www.hbr.

org

If you believe too many

executives think, “It’s all about
me,” you’re right: Research
Leadership Run Amok
shows that an ethos
The Destructive Potential of Overachievers
celebrating individual
achievement has been shoving by Scott W. Spreier, Mary H. Fontaine, and
aside other motivations, such
Ruth L. Malloy
as the drive to empower
people, that are essential for
successful leadership.

With compliments of...

Reprint R0606D
 If you believe too many executives think, “It’s all about me,” you’re
right: Research shows that an ethos celebrating individual
achievement has been shoving aside other motivations, such as the
drive to empower people, that are essential for successful leadership.

Leadership Run Amok

The Destructive Potential of Overachievers

by Scott W. Spreier, Mary H. Fontaine, and

Ruth L. Malloy

The desire to achieve is a major source of nicate crucial information, and they may be
strength in business, both for individual man- oblivious to the concerns of others. Their
agers and for the organizations they lead. It teams’ performance begins to suffer, and they
COPYRIGHT © 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

generates passion and energy, which fuel risk missing the very goals that initially trig-
growth and help companies sustain perfor- gered the achievement-oriented behavior.
mance over the long term. And the achieve- Too intense a focus on achievement can de-
ment drive is on the rise. We’ve spent 35 years molish trust and undermine morale, measur-
assessing executive motivation, and we’ve ably reducing workplace productivity and
seen a steady increase during the past decade eroding confidence in management, both in-
in the number of managers for whom achieve- side and outside the corporation. While profits
ment is the primary motive. Businesses have and innovation have risen during the past de-
benefited from this trend: Productivity has cade, public trust in big business has slid. In
risen, and innovation, as measured by the our executive coaching practice, we’ve seen
number of patents issued per year, has soared. very talented leaders crash and burn as they
In the short term, through sheer drive and put ever more pressure on their employees and
determination, overachieving leaders may be themselves to produce.
very successful, but there’s a dark side to the At the extreme are leaders like Enron’s Jef-
achievement motive. By relentlessly focusing frey Skilling, a classic overachiever by most
on tasks and goals—revenue or sales targets, accounts, driven by results regardless of how
say—an executive or company can, over time, they were achieved. He pitted manager
damage performance. Overachievers tend to against manager and once even praised an ex-
command and coerce, rather than coach and ecutive who went behind his back to create a
collaborate, thus stifling subordinates. They service he had forbidden her to develop. For
take frequent shortcuts and forget to commu- every Skilling, there are dozens of overachiev-

