What is Leadership? A Story, and a Suprising Answer | Jim Lemoine | TEDxUniversityatBuffalo

Summary

In this TEDx talk, Jim Lemoine explores the concept of leadership by reflecting on both historical narratives and modern research. Lemoine tells the story of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain during the Civil War, who exemplified leadership not by coercion, but through persuasion and shared purpose. This approach is aligned with the concept of servant leadership, a philosophy that emphasizes empowering and helping others first. Lemoine stresses how this approach not only changed the course of history but continues to have empirical support as an effective strategy in organizations today. The talk invites viewers to reconsider traditional leadership paradigms and underscores the transformative power of servant leadership.

Highlights

• Jim Lemoine begins by questioning the true meaning of leadership—a term often used but seldom understood clearly. 🤔
• Through the story of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, Lemoine illustrates that leadership is about persuasion rather than using power or coercion. 📜
• Chamberlain successfully inspires 120 mutinous soldiers to join the battle, showcasing the power of motivational leadership. 🚀
• The turning point at the Battle of Gettysburg underscores the impact that inspirational and servant leadership can have on historical outcomes. 🗝️
• Servant leadership, as described by Robert Greenleaf, is about sharing power and focusing on developing others. It’s not just idealistic; it's a proven effective strategy. 🌱
• Research supports that servant leadership has a unique effect on enhancing motivation, satisfaction, and overall organizational success. 📊
• The paradox of leadership suggests focusing on helping others can lead to better profit outcomes compared to solely emphasizing profit generation. 🔄

Key Takeaways

• Leadership is not about coercion; it's about persuasion and motivating people to join you in a shared cause. 🎯
• Colonel Joshua Chamberlain's story from the Civil War illustrates the power of servant leadership, where he chose to inspire rather than coerce 120 soldiers to fight. 💪
• Servant leadership, a concept developed by Robert Greenleaf, emphasizes empowering and helping others first, which can lead to greater success. 🌟
• Research consistently shows that servant leadership positively impacts motivation, performance, and satisfaction, often outperforming profit-centric leadership models. 📈
• Embracing servant leadership means prioritizing the welfare and development of team members and the community, ultimately benefiting everyone. 🤝
• The paradox of leadership: focusing less on profits and more on serving others leads to greater success and profit. 💼

Overview

Jim Lemoine sets the stage by probing into the often-misunderstood concept of leadership. Many believe it's based on charisma or authority, but Lemoine suggests otherwise, taking us on a historical journey to better understand its true essence. 🤓

The heart of the talk revolves around Colonel Joshua Chamberlain's narrative during the Civil War. Despite having the authority to coerce, Chamberlain chose to lead by persuasion and emphasizing a shared noble cause, reviving the spirits and commitment of his troops. This story exemplifies that leadership is more about motivating others towards a common goal than wielding power. 🔍

The talk delves into the concept of servant leadership, a paradigm that challenges traditional leadership norms by prioritizing the growth and well-being of team members. Lemoine highlights empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness, encouraging today's leaders to embrace this strategy for more meaningful and successful organizational outcomes. 📘

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction to Undefined Words The chapter introduces the concept of 'undefined words', using 'V' as an example. The speaker, Jim, expresses his fascination with words that are commonly used but not well understood, setting the stage for further exploration of this theme.
• 01:30 - 03:00: Understanding Leadership The chapter 'Understanding Leadership' dives into the challenge of defining leadership. The speaker notes that while people frequently use the term, including students, managers, executives, and C-suite members, many struggle to clearly articulate its meaning. The fear of being called upon to define leadership is evident in people's reluctance to make eye contact when asked this question, highlighting the complexity and variance in understanding this concept.
• 03:00 - 07:00: Story of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain The chapter discusses the concept of leadership, challenging common perceptions that it is directly related to popularity, charisma, public speaking skills, image, or financial success. Instead, it suggests that leadership is recognized intuitively, even if it can't be precisely defined. To illustrate this, the chapter introduces the story of Colonel Joshua Lewis Chamberlain, a professor from Maine who passionately joined the Union cause during the United States Civil War by becoming an officer.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Chamberlain's Leadership Style In this chapter, the focus is on Chamberlain's leadership style during the Civil War, particularly at the Battle of Gettysburg. Chamberlain commanded the 20th Maine, a unit that was greatly reduced in number from sixteen hundred to about 266 men by July 1, 1863, due to the harsh realities of war. The chapter highlights a critical moment when Chamberlain was tasked with guarding Little Round Top, a strategic point in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At this point in the Civil War, the Confederacy had advanced far north, making this a pivotal moment where it seemed possible for them to secure victory.
• 10:00 - 13:00: Introduction to Servant Leadership Colonel Chamberlain faced a challenging situation with only 250 men to defend a position. Despite his request for reinforcements, high command could not provide additional troops. Instead, they offered 120 mutineers from the Second Maine, who were discontented due to a bureaucratic error.
• 13:00 - 16:00: Effectiveness of Servant Leadership In the 19th century, many individuals who could not read or write signed what they believed to be two-year service contracts with the government. However, due to a government error, they were actually bound to three-year contracts. As a result, once the two years were completed, these individuals believed they were free to return home, only to be stopped by armed men enforcing the unfulfilled third year. This led to significant frustration and anger from those affected. The narrator reflects on how contemporary government practices have improved in this regard.
• 16:00 - 18:30: Conclusion: Leadership Insights In the chapter titled 'Conclusion: Leadership Insights,' we delve into a historical scenario involving Joshua Chamberlain, who is confronted with the challenge of motivating 120 mutineers to fight for the Union. High command suggests enforcing discipline, even to the extent of executing disobedient soldiers. However, the focus shifts to effective leadership and motivational strategies as Chamberlain must deliver a compelling speech to inspire these men in a critical moment of American history. The chapter invites readers to consider how they would persuade others by drawing on various leadership teachings from educators, coaches, and supervisors.

