If all of these matters fitted together perfectly, or if ethical considerations were clear in all cases, we probably wouldnt have a class addressing the matter. What is important, and what you will receive the most credit for, is your analysis of the situation and the facts surrounding it. the purposes of this, the rules, regulations, or laws of an organization or department of government dont matter. Youre the ethical boss; you have the power to make it right if it is not. What matters is what you think is the correct ethical approach, and whether or not your conclusions are supported by clear, persuasive, and convincing points and arguments in favor of one position or another. Discussing both sides of an issue will gain more credit than examining only one side of it because often, if not always, theres more than one side to a problem. The reasoning is more important than the exact conclusion, so long as your conclusion is not actually without ethical foundation. After all, you may in future have to explain your ethical conclusions to others occupying positions of higher decision-making authority, so it makes sense that your ethical analyses and conclusions have firm foundation and must be clear, persuasive, and convincing
Scenario:
A GRAVELY ILL CHILD
Officer Barry Watson is a Community Services/Crime Prevention Officer for the police department in a Hampton Roads city. Sometimes, he doubles as a School Resource Officer at the elementary school his children attend when the SRO routinely assigned there has another commitment or duty assignment in the neighborhood. He and his family live one block from the school. He has lots of contacts, and has worked in his assigned area for about five years; the family is well-regarded and popular in the neighborhood and in the school and business communities.
A couple of weeks ago, Officer Watson and his wife, Nancy, were informed by their pediatrician that Sheila, their seven-year-old daughter, has developed childhood leukemia. Sheila hasnt been feeling well for a while, and extensive tests recently completed have informed the diagnosis. There is a silver lining to this bad news, however. Her illness was discovered in its early stage, and is of a type that is very responsive to treatment. Officer Watsons health insurance coverage he has through his city employment will cover a very large portion of the medical costs, but will not pay for transportation, lodging, meals, and related expenses. Both the local Childrens Hospital of the Kings Daughters and Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, DC would require only a short commute or a days drive at most for Sheilas treatment, but doctors at both hospitals have indicated that researchers at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis were the first to develop a successful treatment for Sheilas type of childhood leukemia, and they have the most experience and success in treating it. St. Jude quickly accepted Sheila as a patient. Unfortunately, Memphis is hundreds of miles from Hampton Roads, and multiple trips for Sheilas many necessary treatments are extremely impractical for the Watsons. In addition, it is likely that the time that the Watsons need to spend with their daughter during her treatment will exceed by a considerable amount the family medical and other leave that Officer Watson and his wife have available through their employment. While St. Jude patients and their families are not expected to pay for hospitalization and treatment, and routinely cover incidental expenses of families, loss of family income is not covered, and the Watsons want to avoid imposing on the generosity of the hospital unless it becomes necessary.
Many organizations and members of the community have become aware of Sheilas diagnosis and of the fact that her needs will be best met in a research and clinical environment that specializes in childhood cancers. The business and residential communities have come together to raise money to assist with expenses. Yard sales, car washes, impromptu flea markets, and donation drums have appeared all over the city, and the local community newspaper has encouraged donations through its publication. The generosity of the community has overwhelmed the Watson family, and the money collected so far is projected to possibly exceed the amount that the Watsons will need for their transportation and other expenses in Memphis. Informed of this, the Watsons participated in a brief news conference in which they stated that any remaining sum of money in excess of their actual expenses would be deposited in a bank trust account for other children in the community whose parents need assistance to pay medical bills for life-saving treatment.
When Officer Watson reported for duty a couple of days ago, his supervisor advised him that the precinct commander wanted to meet with him as soon as possible. During the meeting, Captain Baines stated that the city attorney had issued a legal opinion that said that a provision of the citys human resources ordinance appeared to prohibit employees from accepting any form of benefit connected to their employment, or associated with the fact of their employment, other than their salary and leave donation from other city employees. He went on to explain that the city attorney stated that the citys comprehensive employees health insurance policy provisions were designed to eliminate the need for outside public contributions from any source for family medical expenses. Captain Baines apologized for having to deliver this bad news and said, further, that neither he nor senior police management were in agreement with the city attorneys ruling, but that it must be complied with. Captain Baines suggested that Officer Watson speak with his police union representative and the unions legal counsel, but expressed doubt that the financial assistance could be accepted, at least not in the short term. Sheilas treatment, however, cannot wait, as its success is dependent upon her condition being addressed as soon as possible.