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 Leadership Run Amok

ing managers who don’t make headlines but David McClelland, the late Harvard psychol-
do cause significant harm. Consider Frank, a ogist, spent much of his career studying moti-
confident, results-oriented CEO of a large vation and how it affects leadership behavior.
electronics manufacturer. He was so single- He identified achievement—meeting or ex-
minded in his drive to achieve that he ran ceeding a standard of excellence or improving
roughshod over the rest of the management personal performance—as one of three inter-
team. He was arrogant, aloof, and demand- nal drivers (he called them “social motives”)
ing, and he never listened. In fewer than four that explain how we behave. The other two
years, with the company in disarray and mem- are affiliation—maintaining close personal
bers of his senior leadership team threatening relationships—and power, which involves
to leave, he was fired. being strong and influencing or having an im-
Even if a narrow focus on achievement pact on others. He said the power motive
doesn’t get an executive fired, it can stall a ca- comes in two forms: personalized—the leader
reer. Jan, a brilliant lawyer, was a partner and draws strength from controlling others and
the heir apparent in a large New York law firm. making them feel weak; and socialized—the
But she could be mean-spirited. She didn’t tol- leader’s strength comes from empowering peo-
erate colleagues who seemed less driven than ple. Studies show that great charismatic lead-
she was, she treated subordinates in a demean- ers are highly motivated by socialized power;
ing manner, and she chewed up junior associ- personalized power is often associated with
ates at a record pace. Opinions about her the exploitation of subordinates. (See the ex-
began to sour in the firm, and ultimately she hibit “What’s Your Motivation?”)
was shuffled off to a small satellite office to McClelland’s research showed that all three
work—usually alone—on special cases. Al- motives are present to some extent in every-
though she continued to woo clients and win one. Although we are not usually conscious of
cases, she never rose any further. them, they give rise in us to needs and con-
On the surface, controlling achievement cerns that lead to certain behaviors. Meeting
overdrive sounds like Management 101: Be less those needs gives us a sense of satisfaction and
coercive and more collaborative. Influence energizes us, so we keep repeating the behav-
rather than direct. Focus more on people and iors, whether or not they result in the out-
less on numbers and results. Easy to say, diffi- comes we desire.
cult to master. Experienced, successful execu- McClelland initially believed that of the
tives who should know better fall into over- three motives, achievement was the most criti-
achievement mode again and again. In this cal to organizational, even national, success. In
article, we’ll offer ways for managers to iden- The Achieving Society, his seminal study on the
tify achievement overdrive in themselves and subject, first published in 1961, he reported
others and keep the destructive aspects in that a high concern with achievement within a
check. But first, let’s look at the achievement country was followed by rapid national
motive and see how it affects the workplace. growth, while a drop led to a decline in eco-
nomic welfare. In another study, he reported a
The Growing Drive to Achieve direct correlation between the number of pat-
The drive to achieve is tough to resist. Most ents generated in a country and the level of
people in Western cultures are taught from achievement as a motivation.
Scott W. Spreier (Scott_Spreier@ early childhood to value achievement. For But McClelland also recognized the down-
haygroup.com) is a senior consultant some people, the drive seems innate: They side of achievement: the tendencies to cheat
in Hay Group’s McClelland Center for don’t just know achievement is important, they and cut corners and to leave people out of the
Research and Innovation in Boston. feel it. Accomplishment is a natural high for loop. Some high achievers “are so fixated on
Mary H. Fontaine (Mary_Fontaine@ them. Just ask admitted overachiever Karin finding a shortcut to the goal,” he noted, “that
haygroup.com) is a vice president and Mayhew, who is senior vice president of organi- they may not be too particular about the
the managing director of Global Tal- zation effectiveness for Health Net, a large means they use to reach it.” In later work, he
ent and Leadership Services for Hay managed-care company. “I start to feel really argued that the most effective leaders were
Group in Boston. Ruth L. Malloy good,” she says of those moments when her primarily motivated by socialized power:
(Ruth_Malloy@haygroup.com) is the achievement drive kicks into high gear and she They channeled their efforts into helping oth-
director of research and technology feels a mounting sense of accomplishment. At ers be successful.
at the McClelland Center. such times, she says, she is excited and happy. We have continued McClelland’s research

harvard business review • june 2006 page 2

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 Leadership Run Amok

What’s Your Motivation?

A small set of motives, present to some extent in all people, helps explain how leaders behave. The motives generate needs,
which lead to aspirations, which in turn drive behavior.

ACHIEVEMENT AFFILIATION POWER

Personalized Power Socialized Power

When this Improve their personal Maintain close, friendly Be strong and influence Help people feel stronger
motive is performance and meet relationships others, making them and more capable
aroused in or exceed standards of feel weak
them, leaders excellence
experience a
need to:

As a result, Meet or surpass a Establish, restore, Perform powerful actions Perform powerful actions
they wish to: self-imposed standard or maintain warm
relationships

Accomplish something Be liked and accepted Control, influence, or Persuade people

new persuade people

Plan the long-term Participate in group Impress people inside or Impress people inside or
advancement of their activities, primarily for outside the company outside the company
careers social reasons
Generate strong positive Generate strong positive
or negative emotions in emotions in others
others

Maintain their reputations, Maintain their reputations,

positions, or strength positions, or strength

Give help, advice, or

support

These Micromanage Avoid confrontation Be coercive and ruthless Coach and teach
aspirations
lead them to: Try to do things or set Worry more about people Control or manipulate Be democratic and
the pace themselves than performance others involve others

Express impatience with Look for ways to create Manage up — that is, focus Be highly supportive
poor performers harmony more on making a good im-
pression than on managing
their subordinates

Give little positive Avoid giving negative Look out for their own Focus on the team or group
feedback feedback interests and reputations rather than themselves

Give few directions or Work through others; they

instructions enable others to do the
work rather than doing it
Cut corners themselves

