionaries, at their best, are very confident, but don't fit this bill. Rather, they risk life and limb for what they believe in, and people naturally follow this kind of energy. I could never follow a manager, unless they allow visionaries to do their work knowing that it is in their best interest as a manager. Rarely the case, but they are out there.

In any event, Hillary is a robot, and can't change the fact that she's had to play "the game" for so many years that she has become the game. This country needs visionaries willing to risk their lives to correct the wrong in our world, and country. I'm not sure we have one to choose in '08, but Barack is the closest to it.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Jake — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:23:45 -0000

Here's an article by Cass Sunstein from the New Republic:

http://www.tnr.com/politics...

Sunstein worked with Obama at the University of Chicago when Obama was teaching constitutional law, and, during their time as colleagues, it became clear to Sunstein that Obama was a rare blend of "visionary" and "minimalist." Obama, unlike most constitutional scholars or judges, was able to simultaneously work gracefully with the details of tradition and throw them out in favor of what's right. Sunstein thinks this will translate into a president capable of both operating and leading.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

fredwilson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:27:02 -0000

Someone else left this exact same comment word for word on an earlier post

Is this one of those right wing smear things people paste all over the internet

If so, please keep it off this blog

fred

Re: Executives vs Leaders

fredwilson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:27:01 -0000

Good comment. Care to share who you think the best risk taker in the bunch is?

Fred

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Chris Yeh — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:14:47 -0000

In addition to some of the other resources mentioned, I think that Marcus Buckingham does a great job of distinguishing between leaders and managers in his book, "The One Thing You Need To Know."

In it, he writes:

"To excel as a manager, you must never forget that each of your direct reports is unique and that your chief responsibility is not to eradicate this uniqueness, but rather to arrange roles, responsibilities, and expectations so that you can capitalize upon it. The more you perfect this skill, the more effectively you will turn talents into performance.

To excel as a leader requires the opposite skill. You must become adept at calling upon those needs we all share. Our common needs include the need for security, for community, for authority, and for respect, but for you, the leader, the most powerful universal need is our need for clarity. To transform our fear of the unknown into confidence in the future, you must discipline yourself to describe our joint future vividly and precisely. As your skill in this grows, so will our confidence in you."

When I see Hillary, I see a manager, not a leader. The two are necessary, but very different.

For those who don't have the time to read the whole book, I've also posted a summary here:
http://bookoutlines.pbwiki....

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Charlie Crystle — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:48:48 -0000

I'm surprised the truck traffic isn't higher in DC these days.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

jstern64 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:38:53 -0000

Great discussion-thanks people!
A comment was made about 'the next 20 quarters being very very challenging'- so very true! In fact, the climate has changed drastically since these candidates decided to run. Things are so complicated now that whoever ends up in the White House better be prepared for a messy stay! The next Prez is no doubt going to be fumbling a lot. We need someone with a good all around team.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

wfs — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:10:17 -0000

I keep hearing the comment from the Clinton camp that we've already had the "visionary" approach and it didn't work. What I'm not hearing is that we've also already had the detail hands-on executive and it didn't work either. Remember Jimmy Carter?

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Aruni S. Gunasegaram — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:42:02 -0000

As you alluded to it depends on the stage of the company/government. Ideally you have a charasmatic leader who can execute. Men and women are different so I although I know this might not be PC, I would encourage you to look at each candidate keeping that in mind. Women have had to execute on a bunch of different things their entire lives...just not always in an office/govt environment. As a result of our culture, they exhibit visionary tendencies differently. Charisma in a woman is different than charisma in a man. There may also be more psychic (i.e., visionaries that see into the future) women then there are men.

Also, who has more charisma Gates or Jobs? I think the answer is fairly clear. To me it's clear they are both visionaries. I would say that the most successful presidents exibit more charasmatic tendencies than visionary tendencies (e.g. Reagan and B. Clinton). To me a visionary tries to see into the future and they may not necessarily be charasmatic. My 2 cents.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Dan Weinreb — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:05:08 -0000

I agree with absolutely everything you say. At least half of the president's power comes from persuasiveness rather than direct exercise of power. What you need for a president is someone to make the big decisions about direction and policy.

Furthermore, I think Clinton is unelectable. So many people hate her already, and the Republican attack machine with have a field day with her (which will be extremely ugly and unpleasant). So I'm for Obama.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Democratic Strategist — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:56:30 -0000

I've read most of these comments and it's amazing how little weight people are placing on what Hillary has actually said and done. She botched up the Health Care initiative in '94 with terrible long-term consequences. She supported the Iraq War because...dunno. Naive, cynical, poor judgment. She's onboard with attacking Iran. Now my point isn't that she's deficient ideologically. It's that she's displaying the same lousy leadership skills we are seeing in abundance at the banks and brokerages in the sub-prime crisis. Bank CEO's were also consummate executives who had no fucking clue about the risks they were taking for their shareholders. They knew they had to make their quarterly numbers and the only way to do that was making big bets on Red. The US is in a similar spot right now. The next 20 quarters are looking very very challenging. We need someone who can a) play roulette when it's necessary and b) more importantly, know when it's time to change tables and play a different game.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

crawford — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:31:20 -0000

Excellent take Fred. Thanks. My vote goes to Visionary Leader. As you said, the other is comparatively easy to hire.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Hockeydino — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:50:48 -0000

In a news conference Deanna Favre announced she will be the starting
Quarterback for the Green Bay Packers this coming Sunday. Deanna
asserts that she is qualified to be starting quarterback because she has
spent the past 16 years married to Brett while he played quarterback for
the Green Bay Packers. During this period of time she became familiar
with the definition of a corner blitz, and is now completely comfortable
with other terminology of the Green Bay Packers offense. A survey of
Packers fans shows that 50% of those polled supported the move.

