Understanding Executive Intelligence

By Justin Menkes

Executive intelligence, according to Menkes, is demonstrated by three aptitudes: the accomplishment of tasks; working with and through other people; and judging oneself and adapting accordingly. In last month’s Farm Forum, you were introduced to the first two aptitudes. This month you’ll read about the third aptitude as well as the individual skills that make up executive intelligence.

Being smart about yourself

In 25 years at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CEO Tom Priselac prided himself on his personal relationships with the hospital staff. “My closeness to the organization had served me well in that people were comfortable in giving me information,” he says. So he was distressed to learn that the administration’s efforts to introduce what it considered positive changes in the nursing staff’s retirement plan were in fact fueling a drive among nurses to unionize.

Although he had long used employee-satisfaction surveys and followed traditional best practices for tracking employee attitudes, he was actually quite out of touch with many people, including both new staff and long-time employees with whom he hadn’t maintained close relationships. “People did not know me,” he says. “I began to lose the value of the frankness these connections gave me.”

He began an aggressive organization-wide effort called “Lessons Learned” to find out how the executive team, managers, and staff had grown so far apart and what would mend relations. “I changed the way I am visible in the organization, meeting privately and with small groups of directors, managers, and employees, both old and new, in a much more frequent and focused way. The purpose was to create the right kind of venue to have the right kind of contact with people. By doing this on a regular basis, a continuing dialogue has developed, and it has created a more effective feedback loop.”

Two years later, not only did employee surveys show a 30 percent increase in satisfaction, but the union that had been attempting to organize the nurses withdrew. Priselac engineered an impressive turnaround in part through his own earnest efforts to uncover and then use information that revealed errors in his own judgment.

Leaders must integrate the suggestions or criticisms of others, recognize changing circumstances, and adapt accordingly. Priselac pulled himself back from the worst problem many executives have: They can’t stand to be wrong.

If you’re like most executives, you’re thinking: “Not me – I welcome dialogue.” It’s easy to say that. It’s far harder to live up to that ideal. In today’s environment, you constantly have to make on-the-spot decisions with limited information. Even the sharpest executive makes frequent mistakes. The important thing is to actively seek out and welcome information that identifies flaws in your own thinking or actions. If you lack executive intelligence about yourself – and resist suggestions that force you to reconsider your own thinking – you will never make the best decisions.

In fact, you should actively try to put yourself in situations where the people around you will challenge you. Will you sometimes feel defensive? Yes. But you must recognize your mistakes without being blinded by your own reaction to being wrong.

Executive intelligence, not magic

Have you ever heard someone say, “I liked that guy as soon as he walked in the room because he looked the part – he looked like a CEO”? As Peter Drucker knew, that’s nonsense. Some people are extroverted, some are introverted, some are likeable, and others are jerks. None of that determines who is an effective leader. What drives that is the respect a leader earns for doing an effective job. Essentially, people say, “You take us to the right place over and over, and I’ll follow you to the end of the earth. But if you lead us into messes, I wouldn’t follow you for very long.”

Great leaders are not magicians. But thanks to their executive intelligence they do think differently, and that’s what matters most.

Individual skills that make up executive intelligence

Regarding tasks, great leaders:

Appropriately define a problem and differentiate essential objectives from less relevant concerns.
Anticipate likely obstacles to achieving objectives and identify sensible means to circumvent them.
Critically examine the accuracy of the underlying assumptions being relied on.
Articulate strengths and weaknesses of the suggestions or arguments posed by others.
Recognize what is known about an issue, what more needs to be known, and how best to obtain the relevant and accurate information needed.
Use multiple perspectives to identify likely unintended consequences of various action plans.

Regarding people, great leaders:

Recognize the conclusions that can and cannot be drawn from a particular exchange.
Recognize the likely underlying agendas and motivations of individuals and groups that are involved in a situation.
Anticipate the likely emotional reactions of individuals to actions or communications.
Accurately identify the core issues and perspectives that are central to a conflict.
Appropriately consider the probable effects and likely unintended consequences that may result from taking a particular course of action.
Recognize and balance the different needs of all relevant stakeholders.

Regarding themselves, great leaders:

Pursue and encourage feedback that may reveal an error in judgment and then make appropriate adjustments.
Demonstrate an ability to recognize their own personal biases or limitations in perspective, and use this understanding to improve their own thinking and plans for action.
Recognize when serious flaws in their own ideas or actions require swift public acknowledgement of the mistake and a dramatic change in direction.
Appropriately articulate the essential flaws in the arguments of others and reiterate the strengths of their own positions.
Recognize when it is appropriate to resist the objections of others and remain committed to a sound course of action.

(Reprinted with permission from Justin Menkes, managing director of the Executive Intelligence Group, which is a partner with Spencer Stuart in Los Angeles. He is the author of Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have.)

Posted: Friday, March 21, 2008 12:00:00 AM. Modified: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 8:27:52 AM.

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