Focus on goals and

outcomes rather than
people

harvard business review • june 2006 page 3

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 Leadership Run Amok

and assessment of managers’ and executives’ ing, and cutting corners. Organizational perfor-
motives (we have amassed data on more than mance and innovation improved, as can be
40,000 people). We show people a series of seen in the advance of the stock market and
pictures and ask them to write a story about the number of U.S. patents. But there was also
each. Experts score the stories for imagery a lapse in business ethics, and, as a result, more
that indicates the presence and strength of high-profile scandals and reduced public trust
one or more of the motives. Beginning in the in big corporations. (See the exhibit “So Is Cre-
mid-1990s, achievement scores began rising ativity, But....”)
dramatically, while the power drive declined
and affiliation stayed more or less steady. (See The Six Styles of Leadership
the exhibit “Achievement Is on the Rise.”) Despite the advantages of an achievement
We can’t say definitively what triggered the mentality, executives who are overly moti-
increase in achievement scores, but we believe vated to achieve can weaken a company’s or
it was driven by the organizational, market, group’s working climate and in turn its ability
and economic forces that were in play. The to perform well. That’s because a leader’s mo-
quality movement of the 1980s, for example, tives affect the way he or she leads. In our re-
with its emphasis on continuous improvement, search over the years, we’ve identified six
no doubt enhanced the value of high achiev- styles of leadership that managers and execu-
ers, who by nature want to continually im- tives use to motivate, reward, direct, and de-
prove. Then came recession and downsizing, velop others. These are directive, which entails
which brought an increased emphasis on strong, sometimes coercive behavior; vision-
short-term performance and growth. Again, ary, which focuses on clarity and communica-
both goals were a perfect fit for high achievers, tion; affiliative, which emphasizes harmony
who revel in the need for personal heroics and and relationships; participative, which is col-
the challenge of an ever-rising performance bar. laborative and democratic; pacesetting, which
Finally, the dot-com era transformed a large num- is characterized by personal heroics; and
ber of innovators and entrepreneurs—who coaching, which focuses on long-term develop-
tend to be highly motivated by achievement— ment and mentoring. (See the sidebar “The
into managers and executives. Right Leadership Style…Creates a Strong
Whatever the cause, the rise in scores coin- Work Climate.”)
cided with increases in several of McClelland’s There is no one best style of leadership. Each
other indicators of high achievement—in par- has its strengths and its limits. The directive ap-
ticular, economic growth, innovation, cheat- proach, for instance, is useful in crises or when
a leader must manage a poor performer, but
overuse stifles initiative and innovation. The
affiliative approach is appropriate in certain
high-stress situations or when employees are
Achievement Is on the Rise beset by personal crises, but it is most effective
We’ve seen a steady increase in the de- The affiliation motive has remained when used in conjunction with the visionary,
gree to which achievement is a motive fairly level. (The lines show average mo- participative, or coaching styles. Pacesetting
for managers and executives, while tive scores.) can get results in the short term, but it’s de-
power as a motivation has dropped. moralizing to employees and exhausting for ev-
eryone over the long haul.
The most effective leaders are adept at all six
leadership styles and use each when appropri-
Achievement ate. Typically, however, a manager defaults to
the styles he or she is most comfortable using,
a preference that reflects the person’s domi-
nant motive combined with the level of pres-
Affiliation
sure in the workplace. People motivated
mainly by achievement tend to favor paceset-
Power
ting in low-pressure situations but to become
directive when the pressure is on.
1988 2005 Jan, the achievement-driven lawyer, tried

