Eight years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled: “Tone And The Common Touch (5-8-2013)” wherein I laid out case for ensuring that your — assuming you to be a CEO or C-suite denizen — tone and the way you dealt with your subordinates was a critical element in how they perceived you and, thus, how they followed your lead.
Tone And The Common Touch
Therein, I said: “Keep the common touch. The grounded view of the world from which you launched your enterprise. The humble, lean, agile, nimble startup and success story that you always intended to create.”
Today, I want to return to that same theme, but expand it just a smidgen:
1. Tone today is more important than it was a decade ago because we have a far more partisan and divided society which translates into an infinitely more fragile employer-employee relationship. There are more things that can vex your direct reports.
An example? The whole Work From Home v Office issue.
The right tone is to be more willing to listen, slower to be critical, and to be more empathetic — all of which requires different skills and an enhanced time commitment.
Great, right, cause who doesn’t have a lot of extra time? Time is the most precious commodity any CEO possesses.
2. Leadership style is tied up with tone as is authoritative leadership voice.
Leaders have a more fragile hold on employees — the Great Resignation is a real thing — and have to navigate those shoal and rock strewn waters more carefully.
Fundamentally, there is a power shift from the company to the employee.
Need an example? Go back and review the whole Southwest Airlines vaccine mandate work stoppage. The SWA CEO woke up and realized that being the government’s jack booted, hob nailed, vaccine enforcer was going to cost him the support of the pilot’s union and the pilots and you can’t run an airline without pilots.
Did you say “power shift?”
3. Leadership voice and leadership style are different considerations. Voice is, of course, related to tone. I see tone focusing on content and voice focusing on delivery style, but that’s just me.
Leadership style must match the nature of the folks you are leading. Today, they are far more empowered, more flexible, will quit for what would have been light and intransigent reasons a decade ago, and are, generally, more entitled.
Your authentic leadership style must adapt to that reality.
4. As to leadership voice, you must communicate more often, at a greater depth of transparency, and answer a lot more questions, different questions.
“Where are we from an ESG (environment, social, governance) perspective, boss?” is a question you would not have received a decade ago and your answer will have to be more nuanced.
5. Having that common touch continues to be an incredibly more important element of the mix in relating to your team. I saw an article on the required high tech titan footwear in Silicon Valley the other day.
Apparently, top executives — talking Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Alphabet CEO Larry Page — favor Lanvin sneakers in the $600 range whilst Jack Dorsey rolls with $1,200 avante guard designer Rick Owens’ Island Dunks.
Then, in a world only occupied by himself, Elon Musk introduced his new sneaks along with the Model Y back in March 2019.
To reiterate, these guys are mostly billionaires, they have theirs, and this is NOT the common touch you are looking for.
To review: You are looking for: “the humble, lean, agile, nimble startup and success story that you always intended to create.”
Bottom line it, Big Red Car
Tone, leadership style, leadership voice, and maintaining the common touch are more important in the C-suite than ever before and if you fail to be thoughtful and embrace this reality there will be a cost.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. Be well. It’s Wednesday.
“Hey, Mom, what’s the guy with the mask, the blue gloves, and the needle doing?”