Of
the eleven inherent Leadership Risk Factors we measure that can lead to derailment,
the most misunderstood is “Eccentric.”
When coaching or training leaders and professionals, they often question
us as to why this trait is even a risk factor in the first place.
Being
“Eccentric” implies to most as someone who is odd, quirky, free spirited,
whimsical, inventive, envelope pushing, and nonconventional. At the surface, this trait seems quite benign
with regard to leadership or professional effectiveness. It is true that often
times the peculiarities do not impact overall performance in a substantially negative
way. These individuals are frequently
viewed as fun or irreverent characters with some unusual ways of expressing
themselves or in the ways they dress or act.
Let
me caution you to not cavalierly dismiss the derailment danger awaiting the
Eccentric leader or professional who may step beyond the boundaries. They can create costly or embarrassing problems
for businesses, relationships and that can be damaging to their own careers. The weirdness sometimes hinders what we like
to term “common sense” thinking or the ability to stay within appropriate
social expectations. Here are some actual
examples:
1)
The Nutty Professional. Some
years ago we were at a business proposal meeting with a major energy company’s
executives and the highly esteemed, well-regarded expert (Ph.D.) consultant we
brought with us stepped over the line.
He was obviously getting bored and blurted out, “Well it is a slow process… it is like watching two old people screw.”
It was no surprise that we did not land the project. Lesson learned: we never brought this highly eccentric consultant
with us again for a client or prospect meeting.
2)
The Too Much Information Communicator. We worked
with an executive coach who didn’t know when to say when. As soon as a
particular leader client started to mention having had a tough childhood during
a coaching session, this well trained coach, began injecting his own personal stories
of abuse and ranting about societal evils. Obviously, the coach lost credibility, the
session went down hill, and the coach was removed from any further coaching on
the project.
3)
The “Doesn’t Fit The Part” Guy. An executive
was reviewing candidates’ CDR profiles to screen for the position of vice president
of business development. Out of the four experienced candidates we reviewed together,
one (Sam) was an exceptionally good fit based on his assessment scores. The other
three did not remotely fit the job profile. As it turned out, the executive
client rejected this one best-fit candidate, who incidentally, was the only internal
candidate. The executive explained, “Sam
just does not fit in as an executive with ABC Company.” I prompted a discussion
to see if there wasn’t something that could be done in terms of image coaching,
wardrobe support, etc. that could help this obviously gifted employee “fit” as
an executive. This discussion was a no go.
The candidate was a high Eccentric and had alienated the executive culture
just enough to be an unacceptable weirdo.
The sad part was, Sam had the business and customer knowledge, loyalty,
(CDR) profile and capability – but his oddness was over the top and knocked him
out of consideration.
These three cases were very costly. The first was a large business project opportunity
lost. The second resulted in a client complaint, reputation damage for the
coach, and loss of revenue for future work that had been contracted. The third
case prevented a highly capable employee from being awarded a promotion to a
job he and the company could have mutually benefited from.
So the next time you think Eccentric is just
a silly, unimportant tendency that is left to musicians and artists with nose
rings and tattoos, think again.
By Nancy
Parsons
©2013,
CDR Assessment Group,
Inc., All rights reserved
