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The Boss of You
Tony Soprano is the model of leadership in witty, instructive and risque book
By Cecil Johnson
Special to the Star-Telegram
Fictional mob boss Tony Soprano leaves no doubt about who has leadership
responsibility in his New Jersey crime family.
"I'm the one who calls the shots," he tells his underworld associates in one of
the episodes of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
That is one of the cleaner quotes from the leader of the Soprano family used
by an Avon Products vice president uses in her extended essay on business
leadership.
Many of the other quotes used by Deborrah Himsel, vice president for
organizational effectiveness at Avon, contain words that cannot be printed in
a family newspaper.
Leadership Sopranos Style, therefore, must be rated R for language
However, it should also get an E for excellence.
Himsel has written one of the most readable, enlightening and useful books
about leadership that has appeared in many moons. oShe uses a gimmick so
effectively that it becomes a plausible scenario.
The quote about calling the shots is from the chapter titled "Charisma: More
Than a Flashy Tie and a Cheap Cigar." Using Soprano as a model, Himsel
clearly defines what charisma is and isn't, and how one can achieve it.
Here is one of Himsel's descriptions of Tony Soprano:
"He fills a room, and people immediately notice him. Though his fat Cuban
cigar is blowing smoke in everyone's face, no one would even think of asking
Tony to smoke it elsewhere. Though Tony is a big man and in the mob, these
aren't the only reasons people notice and respect him. It's the style with
which he carries himself, the way it reflects his inner fire and emotional
intelligence. He manages to project his inner beliefs and passions outward in
a clear and convincing fashion."
Himsel notes that Soprano is a study in contradictions who projects his
"authentic self" in ways that suggest inner toughness and softness, brutality and
compassion, ignorance and profundity.
"Most people hide who they are, and this prevents the full strength of their
character from emerging -- if they're in leadership positions, they may not
want to appear too empathetic for fear they'll be taken advantage of. They
may also not want to be too outspoken or forceful for fear of turning people
off," Himsel writes.
Nevertheless, she does not suggest that every leader develop a contradictory
style. Her point is that leaders should be who they are and to let their beliefs
shine through.
"If you learn how to communicate your special quality to others -- as
opposed to acting the part of a leader -- then you can develop a certain
amount of influence, charm, and inspiration," Himsel writes.
The author provides exercises for developing charisma, such as writing a
description of what you stand for as a leader, listing ways to translate those
principles into words and action and then practicing those in the presence of
subordinates, customers and suppliers.
"Motivate yourself with the image of Tony defending his belief in the mob
culture to the death," Himsel writes. "If he can speak passionately about
murder and mayhem, surely you can talk about results and integrity."
In the chapter titled "Who's the Boss: A Simple, Clear, and Adaptive
Structure," Himsel points out the advantages of Tony's seemingly outdated,
paramilitary, top-down organizational structure. The structure, she says, is
not as rigid as it appears at first.
"As you watch Tony and his people make money, you marvel at the clarity
of their work processes," she writes. "Someone is always unambiguously in
charge. Everyone knows who to go to for help or for a decision. The captain
and his crew know their targets and move toward them quickly and efficiently.
This is in contrast to many organizations where the goals or expected output
aren't clear."
The mob's conflict resolution process, called the sit-down, in Himsel's view
offers a useful model for corporations. She writes that in many organizations a
conflict is resolved by a manager stepping in, which satisfies nobody, or
conflicts are allowed to spiral out of control and generate angry e-mails,
voice mails and gossip.
She points out that Soprano usually calls for a sit-down before conflicts reach
a crisis. Anyone in the organization, however, may request one. The result is
a binding decision by a third party.
"Not only are sit-down decisions binding, but once a decision is reached, it is
not to be discussed or revisited again. It also is an astonishingly democratic
and versatile method of resolving conflict. Anyone can call a sit-down, which
can be used for everything, from clarifying new business limits to establishing
territorial boundaries," Himsel writes.
The other chapter titles that can be quoted in a family newspaper are
"Coaching the Poobahs and the Goumbas"; "Give it To My Face, Receiving
Feedback"; "You Talking to Me?"; "Ten Tough Choices, What We can
Learn from Tony's Most Challenging Decisions;" "Understanding Your
Deeper Need to Kill the Competition;" and "Analyzing Tony, Taking the
Best and Leaving the Rest."
The chapter on feedback poses the Sopranoesque question: "You got a
problem with me?" A leader who is gossiped about tends to be a leader who
doesn't invite feedback [gossip needs an information-poor environment in
which to thrive.]"
Insights of that caliber abound in this informative, instructive, witty and
slightly risqué treatise
Leadership Sopranos Style:
How to Become a More Effective Boss
Dearborn Trade Publishing 189 Pages - $20
Cecil Johnson is a Fort Worth-based free-lance writer.
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