What do you think should be the correct ethical position for the Watsons? What should the citys correct ethical position be in a situation like this, or another similar one? Why? Is this a case of unintended legal consequences, in which a provision of the citys charter that was well-intentioned to be an anti-corruption measure had an unintended result? City charters are issued by the state legislature. If its a city charter issue, and is therefore beyond the power of city leadership to fix it, where should the affected people turn to?
If you were a city official, elected or appointed, i.e., the chief of police, the city manager, the mayor, or a member of the city council, what would be your position regarding the ethically correct handling of this matter? What advice would you give regarding the citys present policy? Can something like this be realistically covered by firm policy, or should such a matter be decided on a case-by-case basis by city leadership? There are lots of very important questions here. Please discuss all aspects of this difficulty.
SHOW MORE…
LEADERSHIP ASSIGNMENT
INSTRUCTIONS:
This essay will ask you to synthesize concepts and theories from the course with a case study, personal experience, or other extended example. You will be graded on your ability to elaborate on key issues in leadership communication, demonstrate ethical and effective leadership skills in your responses, and synthesize concepts in communication with real world issues. Students will be graded on the quality of the writing, the depth of critical thinking presented in the essay, and on the overall organization of the essays main ideas. I ask that you use proper citation formatting.
USE CHAPTER 8: GETTING PEOPLES ATTENTION
REQUIREMENTS:
10 PAGES
APA FORMAT
USE BOOK ATTACHED (USE PAGES P.149-165) The
SECRET
LANGUAGE
of
LEADERSHIP
HOW LEADERS INSPIRE ACTION
THROUGH NARRATIVE
STEPHEN DENNING
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Denning.ffirs 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page iii
File Attachment
C1.jpg
More Praise for
The Secret Language of Leadership
Out of the morass of strategies leaders are given to transform
organizations, Denning plucks a powerful onestorytelling
and shows how and why it works.
Dorothy Leonard, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business,
Emerita, Harvard Business School, and author, Deep Smarts:
How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business Wisdom
The Secret Language of Leadership shows why narrative intelligence
is central to transformational leadership and how to harness its
power.
Carol Pearson, director, James MacGregor Burns Academy of
Leadership, University of Maryland, and coauthor, The Hero and
the Outlaw
The Secret Language of Leadership is not only the best analysis I have
seen of how and why leaders succeed or fail, its highly readable, as
well as downright practical. It should be mandatory reading for
anyone interested in engaging a company with big ideas who under-
stands that leaders live and die by the quality of what they say.
Richard Stone, story analytics master, i.d.e.a.s
A primary role of leaders is to create and maintain meaning for
their organizations. Denning clearly demonstrates that meaning-
making comes from stories well told.
Thomas Davenport, Presidents Distinguished
Professor of I.T. and Management, Babson College,
and author, The Attention Economy
Steve Denning is one of the leading thinkers on the power of narra-
tive in business settings. His latest book is a smart, useful guide that
can help leaders of every kind add value to their organizations and
add meaning to their own journeys.
Daniel H. Pink, author, A Whole New Mind
Denning.ffirs 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page i
Denning.ffirs 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page ii
The
SECRET
LANGUAGE
of
LEADERSHIP
HOW LEADERS INSPIRE ACTION
THROUGH NARRATIVE
STEPHEN DENNING
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Denning.ffirs 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page iii
Copyright 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Denning, Stephen.
The secret language of leadership : how leaders inspire action
through narrative / Stephen Denning.1st ed.
p. cm.
