Measure of a Leader
By Aubrey C. Daniels and James E. Daniels
Reviewed by Monica Regan

Here’s a story I would like to hear: A church pastor, a gang member, and a Fortune 500 executive leave these occupations (if only temporarily) to team up and open a number of successful restaurants. The enterprise inspires and amazes people until someone gets caught doing something he shouldn’t. Alas, the harsh light of prosecution reveals some ugly truths behind the partnership.

Actually, this tale happens to be true. It made headlines because the former gang member is now behind bars, convicted of defrauding employees, vendors and lenders. A number of the restaurants had to be closed, and lawsuits were in progress. But, in a brief news story no mention was made of the fates of the minister or the former Starbucks executive. Common sense begs the questions: Aren’t all three of these men responsible, and weren’t there plenty of clues before it got this bad? A documentary or book would focus on the personalities and the dramatic moments, but the actual unraveling of the enterprise was probably far less interesting.

Authors Aubrey and James Daniels suggest that the day-to-day processes in an organization, not the black ink or the personal styles of leadership, reveal early clues to its success or failure. In Measure of a Leader: The Legendary Leadership Formula for Producing Exceptional Performers and Outstanding Results (McGraw-Hill, 2007), they point out that close attention to processes—and behavior that results from those processes—reveals the health of an organization.

In an extension of his well-known work in positive reinforcement, Aubrey Daniels and his co-author advise leaders to use this approach constantly. They expand the discussion by describing how a leader can (and should) consistently measure his or her impact.

The authors begin with the famous ABC (antecedent, behavior, consequence) approach to behavior. Positive reinforcement works by first seeing punishment as minimally effective. It is the antecedent that encourages poor performance (behavior), which brings poor results (consequence). This approach does not view punishment as an effective tool to correct unwanted behavior. Rather, it sees punishment as a tool that a leader uses, in effect, to scoop up after employees after they’ve “done their business.”

So, the writers offer their PIC/NIC Analysis® as a tool to measure leaders’ effectiveness. These acronyms label consequences as either positive, immediate and certain (PIC) or negative, immediate and certain (NIC). Additional labels are used for future and uncertain consequences. The problem is that PICs most often are not built into the daily work process, so leaders must “overlay” them on the work process.

Many workplace rewards, such as a promotion or a yearly bonus, offer the employee positive, but future and uncertain consequences (PFU). Though positive, they do little to impact the immediate suffering, for example, of the customer service rep who faces dozens of angry customers in a poorly-planned service line. She might manage to think, “bonus, bonus, bonus” during the first few interactions of a chaotic day, but the twentieth angry face will likely divert her thoughts to lunchtime, or getting a new job.

The least effective consequence, of course, is the NFU, a negative event, uncertain in nature, that the employee won’t face until later. The service rep, for instance, is unlikely to spend much time thinking about a threat of “a good talking to” for poor performance from the supervisor who goes over customer complaints once a month.

Daniels and Daniels’ general guidelines for testing a leader’s effect on followers include behaviors such as the followers’ willingness to deliver discretionary effort and make sacrifices for the leader’s cause. They notably exclude personality traits and focus instead on leader actions and attitudes. The leadership assessment also includes identifying a series of specific follower behaviors. These include:

  • Momentum: How many followers answer the leader’s call; how quickly do they respond; and how closely do their behaviors match the leader’s priorities?

  • Commitment: How many people relate their efforts to the leader’s vision, and how persistent are they in their commitment to the vision?

  • Initiative: How frequently do individuals assist their peers or units actively help other unites; and how many employee suggestions support the mission or vision?

  • Reciprocity: How often do followers take responsibility for mistakes, or ask the leader for advice/counsel; and how many become leaders?

The remaining chapters of the book give practical advice on how to motivate followers, get them engaged in the leader’s vision, create and maintain excitement, cultivate commitment, and increase initiative. Discussions include numerous examples, serving two purposes. They clarify the explanation and demonstrate the concept operating in the real world.

Readers will find this book a valuable addition to their libraries both for its engaging style and the fairly simple tools it offers.

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