People Acumen and Legacy Leadership:

Jay Newman, PhD Founding Partner, Culture By Choice™

We must begin this discussion with a definition of the term, People Acumen. The word acumen means to have the ability to make good judgements and sound decisions, and to do this in a timely manner. Therefore, People Acumen is the ability to make good judgements and sound decisions quickly when dealing with people.  If a leader is going to have an impact on the legacy of a company, that leader will need to really “get people.” If leaders are continuously misreading the intentions and motivations of their people, they will meet with constant push-back on the major initiatives they try to put in place.

One of the biggest mistakes that leaders often make, is believing that people see you one way when they really see you in the opposite way. If you are a very domineering person and you believe that people see you as a warm, friendly, supportive person; the product of those erroneous beliefs can be catastrophic for the organization and for your leadership. The most predominant reason why leaders fail to accurately see how they are perceived by others stems from their biases. We all have biases. It is impossible to eliminate them. It is our biases that allow us to discriminate between possibilities and that is essential if we are to ever succeed at anything. However, if we have these biases but deny that they exist, that is where our problems begin.

To improve our People Acumen requires that we recognize our biases and “out them.” If we let them lurk in the background, they can hurt others and in so doing truly hurt ourselves. Our biases allow us to quickly determine our preferences, which can be a good thing but when left unchecked, those same biases can keep us from discovering the possibilities that exist all around us. It is these biases that prevent us from really “getting” people. We have our preset notions for how people ought to look, talk, act, and think. When someone deviates from our expectation, our biases tell us to dislike, distrust, or even fear the person. The function of discrimination is to protect. Our biases help us discriminate in the hopes that we will be protected. The downside is that we dramatically limit the possibilities if we eliminate all diversity from our world of experience.

If we look at our own biases, our own likes and dislikes with respect to the people in our world, we can begin to discover how diverse the people in our world really are. Look at the people you like and then look at the people you do not like. How are these people different from you and from one another? If I do this exercise for myself, I find that I like people who are goal directed and polite. I do not like people that talk on for hours about who knows what they are talking about! I find that my mind keeps drifting away and I get embarrassed because I have no idea what they just said, and they just asked me if I agree. Dangerous place to be. I can’t agree on something when I have no clue what they said. So, my bias against people who talk too much (a very biased view of these people) can keep me from really understanding a person like that. So, now if I need to communicate to that person, my bias will tell me to get to the point. Give them a bullet pointed, direct to the heart of the matter explanation of only what is required. The most likely reaction to my communication; wow, what a cold fish. Now we have my bias against the other person’s bias. Not good for the organization.

How do we get beyond this? It happens all the time. The factor we are told about, more than any other, when talking about problems in any organization is communication. People think there is not enough, but the truth is most communication is just ineffective. It’s really like various groups of people are speaking different languages and those people won’t understand unless we raise the volume. We believe that there are at least 15 different languages being used in any English-speaking organization. A few of these languages are: Dynamo, Networker, Coach, Technician, Formalist, and Analyst. Even though these 6 people all might speak English, the way they use the English language will be quite different. If I want to lead effectively, I must either become proficient at each language or have someone there to interpret what the person using a different language is saying. Otherwise, my Results Driven style will not be able to understand what these other styles are saying.

Acquiring People Acumen requires that I recognize my biases and then celebrate the differences that exist between my preferred style and the style of others. With 15 different styles, there is a very good chance that our organization will be interacting with other organizations that have a different mix of styles than what we find in our organization. If the livelihood of our organization is dependent upon doing business with that other organization, my business better learn how to speak their language. Similarly, within my organization, we had all better learn how to communicate with each other. Being a Legacy Leader means recognizing my biases and not letting them deter me from the important work I must do. That important work stems from our values and principles and most organizations perform much better when there is alignment between the actions taken and the values and principles upon which the organization was founded.

The power of biases is so strong that they can keep a person from becoming a Legacy Leader. Here’s how that happens. Many leaders say to themselves I can’t take the time to learn how all these other people do things and communicate. I’m just one person, they can all learn my way. In other words, my time is more valuable than their time. I end up with a bias about my own bias. My bias is more important to accommodate than anyone else’s. And if everyone is thinking the same way? Well there you have it. No Legacy Culture and no Legacy Leaders. Taking the time to learn how others do things, how they think, and how they speak is fundamental to becoming a Legacy Leader. People Acumen is an absolute requirement for any Legacy Leader.