A Wiley Imprint.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7879-8789-3 (cloth)
1. Leadership. 2. Communication in organizations. 3. Storytelling.
I. Title.
HD57.7.D49 2007
658.4’5dc22
2007028784
Printed in the United States of America
first edition
HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Denning.ffirs 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page iv
www.josseybass.com
v
Preface: My Leadership Journey vii
Part One: What Is Transformational Leadership? 1
Introduction: Ten Mistakes Transformational
Leaders Make 3
1 The Secret Language of Leadership 21
Part Two: The Language of Leadership: Key Enablers 51
2 Articulating a Clear, Inspiring Goal 53
3 The Leaders Own Story: Committing to the Goal 65
4 Mastering the Audiences Story 80
5 Cultivating Narrative Intelligence 92
6 Telling Truthful Stories 116
7 Leadership Presence: The Body Language of Leadership 132
Part Three: The Language of Leadership: Key Steps 147
8 Getting Peoples Attention 149
9 Stimulating Desire 166
10 Reinforcing with Reasons 187
11 Continuing the Conversation 199
12 Epilogue 211
Appendix 1: Presentation to the Change Management
Committee of the World Bank: April 1996 221
Appendix 2: Templates and Exercises 229
Appendix 3: Whats Your Narrative Intelligence? 235
Notes 245
Acknowledgments 265
About the Author 267
Index 269
[ ]CONTENTS
Denning.ftoc 8/17/07 8:53 AM Page v
Contents
vi
S
T
E
P
S
Deploying body language
Getting
attention
Stimulating
desire
Reinforcing
with
reason
Continuing
the
conversation
Telling authentically truthful stories
Using narrative intelligence
Understanding the audiences story
The leaders own story: committing to the change idea
Articulating a clear, inspiring change idea
E
N
A
B
L
E
R
S
The Secret Language of Leadership.
Denning.ftoc 8/17/07 8:53 AM Page vi
vii
My own leadership journey began abruptly late on Monday afternoon,
February 5, 1996. That day, Id asked for a meeting with one of the man-
aging directors of the World Bankone of the three people who reported
to the president of the bank and were charged with running its opera-
tions. As the director of the Africa Region, I needed to see him because
that curious thing known as my career had just then taken a turn for the
worse.
The World Bank is an international lending organization located in
Washington, D.C., and aimed at relieving global poverty. For several
decades, I had held a number of positions and functions, including pro-
gramming and budgeting, the West Africa riverblindness program,
population, health and nutrition programs, and the quality control of
operations. In the early 1990s, I had been director of the Southern
Africa Department, where I had overseen the work of several hundred
people working in ten countries. Now, as director of the Africa Region, I
was responsible for the operations of more than a thousand staff work-
ing in forty-three countries. After that much experience as an executive,
I believed that I understood management, although I was about to dis-
cover that I had much to learn about leadership.
Large organizations may look stable, but appearances are deceptive.
In the past year, the president had unexpectedly died. Last month, my
boss had decided to retire. Now someone else had just been named to
my post.
MY LEADERSHIP
JOURNEY
[ ]PREFACE
Denning.fpref 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page vii
Preface: My Leadership Journey
viii
The office of managing director is just two grade levels above direc-
tor. To an outsider, those two grade levels might not seem like much, but
from the inside, the difference was an abyss.
Like most organizations, the World Bank has a hierarchical manage-
ment style. Its the same look-up-and-yell-down style as in the private
sector.
At the beginning of the interview, I told the managing director that
Id heard the announcement that someone else was to fill my position.
Did they have anything in mind for me?
Not really, he replied with a smile.
I wasnt surprised. There had been inklings of trouble afoot. Just one
month before, Id been asked in the street if it was true that I was being
pushed aside. My boss had confirmed that the scene was turbulent: his
own decision to retire exposed me to the vagaries of the clan warfare that
pervades large organizations.
The managing director quickly explained to me the diminishing
range of my career options. The organization had no plans for me. There
were no specific positions available. There werent even any lists of possi-
ble positions on which I might figure.
He spoke to me dismissively, as though I had had no prior reputa-
tion, no credit for anything I had done over several decades, and no
prospects. His world was a personnel chessboard and I was no longer a
player. I had become a nobody.
When I pressed him, he said finally, Why dont you look into
information?
Information? In February 1996, information in the World Bank had
all the prestige of the garage or the cafeteriaa wasteland from which no
traveler had ever returned. The message was unmistakable: I was being
sent to Siberia.
Although the interview was bad news, the imperial style of delivery
was something else. The managing director gazed on me as though hed
just swatted a fly.