Does this sound idiotic and unbelievable to you? Well, Hillary Clinton
makes the same claims as to why she is qualified to be President of the
United States and 50% of Democrats polled agreed. She has NEVER run a
City, County, or State Government!

When told Hillary Clinton has experience because she has eight years in
the white house, John Madden stated: "so has the pastry chef".

Re: Executives vs Leaders

David B. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:26:33 -0000

I think that's what exactly Fred is saying, though, that he's for Obama because of his vision and ability to catalyze more positive change than Hillary.

People talk about Obama's ability to speak as if he's a car salesman, but he and Kucinich are the only candidates whose votes paralleled their actions. Hillary, Edwards, and the others voted for the Iraq War, the Patriot Act and every other horrible decision in the last eight years. I'm tired of words. I'm tired of platitudes. They helped create the mess we're in, and that gives me no confidence that they have the ability to get us out of it.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Chris Albinson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:24:42 -0000

Fred great thread. I was thinking about this watching the debate last night as well. Romney is likely the only productive (read positive) obsessive in the race. Does the country want a real obsessive - fix the economy type or a more transformative leader with vision (productive narcissist) like Barack? Time will tell, but that is a race I would love to see. On balance, it feels like the country could benefit a real change. Barack gave the only honest answer to the standard "what are your strengths and weaknesses" question. Hillary and John gave the canned "I feel for people too much" answers that you hate to hear when you interview someone. The syrup gags in your throat - too sweet - kind of answer. Worse yet, Hillary attacked Barack today as not being organized enough to be president - ugh. Yes it is silly season, but the choice is likely to have a big impact on all of us for the next 8 years. I would take the Barack/Mitt ticket any day of the week! It reminds me of the circa early 1998 Scott McNeilly/Ed Zander team(-;

Re: Executives vs Leaders

blakeborgeson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:16:28 -0000

Full article text: http://www.maccoby.com/Arti...

Just wanted to share with other followers of Fred's blog who found the 'taster' article on the HBR website incredibly interesting that what looks like the full text of the article is published on the author's personal website.

I'm excited to see these profiles that have been discussed and elaborated on so much applied to business leaders. Very helpful for me. I'm a new reader as of the last couple months and the insights here are generally top of the heap, if that's even a saying anymore.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Bob — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:08:22 -0000

Anyone who runs for the president has to be narcissistic, after all he/she has to have the absolute confidence that he/she can lead the country, especially stepping into an era of pending recession worries, subprime mortgage mess, $100/gallon gasoline, and the white elephant, Iraq. So I see both Barack and Hillary as narcissists. What Barack has over Hillary is the gift of gab and the ability to inspire people. However, it is going to take a lot more to convince me than merely and repeatedly chanting the phrase "change".

Despite best intentions, which I suspect many politicians had when they first became government servants, they soon find themselves up against an entrenched system with its own unwritten rules on how to get things done. They quickly find their idealism slipping away and getting nothing accomplished if they insist on doing the right thing. So they resigned to getting what they can for their constituents usually through the means of pork inserted into bills, ie, if you want to get my vote on this bill, I need something in return. IMO, this is how the government system really works. A candidate can have the best laid plans for change but unless he/she can work with the system, they will get nothing accomplished, Arnold found this out the hard way.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

Preston — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:24:06 -0000

It's funny you write this article. When I heard Clinton seize on Obama for his comments on organization, I thought: she absolutely doesn't have what it takes to be President.

Why?

Exactly as you say. As most people learn in business school, there's a difference between managers and leaders (see link).

Depending on the role, you choose a person that can perform the task. I would argue, as Obama did last night, that what the country needs is not a manager, but a leader.

Re: Executives vs Leaders

bernardlunn — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:57:51 -0000

Great debate. I was thinking the same thing about entrepreneur vs manager. And I think the times are volatile enough that we need entrepreneur not manager ie Obama not Clinton. My wife as it happens agrees! But yes Bloomberg combines both. Check out candidates@google on YouTube. Obama was asked about experience and was quick to point out that Brin and Page lacked experience! Bloomberg is also good on Google debate as was McCain (I love the way he really engages with people who disagree with him).

Re: Executives vs Leaders

S.t — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:24:14 -0000

here's more on The Empty Pantsuit

http://www.ibdeditorials.co...

Re: Executives vs Leaders

fredwilson — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:13:01 -0000

As you can see I hold her in high regard

I may not vote for her but I am a big fan of hers

Fred

Re: Executives vs Leaders

S.t — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:43:38 -0000

so far, Fred, you've compared Hillery to Robert Rubin, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and Steve Jobs...but the only reason that she's made a name for herself is that she tried to drive Big Pharma into the ground 15yrs ago, and that she kept her mouth shut for eight years.

& as for Obama...
http://ibdeditorials.com/IB...