Fractal: a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Fractals are useful in modeling structures (such as eroded coastlines or snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy formation
How do you view leadership? Is it an inherent trait in a person? Is it learned? What heroes and mental models do you associate with leadership? How many different sounding boards do you listen to that talk about “leadership”? How many people actually act like the leaders they claim to idolize or model themselves after? Should you even model yourself after a particular person? Should you find your own “leader’s voice”?
On the Cynical Side
Welcome to the overplayed tune of business school. Besides living on excel, reading case after case, and crafting unfounded opinions, discussing leadership is right up there. Much like entrepreneurship, it’s a little difficult to swallow these academic observations of a topic that can really only be learned through doing.
On the Sunny Side
Leadership is a topic that so many talk about, yet so many fail to grok. Reading and learning from cases and hearing opinions in class discussions are great ways to move us closer to groking what it means. It is difficult to understand, but there are elements of which can be discussed and learned from an academic setting to help us when we go out into the “real world.”
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So how do you view leadership? How do you lead?
Well every class, every lecture, teachers have the opportunity–the chance–to lead their students to newfound knowledge and insights. How they get there and their success in doing so varies greatly.
Is the teacher an encyclopedia just spewing knowledge until the bell rings? Well, Google can do that.
Is the teacher a leader? Guiding you and the class through different layers of connections and understanding, adapting to the classes comprehension. Well, Google and algorithmic learning is getting close to that.
With your own meetings and presentations, how do you get others on board to grok what you are trying to convey? How do you view your audience? You can lead a lecture and your audience:
- As a dog you lead on a choke chain, painful but done the way you want
- As a child just staring at you nodding, waiting for you to finish talking and give the treat to
- As a captivated audience to tell a story, to masterfully lead people’s imagination and reality
- As a dialogue you lead, to get their thoughts and build upon their ideas to arrive at your conclusion
- As a source of abundant knowledge, to appreciate their value and get the most out of their insights and conversation wherever that goes
Each approach has its merits and corresponding leadership style. Each approach has been used by at least one of the teachers I’ve had in my life (and I’m sure your experience is similar).
Of all the great classes I took this semester–and yes I actually liked them all, not just saying it–one in particular stood out above the rest. One teacher blew my mind and is worth every penny of the experience. In a world where you could just MOOC your way to the academic content for a fraction of the cost, Professor Todd Jick’s Organizational Change (Org Change) is the reason for in-class, in-person lectures. Is the reason #whycbs
Why? Because Org Change is easy, intuitive, common-sense information. “Communicate, Communicate, Communicate”…duh.
You can download frameworks, read a book or two, and be done with it. Wait Clifton…I’m not connecting the dots here…
But, when faced with a real-life situation of org change, will you actually apply these frameworks? Will you believe in these frameworks? Have these frameworks actually proven anything to you? With all the talks, lectures, books, material out there, roughly 75% of all org change situations fail.
75% of Organizational Change Initiatives Fail
Can this be improved through just reading books and/or watching lectures? Unless you had someone challenging you to think for yourself and try to apply frameworks, probably not. Not many people like to truly challenge your thinking (trolling doesn’t count).
When I say challenge you, I mean not just, “here’s a framework, apply it to this situation” but rather, “here’s a situation, what would you do and why…no don’t give me a BS answer. I know BS when I see it and won’t let you get away with one. No you can’t defer to someone else. No you can’t give an unbiased answer whishy-whashy answer. No you can’t wane hypothetical. Think. Really think.”
That is a whole new level of groking. Groking level > Google’s level
And that’s where Jick’s class came in.
Even more impressive, Jick practices what he preaches. His class took fractal form. He treated the class itself as an organizational change event. And drilling down even more, he treated each lecture as an org change event, throughout each lecture, throughout the course. I even saw it when I went down to the Naval Academy where he guest lectured–same approach.
The overarching framework of the class (of which there are many) was:
Understand. Enlist. Envision. Motivate. Communicate. Act. Consolidate.
Understand
For the class: He did his research and gathered information before class even started and had profiles of each person, identifying who had work experience related to the different cases we would be talking about. During the first class he asked us our thoughts and experiences with the general topic. He got a sense of who was about to graduate in a few short weeks and didn’t care, who was there because they had a bad experience with organizational change, etc. etc. He also has weekly student lunches where students could sign up for a small group discussion for free lunch to talk with him about all things org change on our mind. During which, he always asked how the class is going, concerns, problems, and suggestions.
