Absence of Leadership

Bill Walsh had only one objective when he arrived in San Francisco to take over the 49ers in 1977.

After waiting a long time for his head coaching opportunity, Walsh was certain of his approach even though it was unconventional. Walsh wasn’t going to discuss winning games or how long before a championship would arrive in the Bay Area.

He wasn’t interested in taking the same pathway as others. His foundational principle was the full and total implementation throughout the organization of his Standard of Performance actions and attitudes.

These 17 principles were his teaching manual. Walsh was obsessed with ensuring everyone on his staff and the organization understood and acted accordingly.

As a leader, do you have a performance standard for your team? Do you discuss the level of performance that everyone must reach? Without strict standards set, developed, maintained, and enforced by the leader, the organization will operate as independent contractors.

When organizations are void of standards, they start toward the unknown and venture alone. We saw this last week in Washington.

Eric Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, was in the unknown last week. In part because Head Coach Ron Rivera went to the media to alert them that some players complained about Bieniemy’s demanding coaching style.

Rivera said players felt that Bieniemy was being too hard on them, and he urged them to discuss the situation with Bieniemy directly. When Rivera wanted the players to pass their complaints along to Bieniemy, he revealed that there are no standards under his leadership. He revealed he was more of a manager than a leader.

Remember, managers do things right, and leaders do the right thing. In theory, Rivera is “The Guardian of Winning” for Washington, and everything that occurs on or off the field reflects the mandates he sets forth. When there are no mandates, there is a complete absence of leadership.

Even though Bieniemy runs one-third of the Washington football team — he cannot install the performance standard, as that must come from the leader.

Organizations require total buy-in to win, and chaos ensues when there are different standards or no standards. Organizations come together on a shared purpose and how everyone can contribute to the standard set forth by the leader.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, as the company was on the brink of disaster, they had over 20 products in the marketplace. Jobs instituted the standard of “insanely great.” Unless a product met the standard of “insanely great,” Apple scratched the production.

Jobs set the direction for Apple, he explained the standard in two simple words, and no one was confused. Those two words demonstrated Apple had someone in charge of the company.

Rivera walked back his comments and claimed he spoke without thinking.

As Patrick Dodson once said: “Leadership is an elusive concept, hard to describe and impossible to prescribe. It is more evident in its absence so that when leadership is needed, its lack is sorely felt.”