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 Leadership Run Amok

to involve herself in every detail of her client When Luke learned that a subordinate who
work. She was never satisfied with others on disagreed with him about a critical business de-
her team and continually second-guessed cision had done an end run and was planning
them. She rewrote perfectly good reports, to speak to the chairman, Luke didn’t react an-
claiming they didn’t quite meet her stan- grily, as most people would. Instead, he offered
dards. As the pressure and work mounted, to coach the subordinate on how to effectively
she became even more demanding and con- approach his meeting with the chairman. He
trolling, confronting others and accusing was able to put aside the personal aspect of the
them of incompetence. situation and consider the big picture. As Luke
It’s not surprising that such pacesetting and told us: “I didn’t want him to hurt himself any
coercion have been shown to suppress work- more than he had already. I wanted him to
climate attributes that contribute to high per- learn, to benefit, to grow. I don’t know—
formance, including flexibility, responsibility, maybe he can have my job some day.”
team commitment, and the extent to which To look at how motives and leadership style
feedback and rewards are linked to perfor- affect a group’s climate and performance, we
mance. People high in socialized power, by studied 21 senior managers at IBM. All led
contrast, naturally gravitate to coaching in low- teams responsible for large global accounts
stress situations and become visionary under with multimillion-dollar revenue targets. We
pressure. Consider Luke, a senior executive we assessed each manager using a set of six at-
worked with who is known for his mentoring. tributes of a high-performing climate, such as
flexibility and clarity. Eleven of the managers
created climates that were seen by their direct
reports as strong or energizing. The other man-
So Is Creativity, But… agers created climates that were perceived by
their reports as neutral or demotivating. In just
As the achievement drive has risen at the same time, public trust in big cor-
one year, the teams with strong or energizing
among managers and executives, so has porations has sunk as the relentless
climates generated $711 million more in profit
the level of innovation, as measured by focus on results has led to unsavory be-
than did those with neutral or poor climates.
the number of U.S. patents issued. But havior on the part of some executives.
Achievement was the dominant driver for all
21 of these leaders. But the managers who cre-
ated strong or energizing climates also had far
Patents 189, 536
higher scores in both power and affiliation
than the other leaders. (See the exhibit “Pro-
files of Successful Leaders.”)
Among the leaders who created neutral
or demotivating climates, the dominant
style was pacesetting, which can drive short-
term growth, but at the expense of long-
term profitability. In fact, the teams with
68, 315
weaker climates did produce more short-
1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 term revenue growth than the others. But most
Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
of it came about through personal heroics—
leaders going out and doing deals them-
selves rather than building their organiza-
tions. The leaders who created high-performing
Percentage
of survey and energizing climates got more lasting re-
respondents sults by using a broad range of styles, choos-
11 expressing a
great deal of ing different styles for different circum-
confidence in stances. They were strong in the visionary,
big business
affiliative, participative, and coaching styles,
7
relying least on the directive and pace-
1997 1999 2001 2003 setting approaches. Rather than order peo-
Source: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research,
ple around or rely on personal heroics, they
University of Connecticut provided vision, sought buy-in and commit