At the time, I had no way of knowing that his own vast power was a
facade. He had been chosen precisely because he was a loyal staff officer. I
Denning.fpref 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page viii
Preface: My Leadership Journey
ix
had no idea then that he, like all the new bank presidents close associates,
would be cast aside within a few years, when, in the inevitable custom of
authoritarian contexts, the executioner becomes the victim.
The loss of my job hit me as a grave personal setback. Yet in retro-
spect, its clear that there was nothing personal in it at all. The president,
as it emerged in due course, planned to ditch everyone at my level,
including the managing directors. He seemed to believe that if he
appointed people himself, they would be more loyal and dedicated to his
objectives. When this turned out not to be the case, he canned them with
the same indifference that he dispatched the senior managers on hand at
the time of his arrival.
For those slated for elimination, the presidents technique was sim-
ple. He refrained from dismissing them outright. Instead he appointed
them to posts with lesser responsibilities or status, or left them with no
position at all. The idea was that they would resign to avoid the public
humiliation of being treated so demeaningly.
In most cases, his judgment proved correct: they left without a
protest, slipping quietly into the night. My case was different: I wasnt
quite ready to leave.
I remained optimistic. Surely, I thought, there must have been a mis-
take. Surely my record counted for something. Surely, when lines of com-
munication opened, my career would be back on track.
I set about looking into information, since I was interested in the
topic, having been an early computer enthusiast. I saw that if I combined
my knowledge of World Bank operations with my interest in computers, I
could make a unique contribution.
The issues were immediately obvioussystems that werent compat-
ible with each other so that every question had multiple answers, a huge
and growing duplication of effort, utter unresponsiveness to operations
on the ground, antiquated, paper-bound relations with clients, and inex-
cusable delays in doing even the simplest thing.
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Preface: My Leadership Journey
x
I began putting together a plan for what I would do if I were to be
offered a position in information. It became steadily more apparent that
cleaning up information was a necessary but largely menial task. It would
save the organization money but it wouldnt fix the fundamental strategic
issue: a lending organizationeven if it became more agilecould never
solve the problem of global poverty. Global poverty would only be solved
when people in poor countries themselves knew how to solve their own
problems. Money could facilitate the relief of poverty, but it could never
be the solution, unless combined with knowledge.
In 1996, the World Bank had a great deal of knowledge relevant to
solving the problems of global poverty. We had world-class experts in a
wide array of fieldsagriculture, banking, finance, health, education, you
name itbut access to this knowledge was problematic. If you were
involved in a lending operation with the World Bank, you might discover
some of this expertise, but otherwise you were out of luck. I began to
think: suppose we were to generate quick and easy global access to our
knowledge for everyone, wherever they were? Then we could become a
pretty interesting organization, even an exciting organization.
Why not become a knowledge-sharing organization?
I thought this was not just a good idea: once you thought about it, it
was breathtakingly obvious. There was just one problem. In the World
Bank of early 1996, no one was willing to listen.
Eventually, in April 1996, after weeks of buttonholing anyone I could
find, I managed to get a few peoples attention. As a result, I was offered
ten minutes in front of the Change Management Committee of the World
Bank to explain my ideas on sharing knowledge. This committee com-
prised the managing directors as well as a few vice presidents and some
senior advisers to the president. It had been set up to orchestrate change
in the World Bank. It wasnt obvious to anyone that this was what it was
up to, but clearly I needed its support. To be offered even a few minutes
before it was a major breakthrough.
So now I had ten minutes in which to persuade a group of skepti-
cal, change-resistant senior managers that we should embark on a new
Denning.fpref 8/17/07 8:52 AM Page x
Preface: My Leadership Journey
xi
strategy to make sharing knowledge a central preoccupation of the
organization.
My presentation, which is included in Appendix 1, was quite simple
in structure. It talked about the problems the organization was facing in
sharing its knowledge. It included a brief anecdote from Zambia, which
suggested what the future might look like. And it gave a couple of simple
road maps as to how we might get from here to there.
After I gave my presentation, I was taken aback by the overwhelmingly
enthusiastic reaction. One of the vice presidents, Jean-Franois Rischard,
raced up to me very excitedly. Why dont we do it? he asked. Whats the
next step? Why isnt it being implemented? Whats the blockage?
At the time, my first thought was that this was a very strange conver-
sation. Until ten minutes ago, vice presidents had hardly been willing
to give me the time of day. And now it was as if I wasnt doing enough to
implement Rischards idea.
