Plant Flags and Build Roads: Interview with Spencer Stuart’s Claudius Hildebrand
I recently went one-on-one with Claudius Hildebrand, head of Spencer Stuart’s CEO Analytics practice and co-author of the new book Life Cycle of a CEO.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Claudius: My journey has been sparked by the belief that leadership matters more than ever. I wrote this book with my co-author Robert Stark out of deep dissatisfaction with how insights about leadership have traditionally been derived—an overreliance on anecdotes and conjecture, often filled with unnecessary fluff. Our bold goal has been to change the way we think about leadership and support leaders along their journey.
We recognized that media coverage tends to focus only on dramatic moments—the highest highs and lowest lows—while neglecting the valuable in-between experiences. Often, 50% of coverage centers on just five names, leading to a limited understanding of leadership. We noted that the discipline of leadership has not radically innovated since the days of Peter Drucker, often relying on incremental ideas and fleeting fads.
Through our research, we uncovered compelling patterns of performance spikes and falls that couldn’t be ignored. Additionally, it has been incredibly rewarding and enjoyable to listen to the stories of these accomplished leaders along the way. This comprehensive understanding of leadership dynamics is what ultimately brought us here.
Adam: What do you hope readers take away from your new book?
Claudius: Our book provides rare insights into the realities and challenges of the CEO role, challenging conventional wisdom about CEO success while offering new perspectives on predicting and managing performance. It reveals what successful leaders have done during pivotal moments and sheds light on the often flawed perceptions of CEOs as simply charismatic or overconfident. These misconceptions can obscure the true drivers of CEO performance, potentially hindering effective decision-making, candidate identification, and board relationships.
We see the book as a guidebook for a diverse audience. For current CEOs, it offers a framework to position their experiences within the broader CEO lifecycle, helping them understand their current stage and anticipate future challenges. It serves as a map of their journey, complemented by stories from those who have traveled this path before.
Aspiring leaders can use it to better plan for success by learning how established CEOs have navigated challenges, allowing them to identify and address skill gaps. For boards, the book equips them to more effectively support, evaluate, and interact with CEOs during critical moments. Additionally, CHROs and other partners can strengthen their collaboration on succession planning by gaining insights into CEO performance and development.
Ultimately, this book offers vital lessons in executive leadership, decision-making strategies, and the complexities of managing large organizations, making it a valuable resource for anyone striving for success in the business world.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective CEO and an effective leader?
Claudius: People skills, particularly emotional intelligence (EI), are critical differentiators for great leaders. Although often overlooked, these are essential for thoughtful and active listening, expressing and demonstrating empathy, conveying humility, collaborating, fostering psychological safety, and communicating a clear and motivating vision. These skills help to build authenticity, foster genuine relationships, and enable leading with influence rather than command and control – which is essential for building a more inclusive and motivated workforce. The good news is that any leader at any level can put themselves through the paces of gaining the skills. This is a mission that anyone aspiring to the CEO role must take very seriously.
Many of the leaders we interviewed in the book also rightfully spoke about the importance of self-awareness throughout their leadership journey. The willingness— or, better, eagerness— of leaders to recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses is essential for personal growth. Effective leaders embrace feedback and undergo a challenging yet rewarding journey of self-discovery, which involves a lot of hard work to change default behaviors that may be undermining their leadership.
In the high-stakes world of CEO leadership, resilience is also critical for navigating uncertainty and driving long-term success. Setbacks and unexpected challenges will inevitably occur, but their ability to bounce back from these setbacks and safeguard their emotional and mental well-being will ultimately set them apart.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Claudius: Leaders must understand that the journey of leadership is an ongoing process that requires adaptability and a commitment to personal and professional development. It’s about embarking on a search of excellence whilst understanding that we’re never quite excellent.
Even seasoned leaders face evolving challenges and changing landscapes that necessitate ongoing growth. Embracing personal reinvention allows leaders to remain innovative, effectively address new issues, and inspire their teams. Continuous learning and remaining open to change are essential for sustaining success and relevance in any industry.
Seeking and learning from feedback is a critical part of this. Although this may require leaders to embrace discomfort, regularly soliciting constructive feedback from peers, mentors, or team members will enhance self-awareness and ensure that the focus on closing critical gaps in skills and experience.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to aspiring leaders?
Claudius: I think it’s important to understand that the end game is not just to become a leader but to become a high-performing leader and that more energy needs to be directed to preparing for the challenges that may present them. Too many aspiring leaders realize that too late. Smart leaders will take a highly deliberate approach to assessing relevant strengths and weaknesses, address important gaps, further sharpen your strengths, and seek out wide-ranging roles that will stretch them
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of taking advantage of the years prior to do as much work on your leadership skills as possible. You may feel busy today. Guess what, you will be feel even busier once you are in the role. Seek development support from your company and, if possible, from coaches and advisers or formal development programs. In the absence of such a formal leader development process, they should put themselves forward for consideration for whatever new roles will best contribute to rounding out their experience.
Aspiring leaders should seek to understand the common passages and transitions into the desired leadership role and the associated challenges and opportunities along the way. Discover which positions and experiences are most critical, as well as the key focus areas for any executive to work on if they hope to reach the top.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to senior leaders?
Claudius: So many to choose from, here are three.
Lead from Both Front and Back
Effective leadership requires a balance of visibility and support. Think of the adage, "Plant flags and build roads." As a leader, it's important to chart the course while also laying down the infrastructure for your team to follow. Look at stories like Shantanu Narayen’s approach to empowering others and Ajay Banga’s vision, which illustrates the importance of aligning teams toward a common goal. Leaders must remain ahead of their organizations but should not venture too far out; understanding that "numbers are not a vision" is crucial. Instead, rallying your team around a shared purpose can lead to higher engagement and motivation than merely chasing numerical targets.Give Up Control to Gain Control
To lead effectively at scale, you must relinquish a degree of control. This concept often remains intellectual rather than emotional for many leaders, who are driven by a desire to maintain authority or move quickly. However, successful leadership takes time and personal development. Research, such as our study in Harvard Business Review on successful CEOs, which shows that collaboration and the ability to influence others outshine mere results-driven performance. Trust your team, allow them space to grow, and you'll find that the payoff in engagement and innovation is substantial.Balance Playing to Win with Avoiding Loss
There exist two motivational systems in us: we are either "playing to win" or "avoiding to lose." It's vital to understand which message resonates with your team and how you can motivate them effectively. While setting a vision often leans toward a "playing to win" mindset, feedback can sometimes skew toward what needs improvement, which feels more like avoiding loss. Striking a balance is essential. Encourage managers to celebrate team members’ superpowers while addressing development opportunities. For instance, one CEO I worked with encouraged his team to create collages showcasing one another's strengths, effectively blending recognition with constructive feedback. This dual approach can enhance motivation and engagement across the board.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Claudius: Independent thinking is a lot harder (and rarer) than being smart.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Claudius: I would like to emphasize the importance of understanding historical trends in leadership to navigate our future effectively. As Winston Churchill famously said, "The farther you look backward, the further ahead you will see." By thoroughly examining past leadership, we can uncover the big trends that hold the keys to our future.
This perspective encourages us to not just work for our business but to work on our business. And if Churchill may feel a bit too high-brow for some take it from Wayne Gretzky to "skate where the puck is going, not where it has been."
By understanding the headwinds and tailwinds of successful leadership, we can be better prepared for future challenges and seize opportunities before they arise.
Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.
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