The Leader's Voice by Boyd Clarke and Ron Crossland (Select Books 2002)

The flow of leadership books continues unabated and threatens to swamp our understanding of the subject, rather than feed it. Having a foreword from Tom Peters might seem to heighten the sense of drowning, particularly since the authors are colleagues of Peters. Fortunately the focus of this book is on communication and commitment to action, so we are spared the histrionics of leadership and can concentrate on exploring its wellhead.

Clarke and Crossland compare leadership to Archimedes' discovery of leverage. Archimedes saw that from a firm base, and using an endless lever, he could move the whole earth. The book defines the constituents of the firm base as

• Authenticity (who am I as a leader, what motivates me, can I succeed?)

• Foresight (what is our vision, how can we sustain it, what do we want to become and why?)

• Connection (how do I start, how do I communicate and with whom both publicly and privately?)

• Context (what is required of leaders, what motivates constituents, how will external forces affect us?)

The answers to these questions define the firm base from which to start. The next step is to generate leverage through communication, avoiding four fatal assumptions

• Constituents understand what was communicated

• Constituents agree with what was communicated

• Constituents care about what was communicated

• Constituents will take appropriate action

Communication is seen to have three essential channels (which are hardwired in human beings)

• Factual (collecting, evaluating and communicating facts meaningfully to constituents)

• Emotional (we follow leaders because of how they make us feel)

• Symbolic (symbols "fuse emotion and logic to purchase valuable space in constituents' minds").

These channels are best used in combination since their interaction reinforces the message and builds commitment to act. Telling stories is seen to be a convincing medium of communication, since stories are instinctively compelling. The authors cite "horse whispering" as an example of using the horse's own language to win its trust. A message needs to be accepted in order to lead to action.

The use of three channel communication to achieve results is cited as key to the success of Golda Meir in establishing Israel on a firm footing. At a business level the authors quote Lens Crafters and TNT as "one Voice" companies, where the process of communication has developed a shared way of doing things and of expressing them. The shared Voice had become the shared realisation.

This is an American book written for an American audience. How well its messages will translate into the more sceptical British psyche is uncertain. We pride ourselves on factual communication, but are less confident in using emotions and symbols. Even our experiments in using emotions and symbols have not all had happy outcomes - "spin" is an example which has misfired.

Leadership in the UK is often mistrusted and under-performing. The ideas in this book offer a new approach which, in sincere and effective hands, may help us to engage the hearts of our employees and "constituents" and the half of their minds which they leave at the office door.

Adrian Davies - 16th May 2005