By pursuing the “winning the princess” strategy, the leadership drives the
company into the passion zone by creating fascination for a (new) vision. In this
case, too, it is essential to illustrate the “object of desire” graphically. For example
the Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei created the virtual Vaio world in order to make the
“princess” something his employees could see. At the beginning of the twenty-first
century Sony was facing the major challenge of changing from a TV manufacturer
to a multimedia group (see Bruch and Ghoshal 2004).
Ideally the leadership is able to both kill the dragon and win the princess,
combining the immediacy, discipline and decisiveness of the aggression zone
with the joy and pride of the passion zone. However, this ideal case is rare.
Whether they opt for the dragon or the princess, the management has to be able
to emotionally and relationally adapt to the situation in order to bring out the right
emotions in their employees and in themselves: “If the dragon is to be slain
tremendous energy, brave and assertive leadership are called for; to win the heart
of the princess, a company needs calm, gentle, charismatic and sensitive leaders”
(Bruch and Ghoshal 2004, p. 64).
3.2.2.1 The Magic Triangle: “Self” – Employees – Organization
The heart of good leadership is the management of relationships. Leadership always
takes place between three poles: the personality of the leader, hence the “self”, the
employees and the organization. These three poles provide a frame for the work
of art that is successful leadership. Thus, leadership is an art, not just a handcraft.
It calls for power, technique and skill, but also inspiration, emotions, ideas, passion,
courage and individuality.
Leadership has changed massively in the last 15 years I have been working as
a leader: in the past I made basic decisions and left their execution up to the
employees. Today employees want to decide and contribute. Leading has become
more demanding but the results for all involved and for the company are better and
more satisfying. As a leader of today I have to be able to step back and let go. Still
it is important that the leader sets the frame, provides security and orientation. If
these conditions are not met, letting go is very dangerous and can end in chaos.
“More structure, more guidelines” – this is often heard in German companies.
At the same time we hear “more shared responsibility, more room for personal
development.” Both are correct and important; leadership is always a balancing act
between the two.
Thus, perfect leadership guidelines do not and will never exist. Even Fredmund
Malik, who in a sense has argued the opposite, cannot offer universal guidelines for
leaders. Too varied is the life at the companies, too manifold the personalities of the
leaders, and too great is the variety of situations and constraints on cooperation.
That does not mean, however, that leadership cannot be learned and that there
are no true and less true practices, fundamentals and benchmarks. There is no doubt
that some leaders do a better job than others. Hence, in my opinion it is not valid to
draw a black and white picture in practice. Not only is there a gray zone, but it
126 3 Systemic Leadership or: Designing a World That Others Want to Be Part Of