Pragmatism

Dispense with platitudes

In this opening video, ship Captain Jack Aubrey is talking with his friend the ship’s doctor, Steven. Recently Jack has decided to punish a sailor, named Nagl, for disrespecting a junior officer named Holland. Steven is very upset with Jack and is trying to convince him to be lenient with Nagl. In this scene, we learn some very hard truths about leadership in difficult circumstances.

I am sure I’ll send this video clip in another newsletter in the future because I love it so much.

My learned and discerning readers will no doubt have picked up on the fact that I abhor surface-level platitudes about leadership. Books and blogs that trumpet bumper sticker-style leadership advice are unhelpful and, in some cases, counter-productive. Blogs with titles like “4 ways to build trust with your team,” “5 ways to be a better communicator,” “3 reasons why feedback helps your organization.” ChatGPT is now at the point where it can write the majority of that garbage with little input. The irony with this type of writing is that it attracts people who, in many cases, don’t need the advice being offered. And if it does reach someone who needs it, it’s unlikely to penetrate.

Even bestselling books on leadership can be rather shallow. I was speaking with a friend who was taking a leadership class in an MBA program where they were reading Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. I had recently read the book and was unimpressed. There’s nothing wrong with the book, per se, I just didn’t find it compelling. A certain number of you have no doubt read this book and, perhaps, did find it compelling. That’s fine, we can disagree.

As I was speaking to my friend I made the claim, “there’s nothing in the book that you can disagree with,” which is my version of an insult. To which he retorted, “Austin, there were people in the class who argued that you shouldn’t fire your highest performer even if she is toxic to the rest of the team,” (which was one of the parts of the book). I immediately came back with, “My previous statement stands because the book is obviously correct, and those people are obviously wrong. The book is made worse by the fact that it can’t even convince people of what is patently obvious.”

Leadership books did, in my youth, give me the illusion of understanding leadership. The worst offender was The Servant by James C. Hunter which I read when I was 16. This book, like Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is designed to engage the reader emotionally through a compelling narrative, which is why it develops such ardent followers. People think they have found the thing that will make them good leaders. And because they have found “the thing” they try to conform to the leadership style of the person in the book rather than let themselves be themselves and try to do stuff that will improve their organization.

These self-help-style books will do you no good, even if you are the type of person who should heed the advice that they peddle. In fact, Five Dysfunctions was recommended to me by a former boss who had this horrendous habit of cutting off subordinates when they were speaking. You could not complete one full sentence before this guy put his hand up and started speaking over you. To my point in a previous paragraph, the book clearly had no effect on this particular individual’s proclivity to cut people off when they were speaking or to take seriously what others were saying. This guy wasn’t a terrible commander, he made some great decisions, but he certainly struggled with some basic interpersonal skills.

The best books about leadership often don’t have “leader” or “leadership” in the title. Gerd Gigerenzer, who I admire, doesn’t write “leadership” books. He writes books about decision-making and risk. John Gall’s obscure book The Systems Bible isn’t about leadership, and yet it is one of the most important books that organizational leaders can read. The best biographies about history’s most important leaders don’t have titles like, “John Adams’ Leadership Lessons,” they are holistic books that examine the subject’s life and the important decisions that they made. On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F. Dixon isn’t a leadership book, but it is incredibly valuable in understanding common leadership downfalls, especially in the military. All the most impactful books that have helped shaped my approach to command weren’t about leadership directly.

The Distro, hopefully, doesn’t contain platitudes or banal observations. Here, I am attempting to identify, categorize, and explain special problems that leaders and organizations experience and offer alternatives focused on action. This is why I think my essays Fredericksburg and Stakeholder are the central essays of this project. The others support them, but those two works are, in my opinion, central. I am also trying to act as a counterweight to the overly fluffy leadership advice that sends the message, “OMG! just be, like, so nice to all your employees lol. It will make them feel good and then they’ll be super duper productive.”

If we dispense with platitudes around leadership, we are left with the almost inescapable fact that, ultimately, leadership is about getting sh*t done. It’s not about trying to fiure out exactly what you should do or how you should do it those things will change drastically with the context. And, in a military context, leadership is about winning, pure and simple. Winning in war or winning in wargames in training. You start from there and work backward. For Captain Jack Aubrey from our opening clip, the safety and well-being of all the men on his ship was dependent upon his ability to maintain good order and discipline. Without it, they would not have had a chance in battle against enemy ships. In a business context, good leadership can make the difference between a company that fails and a company that succeeds.

The ability to command and lead in any context will not be derived from books, blogs, or substack newsletters, including The Distro. It comes from judgment cultivated through experience and contemplative reading and writing. Hopefully, you have found, and continue to find, value in what I am writing, but this is no substitute for your individual experience and reflection.

Have a great week!