For each lecture: He asked and polled the room very quickly their thoughts on the case’s main point; what we would do in the situation; what was the overall corg change situation.
Enlist
For the class: He uses the TA as the Core Change Leader, the person to go to for all issues, questions, concerns. He also picks out individuals in the class who have had experience in leading organizational changes noting he’ll be referring to them for comments as well as others whom he identifies for having experiences in the particular industry of the cases we will be covering.
For each lecture: He once again identifies and asks the individuals who have experience pertinent to the industry of the case for their feedback, thoughts, and experiences. He elicits comments from individuals and moves the conversation along to create antagonistic positions within the class to get great debates.
Envision
For the class: He shares the concept of trying out a new platform to share and spread greater awareness of org change issues by implementing this article sharing platform (YellowDig). He talks about constantly improving this class and utilizing all resources available to do so (hence YellowDig). He also creates and refers back to the larger framework of organizational change that he hopes we will understand by the end of the class.
For each lecture: He refers to YellowDig, highlighting individuals who have posted and shares some of the topical stories for that particular lecture. He then talks about the main theme/org change issue at hand and what he hopes we will get out of that class’s lecture.
Motivate
For the class: He talks about how he will cold-call individuals (and does so). He begins the class with multiple lectures on failed org change situations to get us eager to see how to actually succeed in org change. He mixes his class styles to include simulations, competitions, and guest lecturers to bring real-life applicability to the topic.
For each lecture: He cold calls one or two individuals and gets them to dig deep–not letting them give a “safe, unopinionated” answer, often times seeking an opposing viewpoint to generate debate. The tactics of which are performed as a puppet master would, seamlessly to the point the debates appear as though through serendipity. Nothing gets business school students motivated more than directly challenging his or her egoic opinion with another’s.
Communicate
For the class: Repetition. He constantly refers back to his opening framework. He repeats the lessons we’ve learned thus far in the course at the beginning of class either through openly asking the class, using “fill in the blank” powerpoints, or listing them off.
For each lecture: He starts with an overview. Gets the discussion going. Summarizes the discussion. Teaches the main bullet-points from the discussion. Ends with key takeaways.
Act
For the class: He has us send a brief background before class. He has us actively post online through the course. He has us work as individuals and teams to cover org changes from the top, the bottom, and in our own personal lives. We actively construct plans, speeches, and prioritize hypothetical actions. Plus cold calling is a great way to get people to act–as in read the cases and think through answers.
For each lecture: He has us share with others around us our thoughts through discussion, sharing a priority checklist or other small activity that we think applies to the situation. He mixes up the length and style of cases, activities and discussions.
Consolidate
For the class: He closes the class with the lessons learned and how we can apply the lessons to our internship/job. He asks us what we learned and what things we liked–in a way that actually seemed like he cared and would do something with it (not just because he was trying to get us to provide higher rankings on student feedback evaluations). He asked which lectures and cases were most impactful to our learning (and which weren’t). He also had an award ceremony in which he passed out certificates for those who participated the most on YellowDig, in class, and other actions in which an individual went above and beyond Jick’s vision. It was silly but heartfelt and something no one did in school. We all secretly wanted to win one in that moment…but really it was a sweet moment to celebrate the end of a great class. It was authentic, it was genuine, it was memorable.
For each lecture: He had a summary of lessons learned he rightfully and humorously called “Jick in the Box” a 1-slide powerpoint takeaway from the learnings, as well as additional appendix material should we want more.
Throughout the class, Professor Jick demonstrated and balanced humility, humor and gratitude with confidence, persistence, and mastery to weave an unforgettable experience for each lecture, for the class. He was and encyclopedia of knowledge, but he was so much more. He was a living, breathing example of a dynamic leader teaching us and guiding the class–the organization–to a new horizon. There was no better way to learn about org change than to experience our organization of 50 or so students coming together starting with knowing very little about the topic and leaving the class with a strong understanding, high motivation, and clear vision on how to bring an organization to change effectively.
If only all classes were this way. If only all professors were like Jick.
Perhaps, however, only this class could be taught in this way–it was the subject matter that enabled the way he taught. That idea, I’d argue against.
Yes, it’s fun material to cover. But I’ve sat through many a dry lecture of “fun” material. What it takes is a master of the subject matter, of communicating, and of being an effective leader. And that, Google, Coursera, and technology is far from cracking.
And that, is the reason #whycbs and I am blessed to have Professor Todd Jick.