Arthur never heard speak of a knight in praise but he caused him to be numbered of his household…Because of these noble lords about his hall, of whom each knight pained himself to be the hardiest champion and none would count him the least praiseworthy, Arthur made the Round Table…It was ordained of Arthur that when his fair fellowship sat to meat, their chairs should be high alike, their service equal, and none before or after his comrade. Thus no man could boast that he was exalted above his fellow, for all alike were gathered round the board, and none was alien at the breaking of Arthur’s bread.
Wace, Roman de Brut
For century after century writers have told us of mythic Legendary Leaders and their bands, their fellows, their friends and their covenant brothers. It seems that such stories have always resonated with us humans.
- Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
- Robin Hood and his Merry Men
- Frodo and his eight fellow travelers
- Harry with the ever present Ron and Hermione
This is not simply a matter of having people around us. It is much deeper than this. What we want is an emotional connection and a sense of belonging to a group where we will realize much of our identity and, as we are about to see, attain what is needed so as to accomplish our mission.
Whatever we believe about our capacities, our potentialities and our abilities, I believe we would all admit that no one living has every skill, every competency or every nuance of wisdom so as to never stand in need of others.
- Generals do not win wars by themselves.
- Quarterbacks do not win Super Bowls by themselves.
- Managers do not craft the vision of the project, execute the plan, oversee its progress, remove any obstacles, and move the task all the way to a successful completion by themselves.
- CEO’s do not lead their corporations into greatness by themselves.
Knights in Praise
One of the keys to success in life is learning to be a good judge of character. As Arthur began to build his team of fellow Knights we read that he was always listening for word of a Knight who was held in great esteem. What were the people saying about this Knight? What were those people whom this Knight would potentially be serving and protecting saying about him? Clearly what Arthur was listening for was news about a Knight whose character and level of skill was so exemplary, so outstanding, that people were in awe of him.
Notice that we are not told that these original Knights were clamoring to be chosen or lobbying to be adopted into the in-group. These Knights were chosen because of their performance, not because they volunteered. Someone may be a really wonderful person with solid character but if they are not a man or woman who is renown for their performance they should not sit at this table.
Arthur was, at first, not looking for men who showed promise or had potential. He was looking for Knights who already had a track record: men who had built a solid reputation over time. Certainly there are teams with a lower level of responsibility where a man or woman can prove him or her self. However, when you are looking to build a team that is going to lead the corporation to greatness, you will want great people around you.
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins writes about those Legendary Leaders who first got the right people onto the bus (and the wrong people off!), before fully deciding where the bus was headed. (Chapter 3: First Who…Then What.) As Collins notes (page 43), great leaders understand three simple truths. First, if you have the right people on the bus you can then more easily adapt to whatever happens down the road. Second, there will never be a problem with motivating people. Third, if you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether or not you discover the right direction to move toward: having the wrong sort of people on the bus will keep you from ever arriving at your destination (greatness).
Choosing great people to sit at your table requires a healthy degree of self-esteem and self-respect. Weak, self-centered people do not want other luminaries around them: they fear anyone who may eclipse their sun. Leaders with low self-esteem will most always gravitate toward weaker people: people who are easily swayed, seduced, manipulated or cowered. Legendary Leaders choose those men and women who, by their character, competence and vision, motivate everyone around them—including the Leader—to greatness.
Choosing great people to sit at your table requires an understanding of legendary greatness. If all you wish for is fame, if all you strive towards is to be “good enough to get by,” or if all you really care about are the perks of greatness, then there will be no legacy of greatness, no legend that remains after you die. Men and women who aspire to legendary greatness, wish to leave a legacy that continues to symbolize all that they valued and the vision they carried in their hearts. To do this, to accomplish this sort of greatness, requires the gifts, talents, skills and wisdom of other people.
