It is possible for an executive to focus exclusively on the
achievement dimension of the executive challenge and to ignore
the behavioral; however, in the long run, the environment
becomes more and more hostile for executives and businesses that
ignore the importance of both. The behavioral dimension encom-
passes the values and standards of conduct required for effective,
sustaining, and engaging leadership. When the economy is robust,
the most skilled employees have many options for employment. It
is well documented that the primary reason that talented people
leave a company is the behavior of their immediate manager. The
cost of talent defection, the loss of productivity and opportunity
associated with ineffective leadership behavior, will cripple the best
businesses and can jeopardize their very existence—witness Enron
and Arthur Andersen.
The corporate analogue to “on course, on glide path” is “right
achievement, right behavior.” To meet the critical threshold for
sustained success, the effective executive must achieve critical
objectives and do so with excellent leadership behaviors. In today’s
intensely challenging environment of global competition, leaders
need the support of people and technology to integrate and simplify
the overwhelming array of inputs. Then they can focus on the crit-
ical variables that will make the difference between success and
failure.
304 LEADINGORGANIZATIONALLEARNING
AchievementBehaviorFigure 27.2 Goal Attainment