What is Leadership? A Story, and a Suprising Answer | Jim Lemoine | TEDxUniversityatBuffalo Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] [Music] hi my name is jim and i've always been fascinated by words that we use all the time but we don't really know what they mean take v for example i'm going to use the word v a lot in this speech in fact i just did
• 00:30 - 01:00 and you probably use it all the time too but i have no clue what it means how to define it how to describe it as someone who doesn't know the english language luckily it doesn't matter if i can't define thee but what might be a little more consequential how about the word leadership do you know what it means you know it doesn't matter what kind of group i ask if i ask students or or managers or executives or even folks in the c-suite not only do people struggle to answer the question they won't even make eye contact with me when i ask it because they're afraid i'll call on them and make them answer now now some people
• 01:00 - 01:30 tend to think of it as popularity charisma or public speaking ability or a carefully crafted image or even financial success let me tell you as a researcher that we don't believe leadership really has anything to do with most of those things since we know it when we see it we can't define it but we kind of know it when we see it maybe the best way to learn about leadership is to tell talk about it through a story let me tell you a story from the united states civil war about a man named colonel joshua lewis chamberlain he was a professor in maine who was so motivated by the union cause that he signed up to be an officer
• 01:30 - 02:00 and he commanded a unit called the 20th maine i started out with sixteen hundred men but by july first 1863 down to about 266 because well war is hell let's pretend you're joshua chamberlain and you are commanded to guard a point of strategic importance in gettysburg called little round top the battle of gettysburg is tomorrow now if you know anything about the civil war you know it's between the north and the south uh gettysburg is in pennsylvania pretty far to the north so if the confederacy is pushed this far north they're doing pretty good this is the one moment where it looks like the confederacy is going to win the civil war
• 02:00 - 02:30 we need to get this one colonel chamberlain unfortunately with only 250 men you're like i can't i can't defend this position possibly you go to high command say i need more men they say they don't have any you say you don't understand i've got to have more men they say nope you say it can't be done without more men and they say fine and they give you 120 mutineers from the second main now history is a little vague as to why the men these 120 men were so angry one of the reasons that pops up a lot in the history books is because of a bureaucratic bungle that the government made that could never possibly happen in the modern era where
• 02:30 - 03:00 basically remember 19th century these guys can't read they can't write for the most part they thought they were signing contracts for two-year contracts for service the government accidentally gave them contracts for three years of service and now the two years are done so they think they're done they think they're going home to their wives to their families to their livelihoods to their farms only for men with guns to stop them and say nope you've got another year well no i don't i only signed for two nope you sign for three it's right here you can imagine why they might be irate luckily today's government would never do anything like that so colonel
• 03:00 - 03:30 chamberlain's got these 120 mutineers but he really needs them to fight for him so he says you know what what do i do how do i get him to fight for me high command says well you know make them you can shoot them if they disobey you have the right to do that so again imagine you're joshua chamberlain uh think about what you would say in this position you're going to give a speech to them that night you need to motivate them to fight for the union what would your what would your teachers say what would your coaches say what would your boss say to get these men to fight for the union in this pivotal moment in our nation's history
• 03:30 - 04:00 now my students are often surprised when i tell them that there are no surviving youtube clips of this speech uh from 1863 but what we do have are diaries uh journal entries letters written home and historians think they've been able to piece together the gist of what apparently was a fairly short speech these probably weren't as exact words but this is kind of a combination of everything that it seems like people have managed to piece together here's what colonel chamberlain actually said i've been told that if you don't come with me and serve in this union army
• 04:00 - 04:30 i can shoot you but you know i won't do that not to good maine men we're down below half strength the confederates are coming and we need you no doubt about that so many of us have come and served and died and we did it because it was the right thing to do we're an army going out to set other men free and what we're fighting for in the end is for each other we know not of the future and cannot plan for it much but the cause for which we fight is higher our thought is wider that thought is our power but i think if
• 04:30 - 05:00 we lose this fight the war will be over we'll lose the whole war but if you choose to come with us i'll be personally grateful that was the whole speech 120 men signed up to fight the next day and the battle of gettysburg went up and down different sides had the momentum at different points but there was one critical moment where up on little round top colonel chamberlain and his men were starting to run out of ammunition if i was in that situation i'd probably run like hell that's not what they did