Then it dawned on me. How wonderful! The idea of sharing knowl-
edge with the world was no longer just my idea. Now it was also his idea.
And indeed it was Rischard who shortly afterward played a key role in
communicating the idea of knowledge sharing to the bank president and
sponsoring its implementation across the entire organization.
These were among the first inklings that there was something
remarkable in that simple ten-minute presentation. And yet if I had been
asked at the time why it was effective, I would have answered that the
underlying idea was a good one and people recognized a good idea for its
merits. At the time, I was only dimly aware that in most organizations
good ideas go nowhere, because they arent compellingly communicated.
I had no notion then that I had, almost by accident, stumbled on a partic-
ular form of leadership communication that could galvanize action, even
with difficult audiences. Even if I didnt yet understand what I was doing
or why, I had begun to discover the secret language of leadership.
Later in the day, I learned that my presentation had been so well
received that I was to be invited to give the same presentation to the
entire senior management, except for the president.
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Preface: My Leadership Journey
xii
The following week, when I made the presentation to this larger
group, the effect was just as electric. A number of the vice presidents were
highly energized. One of them told me: This is the future!
I was elated. I not only had a good idea: now I had support at high
levels of the organization including vice presidents and some of the pres-
idents top advisers. I concluded: my career is back on track!
I was, alas, mistaken.
Several days later, I was summoned to the office of one of the manag-
ing directors. In walking toward his office for the meeting that evening, I
was extremely upbeat. Given the reception of my presentation to the sen-
ior management group, I anticipated that the conversation would be
about how to implement knowledge sharing.
Instead, I was told that the managing directors had considered my
idea on making knowledge a key strategic thrust for the organization and
had rejected it. I was to stop bothering the senior management any fur-
ther, since it wasnt going to happen. There would be no position or role
for me either in information or knowledge.
When I asked him what I was meant to do, he pointed to various
lower-level jobs that were being advertised.
Needless to say, I left his office feeling crushed. I was back in no-
mans land. What made the turn of events disturbing was not just the
apparent collapse of my career, but even more so, the senselessness of it
all. I knew I had a good idea. I knew the idea had strong support among a
number of vice presidents. Yet somehow it was being scotched by an odd
combination of corporate confusion and institutional politics.
I spent a dark night of the soul.
The next morning, despite little sleep, I was feeling better, even opti-
mistic, and sensing that everything could be rectified. I went to tell the
vice presidents what had happened. I was delighted to find that they were
as shocked as I was: there was no way that the idea of knowledge sharing
could be stopped in this cavalier fashion.
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Preface: My Leadership Journey
xiii
Immediately, things started to pick up: one vice president asked me
to work with him, to make knowledge sharing a reality in his vice presi-
dency. Then, other vice presidents joined in and invited me to help them
as well.
As the scale of my informal assignment steadily grew, it was becom-
ing apparent that the knowledge-sharing initiative was attaining organi-
zation-wide proportions. So the vice presidents decided to inform the
managing directors what they were up to. I helped them prepare a joint
memorandum, which they signed and sent to the managing directors.
The memorandum didnt ask for permission or resources. It simply
informed the managing directors of their plans.
A few days later, I was summoned by one of the managing directors
and told to cease and desist. I should, he said, stop bothering people
with my idea. Knowledge management wasnt going to happen.
I asked him why he was talking to me, since I wasnt even men-
tioned in the memorandum of which he was complaining. Why didnt
he speak to the vice presidents, since they were the ones who had signed
and sent it?
He replied that it was obvious that I was behind it and I should stop
causing problems. I should apply for other operational positions, perhaps
in a field office, preferably far away from headquarters.
During the ensuing summer, I attended a management program at
the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne,
Switzerland. This gave me time to reflect on what had happened and
what I would do next.
Here I had time to ask myself, What was my life about? What were
my options?
Would it be possible to get my career back on track? Apparently,
when the new president arrived, I had been in the wrong position at the
wrong time with the wrong connections to the wrong managerial clan.
With hard work, and knuckling under the new regime, would it be possi-
ble to reestablish myself?