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 Leadership Run Amok

The Right Leadership Style…Creates a Strong Work Climate

Each of the six leadership styles we’ve thority, such as within highly matrixed Standards represents the degree to
identified is appropriate to certain sit- organizations. It is favored under high- which people perceive that the com-
uations and settings; none is appropri- stress conditions by leaders with high pany emphasizes excellence—that the
ate to all. The most effective leaders affiliation drives. bar is set at a high but attainable mark,
know how to use the right style for the Pacesetting. This style involves and managers hold people account-
circumstances. leading by example and personal hero- able for doing their best. When stan-
Directive. This style entails com- ics. Executives using this style typically dards are strong, employees are confi-
mand-and-control behavior that at have high standards and make sure dent they can meet the company’s
times becomes coercive. When execu- those standards are met, even if they challenges.
tives use this approach, they tell peo- have to do the work themselves— Rewards is a reflection of whether
ple what to do, when to do it, and what which they frequently do. It can be ef- people feel they are given regular, ob-
will happen if they fail. It is appropri- fective in the short term, but it can de- jective feedback and are rewarded ac-
ate in crises and when poor perform- moralize employees over the long cordingly. While compensation and
ers must be managed, but it eventually haul. It is a typical go-to style for high formal recognition are important, the
stifles creativity and initiative. It is fa- achievers, at least under relatively low- main component is feedback that is
vored by high achievers under stress. stress conditions. immediate, specific, and directly
Visionary. This style is authoritative, Coaching. This style involves the ex- linked to performance.
but rather than simply telling people ecutive in long-term professional de- Clarity refers to whether people
what to do, the leader gains employees’ velopment and mentoring of employ- know what is expected of them and un-
support by clearly expressing their chal- ees. It’s a powerful but underused derstand how their efforts relate to or-
lenges and responsibilities in the context approach that should be part of any ganizational goals. In study after study,
of the organization’s overall direction leader’s regular repertoire. Leaders this dimension of climate has been
and strategy. This makes goals clear, in- who score high on the socialized- shown to have the strongest link to
creases employee commitment, and en- power motive prefer it under low- productivity. Without clarity, the other
ergizes a team. It is commonly used by stress conditions. elements of climate often suffer. Lead-
people with a high personalized-power We’ve also identified six factors that ers who create high clarity often rely
drive under low-stress situations and contribute to performance by affecting heavily on the visionary, participative,
people with a high socialized-power the workplace climate—how it feels to and coaching styles.
drive when stress is high. work in a particular area for a particu- Team commitment is the extent to
Affiliative. Leaders with this style lar manager. A leader’s behavior which people are proud to belong to a
emphasize the employee and his or heavily influences the degree to which team or organization and believe that
her emotional needs over the job. They each of these factors is present and is a everyone is working toward the same
tend to avoid conflict. The approach is positive influence. objectives. The more widely shared the
effective when a manager is dealing Flexibility reflects employees’ per- team’s values are, and the greater its
with employees who are in the midst ceptions about whether rules and pro- commitment to performance, the
of personal crises or in high-stress situ- cedures are really needed or are higher the team’s pride.
ations such as layoffs. It is most effec- merely red tape. It also reflects the ex- A climate with high levels of stan-
tive when used in combination with vi- tent to which people believe they can get dards, clarity, and team commitment
sionary, participative, or coaching new ideas accepted. In high-performance and at most one gap in the other di-
styles. It is seldom effective alone. climates, flexibility is high. mensions is very strong. A climate
Participative. This style of leader- Responsibility means the degree to with no significant gaps in standards,
ship is collaborative and democratic. which people feel free to work without clarity, or team commitment and two
Executives using this style engage oth- asking their managers for guidance at gaps in the other factors is still ener-
ers in the decision-making process. It’s every turn. In high-performing climates, gizing to employees. Any more gaps,
great for building trust and consensus, people feel they have a lot of responsibil- and the climate is neutral or demoti-
especially when the team consists of ity. When high achievers overuse the di- vating. In such an environment, peo-
highly competent individuals and rective and pacesetting styles, as they ple tend to do only the minimum re-
when the leader has limited knowl- often do, they limit or destroy flexibility quired, and performance suffers.
edge or lacks formal power and au- and responsibility within a group.

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 Leadership Run Amok

ment, and coached their people. They were people understand the big picture and see how
also more collaborative, building consensus the pieces might fit together.
among those they led. Often, it takes a nudge from someone to get
the transformation moving. Consider Rooney
Recognizing Your Motives Anand, CEO of Greene King, one of the UK’s
The good news about achievers is that when most successful brewing and pub companies.
given a goal, they pull out all the stops to As a young marketing manager in an organiza-
reach it—even if the goal is to manage their tion that put a premium on results, Anand
achievement drive. For an overachiever seek- found himself becoming increasingly aggres-
ing to broaden his or her range, the first step is sive and demanding. He saw the need to
to become aware of how motives influence change when a fellow manager said to him,
leadership style. “I’ve met your type before. Normally they’re
Karin Mayhew, the Health Net executive, is not very nice people. But you’re actually a
a pacesetting manager by nature. She didn’t great bloke when you’re not working. So what
understand the value of influencing others is your problem?” Family and friends may also
(rather than doing everything herself) until, as let you know; our motives, after all, don’t shut
an internal consultant for a telecommunica- down when we leave work.
tions firm, she was asked to facilitate discus- If you’re seeking to assess yourself as a man-
sions between management and labor. For ager, there are calibrated tools for measuring the
once, she had to be invisible. Forced to bite her three leadership motives, but you can get a good
tongue, she perceived that she could step out sense of which drive is dominant in you simply
of the role of content expert and help other by examining the activities you like and why.

