The Inwardly Sound Leader

Having worked with over 150 leadership teams and 1,200 leaders, I can say with confidence that nothing influences business success more than trust. Organizational research supports this conclusion: trust is the mechanism through which leadership influences performance.^[1] There are certainly other drivers that can motivate short-term results, but sustainable, long-term success finds its origin in environments that are built on, and sustained by, trust.

When working with an executive team, I can usually tell within the first hour of an offsite if the team has a chance of becoming a high-performing team. In reality, I typically intuit the likelihood of success during my very first discovery call with the CEO. How is that so? Because the leader determines the level of trust on his team, and that trust begins with his humility and vulnerability.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins contends that the most influential leaders are quietly humble, not loudly heroic. The leader’s humility and vulnerability don’t weaken his leadership—they strengthen it by revealing his true nature, his person, his humanity. A leader who is vulnerable demonstrates to his team that it’s okay not to wear a “mask of competency”. Rather, trust is strengthened when all members of a team can freely admit weaknesses, ask for help, apologize and defer to each other’s strengths. An environment of trust like this leads to better debate and decision-making, true commitment and accountability, and superior results.

In helping leaders practice and experience vulnerability-based trust, I’ve come to realize that everyone has a vulnerability threshold. It seems, however, that some of us are more naturally able to reveal the more personal, raw side of who we are. This is largely a function of our God-given personality, our innate preferences, and our life story. But our ability to be “real” is also a byproduct of our personal maturity, or level of inner wellbeing. Said differently, who I am as a person and how I see myself, has a significant impact on my influence as a leader.

Leadership expert John Maxwell teaches that influence is earned by progressing through five levels, ending with “pinnacle”—an influence based on who you are and what you represent.^[2] The research of Tim Spiker builds on this idea. In his book The Only Leaders Worth Following, Spiker makes the case that the effective leader is the “inwardly sound” leader. His research shows that 77% of leadership effectiveness is driven by the who—the character and internal qualities of a leader—rather than by what they do (skills, tactics, strategies). “Inwardly sound” is defined by six key attributes^[3]:

1.     Secure & Settled

2.     Self-Aware

3.     Principled

4.     Holistically Healthy

5.     Purposeful

6.     Emotionally Mature

The leader who develops each of these critical attributes will experience greater leadership effectiveness, not to mention personal fulfillment and satisfaction. From my experience, the most influential of these attributes is “secure and settled”, or as I would describe it: being clear and confident in my true identity.

Knowing who you are (and truly appreciating your person) apart from your profession, role and title is essential to being an inwardly sound leader. This includes accepting yourself for who you are, deficiencies and all; not needing others’ acceptance to accept yourself; and having a deep sense of certainty as to “why do I matter?”

For those of us who espouse a spiritual faith, our identity is rooted in who God says we are. There can be an inner steadfastness, or personal grounding for the leader who is able to truly live into what he believes spiritually. Living Influence Leadership^[4] is a resource for leaders who want to align their leadership influence with the foundation of their faith and personal significance. But even for those without a religious faith, grappling with personal identity and character issues is essential for the leader who wants to maximize his potential.

When a leader’s role and position exceed the maturity of their character, that’s when people can, and do, get hurt; not to mention the devastating, lasting impact on the leader’s reputation. In The Ascent of a Leader, Thrall, McNicol and McElrath describe the leader who instead chooses to prioritize maturing her character and inner life over maximizing external capacity and competence. Her character “forms the bases for the best kind of influence—the kind that enables us to love, to teach truth, and to create a better world for those all around us.”^[5]

The impact of such leaders is hard to quantify because “when the going becomes rough, they have perspectives and belief systems about themselves and life that anchor them. As a result, they are capable of providing safe harbor for those they lead, even in the midst of turmoil.”^[6] They are trusted by their employees, both in their authority (as the leader) and in their character (their person).

In environments of trust, employees feel safe. When people feel safe, they offer more of themselves—their unique gifts, passions and creativity. Leaders who are comfortable with who they are inside (settled in their core identity) are then able to genuinely invite others to experience the significance of who they are, which, in turn, frees them to live more authentically. The results for the team and organization including:

•       More and better ideas, freely shared

•       Honest dialogue and debate to get to solutions

•       Better decisions, grounded in objectivity

•       Greater alignment and accountability

•       Team members who are maturing as leaders and people!

I regularly remind the leaders I work with that they are the key to the health and success of the business they lead. Environments and relationships of trust drive performance, and it starts with a leader who is trustworthy. Becoming a leader who is trusted by her employees--in good times and in very difficult and uncertain times—requires being inwardly settled, secure, and comfortable in her own skin!

If this doesn’t describe you right now, that’s okay. Don’t put even more pressure on yourself to be something you’re not! Instead, seek out a trusted friend with whom you can be completely real—where you can share the worst about yourself and the response is acceptance and grace. You may end up choosing to pursue professional coaching or counseling down the road, but for now, make this your first simple step towards becoming an inwardly sound leader whom others can trust.

^[1] See Dirks & Ferrin, “Trust in Leadership,” Journal of Applied Psychology (2002), and Mayer, Davis and  Schoorman, “An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust,” Academy of Management Review (1995).

^[2] John C. Maxwell, The 5 Levels of Leadership (Center Street, 2011)

^[3] Tim Spiker, The Only Leaders Worth* Following (The Aperio, 2020), 31

^[4] www.livinginfluenceleadership.com

^[5] Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, Ken McElrath, The Ascent of a Leader (Jossey-Bass, 1999), 135

^[6] Spiker, The Only Leaders, 66