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Preface: My Leadership Journey
xiv
I could see now that this wasnt realistic. I had been suffering from
what is known in psychiatric circles as the delusion of a reprieve. The
condemned man, in the period after he is sentenced, suffers from the illu-
sion he might somehow be reprieved. I imagined that there had been
some mistake, that somehow the mistake would be corrected and all
would be well.
Now, clearly, there was no mistake. There was no failure of commu-
nication. On several occasions, the managing directors had had opportu-
nities to allow me to proceed, and they had actively blocked forward
progress. Now it was clear: there would be no reprieve.
What to do? One option was to leave the World Bank and pursue my
career elsewhere. Thats what other senior managers who were being
treated this way were doing. They resented being dealt with so demean-
ingly, and for the most part, they opted to depart. Why persevere in such
an environment?
The question I pondered was, What was my life about? Was it about
advancing up the managerial ladder in a large organization? I had to
admit to myself that this had always been important to mepride, ego,
ambition were all part of the mix. Was my life really about a career?
Or was it about accomplishing something significant?
Based on my discussions in Lausanne, I knew I had a big, bold,
promising idea for an organization whose mission was unquestionably
noblerelieving global poverty.1
I knew the idea had generated enthusiasm among working-level staff
on the front lines of the World Bank, who could see that both they and
the organization would be more effective if it was implemented.
And a significant coalition of senior managersperhaps one-third of
the totalwas now in place. They also believed that the future of the
organization lay in sharing our knowledge to the world, to complement
the provision of financial resources.
It was also well known that the president of the World Bank was open
to big, bold ideas, was indeed searching for them. True, he had sur-
rounded himself with managing directors who were acting as centurion
guards to prevent any big, bold ideas ever reaching him. I calculated that
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Preface: My Leadership Journey
xv
if only I could get directly to the president, then the success of the idea
would be inevitable. Even without that, surely it would be possible to
launch a pilot scheme in one or more of the vice presidencies? Once that
was implemented, then the idea could spread to the whole organization.
Now I had to choose.
Spend time resurrecting my career, either here or elsewhere? Or go
flat out for change?
Coming back from Lausanne in September 1996, I made my deci-
sion. I opted to set aside any idea of career advancement and commit
myself wholeheartedly to making change happen, accepting whatever
indignities I might have to suffer. I would do whatever it took, even if the
effort were to take a decade.
As it happened, an opportunity appeared within just a few days. And
it was grander than anything I could have anticipated.2
Late on Wednesday afternoon, September 18, 1996, I was sitting in
Jean-Franois Rischards office. Wed been discussing how to move the
knowledge-sharing initiative forward. We both thought that if we only
could get to the president, given his stance and his personality, he was
bound to support the idea. The timing was ideal, since the World Banks
annual meeting was just days away: the presidents speech was a perfect
opportunity to announce a bold new initiative. The problem was how to
get to the president: he was surrounded by those pesky centurion guards.
After discussing the ways of getting the idea to the president, we
finally decided that it was too risky. At the time, the centurion guards
were on high alert, indeed expecting people to be submitting risky new
ideas to the president. If we tried to get to him then, without their bless-
ing, there would be terrible punishments and taxes.
So we decided the timing wasnt right. Instead we would wait until
after the annual meeting. Then in the dark of night, when no one was
watching, we would meet quietly with the president and sell the idea to
him and we would be off to the races.
Just then, at the very moment we were concluding our conversation
and deciding to lie low for the moment, Rischard got a phone call.
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Preface: My Leadership Journey
xvi
It was the president.
Apparently he was in a taxicab in a traffic jam in New York, reading a
draft of the speech that he was to give in a matter of days to the annual
meeting of the World Bank. He was calling on his cell phone to say that
the draft speech was pablum, pure pablumnot a single new idea in it.
Surely, he said, there was at least one good idea in the whole goddamn
organization?
Rischard said that, as a matter of fact, there was, and began sketching
the idea of knowledge management: how the Bank should pool its
expertise on everything from civil service reform to electricity generation
in central databases, massively expanding the reach of its ideas in the
global struggle against poverty. He spoke for five minutes, then five more
minutes, and presently he hit the fifteen-minute mark. The president was
saying it was intriguing, actually quite good, and maybe he would think
about it.3
That night, the president went to dinner and tried out the idea on his
dinner guests. They said it was excellent.
