Bootstrap Leadership Blog

There is a great article in the March, 2010 issue of the Conference Board Review magazine – a wonderful periodical that is provided to all members of the Conference Board, the influential corporate research and networking organization.  The article presents an argument that character is more important than credentials (which can be described as the “preferred name brands” that we all know and recognize - the string of pearls that stretches from family pedigree to well-known universities to prestigious graduate schools to brand-name employers).  But surely, credentials matter, yes?  Otherwise, what’s all the fuss about?

Warren Buffett, for one, would rather bet on character than credentials.  Mr. Buffett often speaks to MBA students and is fond of telling them that the things that go untaught in business schools are the things he values most: writing, speaking and communications.  The article also cites an intriguing question that he often asks MBA students: “if you could own 10% of the future earnings of any one of your classmates, whose stock would you buy?”  Buffett believes that you wouldn’t pick the smartest person, or the one with the highest grades, as anyone in the class would be smart enough to be a good investment (i.e., not enough variance).  Instead, he tells them, you’d likely pick the one with the personal qualities you most admire: the peer who is the most generous, honest, and genuine; in other words, the one you’re all most attracted to – that’s the person that others will want to work with.

Buffett continues the performance-investment connection with a second question: “if you were going to short someone’s future, how would you make that choice?”  Again, it wouldn’t necessarily be the one with the worst grades or poorest test results… you’d likely pick the person whose attributes were most unattractive – the one with the oversized ego, lack of integrity, disregard for ethics or others’ feelings, the non-team player.  In other words, Buffett believes we should bet the house on character.  Not credentials… character.  Those basic interpersonal values and skills that most of us cherish above book smarts.  It’s interesting to see how Buffett puts his belief in people into a financial metephor… and I think he’s spot on. 

Think about those two questions the next time a resume crosses your desk with all the right brand names – are you subconsciously letting those credentials sway you before the interviewing even begins?  What about that candidate who didn’t go to the big schools, but seems to have the right stuff?  Take a deep look at character as you hire and place people on your team... you might just find that diamond in the rough that will outwork and outlast his or her peers – you know, the ones that had all the right credentials on paper. 

Leave it to Warren Buffett to sum up what works in business… I’m certainly not going to argue with him.  How about you – do you buy that character is more important than credentials?

Twenty years ago, most leaders might have answered that question with a single word – money.  They’d have been wrong… dozens of surveys have shown that compensation is no higher than 4th or 5th on the list of what motivates us at work.  Rather, things like recognition, challenging and interesting work, and a compelling corporate mission have been proven to be more important than pay in motivating workers.  Now a new study might be shining additional light on the motivation story.

Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard, has just completed a multiyear study tracking the day-to-day activities, emotions, and motivation levels of hundreds of knowledge workers in a wide variety of settings, and has found a new candidate for the top motivator – progress.   Apparently, making progress in one’s work – even small wins that move the ball forward – is more frequently associated with positive emotions and high motivation than any other workday event.  On days when workers felt they were making headway in their jobs, they were happy and motivated; on days when they felt they were spinning their wheels, their moods and motivation were at their lowest.  Amabile feels this is pretty good news for managers and leaders, given that we may largely control events that allow for (or inhibit) progress.  We can remove barriers or provide important resources that can help people move forward. 

I think this is pretty good advice (and altogether consistent with the behavior of successful leaders).  If we want to keep our team motivated and full of positive energy, we have to keep them moving toward meaningful goals that they can realistically achieve.  We have to set clear objectives, recognize small wins, roll up our sleeves to pitch in where appropriate, and create an environment of teamwork.  Turns out people get a big emotional lift from making progress in their work – which makes a lot of intuitive sense.  The lesson for leaders is that we have to do whatever we can to help them make that progress happen, each and every day.

There is a growing body of research that connects neuroscience to leadership - and one of the more fascinating discoveries is that the brain can “rewire” itself based on experience, something scientists call neuroplasticity.  Recently, a team at MIT published a study documenting a popular form of environmental feedback that may trigger this rewiring – success.  Of particular interest was that the opposite of success (failure) had no significant impact on rewiring our brains.

Writing about the study in the January, 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Scott Berinato quotes the lead researcher from the MIT team, Earl Miller, who says “understanding the link to environmental feedback is crucial to improving how people teach and motivate because it’s a big part of how we learn.  But apparently, we may learn more from success than from failure.”  The study in question involved monkeys and a simple learning task – neurons in the prefrontal cortex and striatum (where the brain tracks success and failure) sharpened their tuning after success, and these changes lingered for several seconds, making brain activity more efficient the next time the monkey performed the task.  In other words, the monkey had learned.  But after failure, there was little change in brain activity – the brain didn’t seem to store any information about what went wrong to use in subsequent trials. 

Miller believes this proves that on a neurological level, success is actually a lot more informative than failure. If you get a reward, the brain seems to remember what it did right. But with failure, unless there are significant consequences (i.e., touching a hot stove), the brain isn’t sure what to store, so it doesn’t change at all.  Perhaps you can see where this is leading…

…does this research support the currently popular management philosophy of focusing on our strengths (successes) more than our opportunities (failures)?  Miller isn’t ready to make that connection just yet, because of the dynamic environment of the modern workplace.  But, he offers: “maybe the lesson is to know that the brain will learn from success, so you don’t need to dwell on that.  You need to pay more attention to failures and challenge (understand) why you failed.” 

Ah-ha!  I think we’ve just found another connection – between neuroscience and leadership development. Turns out your brain will help you learn from your successes.  But you better put in the time to reflect on your failures, to help your mind learn and adapt new patterns of behavior; otherwise, you might be doomed to repeat those mistakes again and again.