It's a Choice

Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry and the author of Love, Hope & Leadership: A Special Edition.

Mulch, twigs—you name it, I sent it flying! Nothing stood in my way….

A few years ago, my wife gave me an electric leaf blower. Totally unexpected from her—and out of character for me. But whenever I wanted to clear my mind, that’s when I went into the backyard and powered it up.

And this year, as the falling leaves keep multiplying, I’m at it again.

Pausing to reflect, I can see that getting rid of those leaves is my way of resetting and reframing in the moment. Instead of letting things pile up, it’s clearing the path and moving forward.

The choice is ours.

I’ve always thought that to motivate others we must first motivate ourselves. After all, life—like leadership—is a series of choices, all orchestrated by individuals on their personal journeys.

And it starts with each of us—and our power of choice. Here are some takeaways:

What’s our motivation? A small set of motives, present to some extent in all people, helps explain how we behave. The motives generate needs, which lead to aspirations, which in turn drive behavior. Three overarching motivations are achievement, affiliation, and power—and recognizing them can help people get unstuck. Achievement speaks to the desire to improve personal performance and meet or exceed standards of excellence. Affiliation addresses the emotional side, with a focus on relationships that can help people feel more connected. Power (meaning to influence) helps people feel stronger and more capable—and it can generate strong positive emotions in others.

Avoiding avoidance. There is also a fourth motivator: avoidance. It’s a kind of self-protection against unpleasant things. Often, avoidance is driven by fear of rejection or failure. The danger, though, is avoidance could become the default. That’s the opposite of what we should be doing. As leaders, we’re called to mirror the behaviors we wish to see in others—to live out living up.

Our leadership choices. Our firm’s research, drawing on assessments of hundreds of thousands of global leaders, has identified six overall leadership styles—directive, participative, visionary, pacesetting, affiliative, and coaching. Our research also found that the majority of leaders only use one or two of those styles, while the best organizational climates are created when leaders are proficient in multiple styles. And it’s not just about having access to those different styles, it’s also about expanding our versatility and recognizing which one will have the greatest impact in a given situation. In other words, it’s a choice. We need to toggle—and don’t allow our leadership to get stuck in one style.

We’re at the 11^th hour of the 11^th month of another year coming to a close. But before we can look out, we first have to look within.

Indeed, it’s the power of choice.

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