The next day when he came in to the office, Rischard and I were
asked to draft a speech that the president would give to the board of
directors. Just over a week after that, on the morning of October 1, 1996,
the president was giving the speech to the annual meeting of the gover-
nors of the World Bank, a huge public occasionmore than 170 finance
ministers and all their entouragesexplaining the new strategy of
becoming a knowledge-sharing organization. We were going to become
the knowledge bank.
Its an understatement to say I was elated. In just a few days, the idea
of knowledge sharing had gone from something undiscussable to some-
thing that was a central organizational strategy for the future. Visions of
success and accomplishment danced before my eyes. The possibility of
implementing the new strategy was now within my grasp.
What I didnt realize was that winning the support of the president
wasnt the end of the war of innovation. It was simply the beginning.
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It was not just that we were starting the long, hard slog of turning the
vision of a knowledge organization into a reality.
The biggest shock was my discovery that the opposition from the
managing directors didnt disappear with the presidents endorsement.
On the contrary, it intensified.
Obviously the support of the president was a hugely positive ele-
ment. Jim Wolfensohn was mercurial, quick, able to see the promise in a
bold new idea and decisive about endorsing it. His instant acceptance of
knowledge sharing, his announcement of the knowledge bank at the
annual meeting in 1996, his subsequent sponsorship of a formal strategy
paper embracing external knowledge sharing in 1997, his adoption in
1999 of a formal mission statement for the World Bank that assigned
knowledge sharing the same level of importance as providing financial
resourcesthese were all crucial steps in launching and implementing
knowledge management at the World Bank. Without them, we could
never have achieved what was achieved.
The managing directors were a very different story. Up to that point,
theyd permitted me to wander the corridors and buttonhole anyone who
would listen to the idea of becoming a knowledge-sharing organization,
because the possibility of that fantastic dream ever becoming a reality was
nonexistent. They believed that I would tire of my quixotic mission and
either find something more conventional to do or leave. They thought that
their adversary was a person, albeit a determined one. They hadnt grasped
that they were fighting an idea.
Now, with the president having unexpectedly endorsed the idea in the
most public, formal forum available to him, it was obvious that they had
underestimated the threat. Even if they couldnt see that the idea made sense
or believe that it would ever become a reality, they now had to deal with the
fact that the president had made a major commitment in the most public
way to implement it. Now they couldnt oppose the idea outright, but as wily
bureaucrats, they could and did find subtle ways to undermine or sideline it.4
Four years later, by 2000, despite the well-intended efforts of the
managing directors to preserve the World Bank as a lending organization,
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substantial progress had been made. Knowledge sharing was in the mis-
sion statement of the organization, on a par with the provision of finan-
cial resources. It was in the organizational chart. It was in the personnel
system. It was in the budget, albeit still underfunded in terms of real
resources. And over a hundred knowledge communities were in place,
most of them energetically sharing their knowledge. There were measure-
ments of the effectiveness of the communities of practice. And there was
external recognition: we were benchmarked several times as a world
leader in knowledge management and as one of the worlds most admired
knowledge enterprises.5
Obviously, much remained to be done. Budgets needed to be sorted
out. The less effective knowledge communities and vice presidencies
needed to be dealt with. The blemishes in technology had to be rectified.
But these challenges were largely those of management. It was a matter of
strengthening, refining, and reinforcing what was already mainly in place.
By contrast, the work of leadership in knowledge management at the
World Bank was by then largely complete. The DNA of the organization
had been changed. Thereafter the specifics of the knowledge-sharing pro-
gram might wax or wane, but the notion of external knowledge sharing
had been ingrained in the World Banks genetic code. Once people had
seen the vision and realized that it could be implemented, it became an
ideal the organization had no choice but to aspire to.6
Looking back on the experience, I can see that the World Bank in the
period from 1996 to 2000 was an extraordinarily difficult environment,
though probably not too different from what many change agents face in
other large organizations today when they pursue transformational
change.
In fact, the difficult environment at the World Bank was ideal for
observing what it means to be a leader: the organization became a giant
leadership laboratory.
One tremendous source of strength was the team of people that I had
to help implement the vision. Roberto Chavez, Carole Evangelista, Adnan
Hassan,