Profiles of Successful Leaders

When we studied 21 senior managers at Managers Who Created Managers Who Created
IBM, we found that 11 of them created Strong or Energizing Work Climates Neutral or Demotivating Climates
strong or energizing work climates. These
leaders were driven primarily by the desire
to achieve, but they were also driven more MOTIVES
by the need for affiliation and power than
the other executives, who created neutral or Achievement 63 65 Average
demotivating climates. percentiles
(for example, on
Moreover, the 11 managers employed at Affiliation 43 23 the achievement
least four of the six leadership styles de- motive, 65% of
managers in our
scribed in this article, using each when ap- Power 42 29 global database
scored at or
propriate to the circumstances. IBM has in- below the
corporated these leaders’ behaviors into a average for this
group of IBM
new competency model. managers)
LEADERSHIP STYLES

Directive 26 45

Visionary 80 40

Affiliative 76 41

Participative 71 46

Pacesetting 48 75

Coaching 71 40

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 Leadership Run Amok

• People with high achievement drives McAlister’s solutions were often well
tend to like challenging projects that allow founded. He stayed ahead of the industry’s in-
them to accomplish something new. It may be formation curve, regularly rising before dawn
as simple as stamp collecting or as difficult as to study the latest market trends. But by al-
getting a PhD in history. One executive we’re ways providing the answers, he stifled the
working with is spending all of his spare time input and creativity of his team members. He
training for a spot on a Senior Olympics swim didn’t realize this until his manager told him.
team. They also like to outperform people In classic achievement mode, McAlister in-
who represent a high standard of excellence. stantly turned his energy toward transforming
Achievers tend to be utilitarian in their com- his leadership. With the help of a coach, he
munication—often brief and to the point. began studying his own actions, trying to de-
• Those high in affiliation are energized by termine why he behaved as he did. He also
personal relationships. They like to spend time monitored his behavior with his team, peers,
with family and friends and are attracted to and manager, asking them to give honest feed-
group activities, largely for the opportunities back. Much of what he learned was unex-
to build relationships. They make heavy use of pected and, initially, difficult to swallow. At
the phone and e-mail just to stay connected. one point, he was describing his daily routine.
• People mainly motivated by personalized A deeply spiritual man, McAlister spoke of tak-
power need to feel strong and to be seen as ing time each day for prayer. When he was
important. They tend to be driven by status asked how much time he spent talking to God
and image. They often seek status symbols and how much time listening, he realized that
(the right car, neighborhood, clothes) and en- even in his spiritual life he was focused on his
gage in prestigious activities (dining at the own agenda. “Of course,” he groaned, “I’m al-
We’ve seen very talented right club with the right circle of friends). ways talking.”
• Individuals mainly driven by socialized Next, he adopted specific new behaviors.
leaders crash and burn power enjoy making a positive impact. They Rather than issue a set of directives on sales
get satisfaction from helping people feel stron- targets, for instance, he engaged his team in a
as they put ever more ger and more capable; they’re often energized discussion of how to achieve the goals. He
pressure on their by team activities. They like to advise and as- consciously tried to listen and not jump to
sist, whether or not the advice is wanted or conclusions—a continuing struggle, though
employees and needed. Such people are often attracted to the behavior is becoming more natural with
themselves to produce. teaching or politics and tend to be charismatic time and practice. He still slides into paceset-
leaders. ting from time to time. When a sales rep e-
mailed him about closing on an important
Managing and Exercising Your new contract, an excited McAlister fired back
Motives with a list of the next steps she should imme-
Even trickier and more important than recog- diately take. It was only after he’d hit the
nizing an overactive drive to achieve is figur- “send” key that he realized his error. “I’d just
ing out how to channel that drive into new be- laid out the plan instead of coaching her,” he
haviors and continually practice them until said. The new McAlister took steps to set
they become almost second nature. Dean things right: He quickly sent a second mes-
McAlister, a senior pharmaceuticals sales di- sage, congratulating her and telling her to
rector with AstraZeneca, found himself pro- come up with her own plan. It’s a testament
moted to a management position early in his to his shift in behavior that his team recently
career. Like Greene King’s Anand, he was tal- was honored for being the first region to at-
ented, sincere, and hardworking, and at times tain market leadership with three of Astra-
he drove people crazy. While he took pride in Zeneca’s top drugs.
his high-achievement approach, others saw Like McAlister, Anand also still works to
him as arrogant, impatient, and manipulative. be aware of his achievement drive and to
“Dean was known for his 3 AM e-mails,” said consciously change his behavior when it
one colleague. “That was his normal pace— starts to overtake him. For example, he had a
everything was a priority.” Said another: “He habit of challenging people during meetings.
outlined a problem, and before we could dis- “My passion and desire to sort problems out,
cuss it, he solved it himself.” to rectify things, still kicks in,” he says. “As a

