Inside The Edge
About
The Executive Chair
The one question you always want to ask a successful person in a senior leadership role is “How did you get there?” In developing your own career, you learn more from hearing what worked – and didn’t work – from senior leaders and hearing their wisdom than from any other source.
We are embarking on a series of interviews with leaders who exemplify success for us. In their words are insights that can give you direction for moving your own career forward.
To read a summary, written by Michael DeVenney, of the past 12 interviews this year - click here.
| Ray Ivany - The Perch on the Wall Test - Remember Who You Serve |
Ray (RI): I will start with a caveat: I am admittedly the world's worst careerist. I have never viewed my work as a "career". I have never planned where I wanted to go next or where I ultimately wanted to be. I was attracted to the challenge - moving from one compelling challenge to the next. That is honestly how I moved forward rather than from an elegant puzzle I drafted twenty-five years ago. Now, though, and looking back, it all did make sense. I think it worked because I didn't try to plan it. I didn't try to make a career out of being a leader. You don't decide on being a leader; you decide that there is something important that needs to be done, and you contribute to that. It is absolutely crucial that it starts with the cause. Other people will determine if you are a leader. It is folly to attend to the leadership objective as the primary interest. It is the fire that burns inside of you that provides the foundation for building the skills that will move you forward. If you look at my career, it may appear at first glance that I made a series of sideways moves, but when it all comes together the single link is that I was always trying to do something - the leadership piece comes through. It all starts with a compelling vision. You need to answer the question "What is it you want to do to make a difference?" You need to answer that question first, and then you can make a contribution. MD: What is one thing that developing professionals need to do more of? RI: Hold a mirror up to themselves: it starts with self-awareness. Just look at the research, the "knife's edge" is self-awareness. If you are at the lower end of self-awareness, the likelihood is that you will never be an effective leader. Alternatively, at the higher end of the spectrum, the probability is higher. People struggle with this dimension. You cannot inspire high performance or engage people in the vision when they see dissonance between what you say and what you do. It is relatively easy to get to a "good" level of performance, but for achieving leadership, you need to be committed to high performance. In my experience, there is no easy path or quick fix in getting to exceptionality. You get started early with understanding yourself, and it is much clearer to figure it out from there. MD: What about doing less of? RI: Less of “what I have to do to get ahead” and focus on working on themselves. They should invest in finding out about themselves and pushing to make personal discoveries that increase the rapidity of making the transition to a deep level of self-awareness. If you can’t get yourself through the personal transition, you can’t help others. So, do less of the things that rob you of the time to make the transition to self-awareness. MD: What experience helped you the most in your career and why? RI: There has been no single experience but two great pieces of advice that shaped me. When I started in my teaching career, a master teacher – just top of the rank – came in to my office and closed the door. He said to me, “Ray, I am excited to have you here and see great potential in you, but if you are really serious about being a quality teacher, I have one piece of advice: just remember, when you are teaching, you are messing with people’s lives.” I never forgot that. Years later the senior leader of the organization I was then working with offered me some advice. Again, he said if I was serious about being a leader with positive impact, “just remember, you are messing with people’s lives.” Both of these people said the same thing – just exquisitely simple. In everything you do in your career, you have to remember the impact on others. MD: What was the greatest challenge in moving your career forward? RI: The real challenge is the pursuit of exceptional results. At times, you have to move heaven and earth to get there, and at the base it always comes down to people. Leadership comes down to making the “fair ask”. You can’t demand high performance if you don’t make the investment in people first. If you invest in people first, they will want to contribute and perform at a high level. You have to put a premium on making the initial investment. There is no other way. I use the “perch on the wall test” for my decision making. I started using this approach many years ago from seeing how people in senior leadership roles made decisions behind closed doors. In that kind of closed setting, leaders sometimes would use a tone and language that was not appropriately respectful of the people who were impacted by their decision. It really affected me – I was thinking just imagine if the people could hear the comments'. When you are in a room alone making decisions, you are the holder of the values and culture of an organization. You have to keep the people you are leading in the room with you. With the door closed, it is your responsibility to them. You need to think the people are “perched on the wall” and watching you as a test to your thinking, and notwithstanding whether they agree with a particular decision, they give you a nod that you were fair and respectful and upheld the values of the organization. MD: What is the greatest strength of your approach to leadership? RI: The real strength for me now as a leader is to have the greater sense and self-awareness to know that it’s not about me. It is that simple. You work with others to understand what is most important to them and then get them aligned to the goal. I can make a real contribution when it is not about me. Leadership is really about serving others – that is the mantra of the leader. This is my particular perspective and it comes about from two quotes that are important and meaningful to me dating back to when I was just seventeen years old. “Leadership is about improving the lives of others and improving the systems they live under” (Sam Irvin) and “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality” (Dante’s Inferno and quoted by John F. Kennedy). These two quotes have guided me since that time. You need to have the courage when confronted with a difficult situation to be able to make the decision that will be most responsible to the people you serve. The second quote adds the bite in that it takes tremendous courage to do the right thing. These two quotes nicely sum up the balance of what is important to me in being a leader. MD: What has been the biggest surprise you have had since attaining a senior leadership role? RI: The real surprise is just how hard it is to get exceptional results in a way that also puts a premium on the value of people and others that the organization is there to serve. It is just much more difficult than we let on. There are always opportunities where we can do better and there is no formula. It does not get easier. MD: What is the greatest benefit to you in attaining a senior leadership role? RI: It is just such a privilege to be in a leadership role both for the opportunity and the responsibility. If you get it right, there is an inherent multiplier. You can make improvements for so many people, and a lot of good can happen. You also have to accept that if you get it wrong you can cause grief. It is wonderful in that it is such a challenge and still such a privilege. As a leader, when you see something that is fundamentally wrong, you can make it right and create that type of sea change and shift – it is wonderful. I see leadership as a moral act. It is always the right time to do the right thing. It is not about you being a leader; it is about you doing the right thing. When you make it about doing the right thing you immediately take leadership. Doing the right thing may not always be the popular or easy route, but that is where you take on the responsibility of leadership to make changes that positively impact so many lives. MD: What is the next achievement you want in your leadership career? RI: I believe Acadia University is an outstanding institution and absolutely an important model for Canada. It is also increasingly rare in the Canadian context. There is something really special about it, and I want to be part of having that experience more widely and better understood in what is a fairly turbulent period in Canadian education. Acadia is a special place and I want to build on our rich tradition and make the university even stronger as we approach our 175th anniversary. There is a tremendous opportunity in how Canadian universities like Acadia can put the knowledge and research capacity out into the community. It is a rare opportunity that I am excited about being a part of. MD: What is your greatest learning as a leader? SL: Have confidence in yourself and take the initiative to seize opportunities. Think about where you are now in your career and what you can take from Ray’s comments. We would love to hear your comments about what are your key takeaways from our conversation with Ray. Tell us your progress – we want you to succeed. |