A Round Table
Legendary Leaders surround themselves with admirable people (Knights of Praise) and, therefore, covet each person’s contribution, insights, questions and opinions. The reason everyone is at this table is because each is critical to the attainment of the vision. No one at the table fears having their ideas ridiculed or their contributions denigrated. Each person knows his or her contribution will be fully appreciated and honored.
Legendary Leaders do not have worker bees or minions of yes-men sitting at their Round Tables. Legends do not surround themselves with cheerleaders or sycophants. Any person who would put up with being walked on, kept-in-their-place or required to rubber stamp anything the leader suggests is not worthy of the team. And any leader who wants people like this have something else on their mind other than legendary greatness.
One of the key components of an effective team is commonality. There is a common mission, common goals and a common mindset regarding how the team will work together. However, even if all this is in place, if the individual team members do not believe there is a mutuality of respect between each team member then the team’s effectiveness will decrease. Therefore, great care must be taken both in choosing who sits at this table (Knights in Praise) and in maintaining a code of conduct that supports a mutuality of respect.
When Legendary Leaders move on or die, their legend increases, the business or organization continues to grow and the vision remains. None of this happens if there was no team, no Knights of the Round Table. If the company falls apart, if the vision disintegrates, if the team does not continue on its quest to not only sustain the vision but also add further value to it, then legendary leadership was not attained.
Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith note in their book, The Wisdom of Teams, the higher up you look within an organization, the fewer the functioning teams. (Page 3) Much of this is because of the level of responsibilities with the ensuing demands on the executive’s time. But some of it, as the author’s assert, is because so few executives appear to actually get just how critical a high-level well-functioning team is to the corporation’s success. Maybe this is due to the fact that the sort of people who become executives usually got to where they are by maintaining an attitude of militant individualism—a mindset that sees everyone as a competitor for the next rung on the ladder. Sadly, both for the leader and for the corporation, such an approach to leadership and leadership development will not produce the legacy that would be possible if there was a Round Table.
Accountability
“…(A)nd none was alien at the breaking of Arthur’s bread.” Each Knight was expected to show up when Arthur said it was time for the Knights to gather at the Round Table. If the team is to perform, then there must be standards of accountability that are adhered to. Each person must know what is expected at what time and in what manner, and then be held accountable accordingly.
The Round Table exists for a purpose: there are dragons to sleigh, damsels to rescue and treasures to be found or produced. No matter how much everyone may love a certain Knight, if he or she, over time, does not produce, they do not belong at the Table.
Part of my understanding of ethical behavior is holding myself to a high level of accountability in my performance. I have agreed to perform certain tasks and am being paid to do so. To fail to uphold my part of the agreement is a breach of ethics, or so I believe. The Knights who sat at Arthur’s Table took great pains to constantly prove themselves the most worthy of his Table. (“…of whom each knight pained himself to be the hardiest champion and none would count him the least praiseworthy.”) This is the attitude and behavior to which each member of the team must hold one another accountable.
Who’s Who
What sort of people do you want at your Table? Certainly we all frequently find ourselves at Tables where we are not the gatekeepers. Yet, if and when you can choose, what sort of people are you looking for? And even if you are not in such a place, as yet, to formally build your own Team, what about a kitchen cabinet, an ad hoc team of people you gather around yourself so as to support one another in your Quests?
The following is a list of attributes that will place you on Tom Peter’s Hall of Fame list. These are the qualities that he is looking for in Knights of Praise.
- Self-invented: ever changing (not bound by "self-consistency")
- Tattered and bruised
- Inquisitive to a fault
- Childlike/naive with an appetite for exploration that mimics a 4 year old's
- Free from past
- Comfortable with the idea that life is a moving target
- Jolly (they laugh a lot)
- Audacious (even a bit nuts)
- Iconoclastic (only happy when they are on the wrong side of conventional wisdom)
- Multidimensional with flaws as great as their virtues
- Honest and confused...as all honest people are
- Larger than life (Though often engaged in small ventures, they all paint their canvases in bold colorful brush strokes and do not shrink from The Circus of Life)
copyright Monte E Wilson, 2007
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