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 Leadership Run Amok

result of my behavior, the team becomes company into a flatter, matrix-driven organiza-
cranky or shuts down. It’s taken me quite a tion, he sought managers who would orches-
long time to learn.” So now he’ll often re- trate and enable rather than command and
frain from saying what’s on his mind, but control. He knew IBM needed to move away
he’ll make a note to take up the matter after from its culture of personal heroics and indi-
the meeting. With time and effort, he says, vidual achievement and begin valuing social-
episodes of achievement overdrive have be- ized power and managers who pay attention to
come less and less frequent for him. the greater needs of the company.
Karin Mayhew has consciously chosen to As part of that transformation, we assessed
limit her comments on an idea to a couple of the motives and leadership styles of 2,000 IBM
minutes or less and tries to put them in the managers, including the top 300 leaders. We
context of the organization and business. She found an achievement-oriented culture in
has also trained herself to ask a lot of open- which executives focused on their own depart-
ended questions (”How can I help?”) in an ef- ments or divisions, even if doing so had a nega-
fort to draw people into the conversation. “I’ve tive impact on performance in other parts of
learned to find my ‘pause’ button and drive the the organization. Their client focus, too, was
agenda by asking questions and having others achievement driven: Managers often found
take the lead,” she says. themselves devoting more time and energy to
Another trick is to look to other areas of making the sale than understanding the cus-
your life to satisfy your achievement drive. tomer’s needs. The dominant leadership style,
One executive, recognizing that his need to which reflected this emphasis on individual
succeed was getting in the way of his effective- achievement, was pacesetting, and the climate
ness at work, refocused his drive on building lacked a number of the attributes that contrib-
The good news about violins at home on the weekends. Of course, he ute to high performance, especially in the
didn’t just turn out run-of-the-mill instru- areas of flexibility, rewards, clarity, and, most
achievers is that when ments; his were exquisite pieces of art, one of notably, team commitment.
which was played by a friend in the Boston Among the executives we interviewed, how-
given a goal, they pull Symphony. Another executive turned to restor- ever, was a small but highly successful group
out all the stops—even if ing antique sports cars. that led very differently. They exhibited a drive
Mayhew now channels her achievement to achieve, but they worked through others,
the goal is to manage drive toward her home and family. She regu- created strong teams, provided coaching, and
their achievement drive. larly prepares elaborate, multicourse Sunday focused on increasing the capability of the
night dinners. Although these events are a whole organization, not just their depart-
great deal of work, she finds the dinners exhila- ments. IBM incorporated these behaviors into
rating and energizing, and the effort gives her a competency model that over the next eight
a sense of satisfaction in what she’s achieved, a years was used to select, develop, and promote
tonic for the coming workweek. leaders. The company also created a group to
develop and coach managers and executives in
Changing the Culture the desired new behaviors. More important,
While behavior is the responsibility of the in- Gerstner and his team used everything from
dividual, organizations play a role, if some- public praise to stock options to reward the
times unintentionally, in influencing execu- new behaviors.
tives’ actions. Some companies unabashedly Two years ago, when we returned to assist
create cultures that foster and reward the IBM in recalibrating the competency model,
achievement-at-all-costs mentality. Most or- we found a very different leadership culture.
ganizations are less calculating; they simply Gone was the combative, turf protecting, isola-
select and promote high achievers for their tionist attitude. In its place was an emerging
obvious assets, let nature take its course, and culture of collaboration and team leadership—
then look the other way as long as the num- a culture that balanced influencing and help-
bers are good. ing others with the drive to achieve. Although
But companies can redirect their focus and the motives of the leaders had not changed
still achieve good numbers. In the early 1990s, (the executives were still very high achievers),
when CEO Lou Gerstner set out to regain their behavior had. The coaching style, mea-
IBM’s market dominance by transforming the sured through surveys of their direct reports,

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 Leadership Run Amok

had increased by 17%, while pacesetting had that uses socialized power to keep achieve-
decreased by 5%. ment in check.
Of course, a high achievement drive is still
a source of strength. But companies must Reprint R0606D
learn when to draw on it and when to rein it Harvard Business Review OnPoint 4486
in. The challenge for managers today, then, To order, see the next page
is to return some of the balance McClelland or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500
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 Further Reading
Leadership Run Amok is also part of the
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Harvard Business Review
October 2003
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