• 05:00 - 05:30 a bayonet charge was called for they launched they struck the surprised and demoralized confederate setting up off a domino effect that ended with the union winning the battle of gettysburg the battle of gettysburg was the turning point that caused the union to win the civil war the civil war was the turning point that changed the course of a nation it all came back to that speech that fantastic example of leadership from colonel chamberlain so let's talk about that just a little bit really quick what did he do he didn't coerce he persuaded now unless you're in the mafia
• 05:30 - 06:00 your boss probably doesn't have as much power over you as colonel chamberlain had over his men sure your boss can can fire you could demote you give you a bad performance evaluation something like that colonel chamberlain could kill these people he had the right to do that that's the ultimate power to get people to do what they want but he said nope he gave it up with the very first line of the speech he gave up that power he didn't want to coerce them he wanted to persuade them because he wrote he believed that they would fight better if they fought because they wanted to not because they have to and then he
• 06:00 - 06:30 talked about them he persuaded the men that the cause was noble and worth doing we're an army going out to set other men free what we're fighting for in the end is for each other so i ask you as a leader or someone who wants to be a leader think about what your team does your organization does is your cause noble and worth doing think about that for a second the answer might surprise you one time i was giving this talk and there were two banks in the room and someone from the first bank stood up and said that's not really what we do it's not noble and worth doing we do investments we make money someone from the second bank stood up and said and by the way second bank does
• 06:30 - 07:00 exactly the same thing as the first bank same good services said of course what we do is noble and worth doing we help people afford their dreams we help people retire in comfort we help people buy their first home their first car how could that not be noble sometimes it's all in the way you think about it the way you frame it what's your real goal as you're making money he persuaded the men that the cause was noble and worth doing and he he respected them he tried to help them but he said even though you've been wronged i need you to come with me and help others and in the course of that he turned the
• 07:00 - 07:30 tide of the war change the course of a whole nation now now there's a name for this approach to leadership uh there are people who talk about it one that one that shares power instead of hoarding it one that puts others first and develops them and helps them to grow and succeed one that gets together with teammates and followers to talk about how what we're doing can make a difference in the broader world it's called servant leadership and it was founded by a man called robert greenleaf who worked at a t as their very first director of management research he
• 07:30 - 08:00 studied leadership what worked and what didn't for over three decades before coming to this conclusion that this servant leadership thing was in his opinion the best way to lead the non-profit he formed today it's called the greenlee center for servant leadership it's still around it's still doing great things to promote this style of leadership which i know sounds idealistic a little bit like a fairy tale now let me come to you as a professor and a researcher of leadership there's a lot of evidence that it actually works it's not a fairy tale there are literally hundreds of peer-reviewed published quantitative
• 08:00 - 08:30 papers hundreds showing that servant leadership has a unique empirically demonstrated effect on motivation performance satisfaction commitment finances everything we're interested in it has a unique effect right now in the modern context in fact a lot of research indicates that servant leadership is even more effective than more goal-centric forms of leadership or profit-centric forms of leadership here's something i call the paradox of leadership if you want to make lots of profit talk less about profit
• 08:30 - 09:00 and talk more about how what your team what your organization is doing to help customers help employees to help partners to help communities research shows that actually less of a profit focus will help you get to more profit so what is leadership well former president dwight eisenhower has a really great definition he said leadership is getting people to do the things you want done because they want to do them not not because they have to not because they're forced to not because they're worried they'll get fired not even because they want a promotion or they're trying to suck up to the boss but because they genuinely want to do
• 09:00 - 09:30 these things that's real leadership great definition but how do you do that how do you motivate people to want to do these things well research and one of the pivotal moments in our country's history show that servant leadership might just be the best way to do it i still don't know what the word v means i probably never will but i'm starting to get just a little bit of an idea about what leadership might be it's sharing power it's developing people it's helping them grow it's having foresight and thinking ahead and listening to what ideas others have and
• 09:30 - 10:00 it's motivating by talking to people together to talk about how is what we're doing making a positive difference for someone for a customer for a partner for another employee for another team for our community maybe even for broader society if you want to get ambitious and i know it may sound idealistic and not like what you're expecting from a leadership talk but research says it really really has a uniquely powerful effect it's called servant leadership read about it think about it give it a try it might just change the
• 10:00 - 10:30 way you look at organizational and team management and leadership for the rest of your life it can make you a better leader it might just help you to make a big difference in the life of someone else a customer an employee a follower maybe your community everybody wins and that's what leadership is