I know y’all remember Milli Vanilli. They were a 80s/90s pop/R&B group made of up two hardbody models named Fab and Rob. If you’re a Gen Y baby like me, you might have had their posters on your wall just like I did, singing along to their many hit songs on the radio: Girl You Know It’s True and Blame it on the Rain and Baby, Don’t Forget my Number. Milli Vanilli’s debut album skyrocketed to the top of the charts and earned a Grammy Award in 1990. However, their success turned to failure when their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that they were lip-syncing all their songs. The actual vocals on the record were not the voices of Fab and Rob. Turns out they were just mimicking the voices of other singers.
Milli Vanilli’s downfall reminds me of what can happen when Gen Y nonprofit leaders try to copycat Baby Boomer leadership. It just doesn’t work. Let me tell you about this guy I know. He’s a young, energetic nonprofit leader in his field and in his extensive volunteer work as well. We are about the same age, but our leadership styles are so different. Not to say that my style of leadership is perfect, just that I get put off by the way he works. He acts like a Baby Boomer stuck in a Gen Y body, choosing to follow hierarchy versus letting the team decide. In meetings, he behaves like an older CEO of a large nonprofit who can’t be bothered with the opinions of people lower on the totem pole. On the Blake Mouton leadership grid, he is probably closer to the Authority-Compliance/Produce or Perish style. He rarely showcases any personality or aspects of his personal life, as if afraid it would taint his image as a nonprofit professional on his way to executive leadership. This is not to say that all Baby Boomer nonprofit leaders act like this. But for many young professionals who complain about their older bosses, this is one of the issues they often bring up. That the relationship is all about the tasks, and there’s not room for much dialogue or building a relationship of mutual respect with their boss. So why, then, would we want to lip-sync that kind of leadership?
Better to be like Maya Enista, the Gen Y CEO of Mobilize.org. Maya is the kind of person you can relate to. Even though she is the head woman in charge of an entire organization, her down-to-earth personality still shines through as she talks about her passion for engaging young people in democracy and decision-making. Her leadership style motivates others to join her cause and help in any way they can.
Or we might examine the collaborative leadership style of Ben Rattray, the Gen Y CEO of Change.org. Ben’s team player attitude makes it easy for him to find win/wins for Change.org’s many partners that allow them to reach so many people interested in social issues. Ben recognizes that he doesn’t know everything, so he regularly invites input from stakeholders, and respects their opinions. This allows his organization to test new ideas with the support of as many people as possible.
The key to successful next generation leadership is to be who you are, not what you think an “official” nonprofit leader looks like. Loosen your tie and let your unique personality shine through. Stop acting like you were born in the 50s, because it’s obvious for all to see that you are young as hell. So make it work to your advantage, instead of trying to seem older than you are. Don’t make the same mistakes you complain about in your Baby boomer bosses. You can end up alienating your peers, and missing an opportunity to build lasting relationships.
Craft your own brand of leadership, and others will see you as an authentic person they can follow and trust. After all, it’s pretty easy to tell when somebody’s lip-syncing. Just ask Milli Vanilli.
Oh if only it were that easy to create your own brand of leadership…if you are a ceo and have full authority to lead like you want to lead, than great. However, most of us aren’t Executives yet or even when when get the chance to be Executives often the culture of the organization dictates how we must lead. I was an ED briefly and tried to lead by getting input from the team but got push back from the founder and board for not being more like them. I think it depends on the nonprofit and situation in which you are leading.
Sometimes you need to be authoritative and hierarchical to move the work forward. For example, I worked in hierarchical nonprofits where it was nearly impossible to get input from the team to make a decision and I also worked in nonprofits where I was expected to get input from the team before making any decision but that often delayed projects or prevented projects from happening. So I truly believe the right leadership style is dictated by the culture of the organization and the situation that arises. Many gen x’s and y’s don’t have the luxury of leading how we really want to lead on the job.
I think you can be authentic to yourself, no let me rephrase that, you have to be authentic to yourself no matter want organizational structure you work within. That being said, different circumstances call for different leadership tactics. I am way up in the NW on the managerial scale (team oriented), an (8,9) to be precise, yet in certain circumstances I’ve had to act more authoritative to get the job done. But rather than it depending on the organization, it was the people. Some people expect and want the person leading them to do so in a more authoritative manner. That doesn’t mean I am being inauthentic to my leadership style, rather I am recognizing the needs of my team and adapting my approach.
I meant NE. East/ West, left/right, I really need to write them on the back of my hands to keep things straight
@Heather – Thanks for sharing your experience during your stint as an ED. I agree that it’s not easy to build your own brand of leadership, but I don’t think it’s a luxury. I think that it’s absolutely something that the next generation of leaders has to figure out how to do. It’s up to us to change the culture if it doesn’t work for the good of our organizations. And if at first we don’t succeed, we have to try, try again. The main thing is that we take control of our own leadership, that we seek to dictate how we want to lead. But if we don’t feel it’s possible or worth the struggle to move a particular organization forward, of course we can make the decision to leave.
@Eric – The situational approach to leadership you describe is interesting to think about alongside Heather’s comment. I think what you’re saying is that in certain situations you may have to adapt your leadership style, but it depends on the team you are leading, vs. the culture of the organization. And within that, you may have to bite the bullet and lead how you feel is best in order to take that team where they NEED to go in order to meet the organization’s goals, no matter if it’s not necessarily where they WANT to go. This is what a good leader does.
While I don’t necessarily disagree with Heather, I would echo your point Rosetta that if the organization is hierarchical and you don’t like that, you can leave (or choose to not work there in the first place).
I also agree with Eric that different situations require different kinds of leadership. I love collaborative team-oriented leadership, but I also know that sometimes, you just have to tell people what to do.
An example: when I did Slumber Parties, I had to be somewhat authoritative (while still being friendly) with hostesses and guests. It was my business and I needed things to go a certain way or else I wasn’t going to make any money. For good or for ill, I discovered that most people either want to be told what to do or they at least willing go along with what you say if you’re the ‘leader’. That’s a powerful feeling and there is a part of me that understand why people get it in their heads that being authoritative is somehow better or more useful. Of course things go quicker if everyone asks ‘how high?’ when you say ‘jump’.
As we all know though, that type of situation also doesn’t empower anyone or give them a feeling of ownership or agency in the decision making process. But coming back to my original point, if that is what it happening and you don’t like it, its time to head out.
PS This is the first time I’ve even thought about or remembered Milli Vanilli in years. Now I have “Girl You Know It’s True” in my head
@Elisa Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad to give you a taste of my love of 80s/early 90s music
What I like about what you share about situations in which you’ve examined your own leadership, is that you made the choice of how to lead, and it sounds like it didn’t compromise who you wanted to be or how you wanted to be seen as a leader.
I keep wondering how this plays out when our generation starts being hired more and more for CEO jobs. What if the organization you’re hired into is resistant to your leadership style? Do you continue to lead the way you think is best or get forced into being someone you’re not?
Maybe it’s not worth it to keep pushing for change when no one wants to follow you. But if you think it IS worth it for that particular cause or organization, it seems to me that the next generation might have to endure the heartache and keep trying until the struggle pays off. I know it’s easier to leave than to try to change things, but so many of our organizations NEED to be changed.
My question is, who is going to do it if not us?
I’m only vaguely familiar with the Blake-Mouton grid – but I’m generally wary of such things because it’s very easy to decide that team leadership is A-1 and then create a matrix that puts it at the upper right.
I think the best leaders are the ones who put the needs and goals of the company ahead of their egos and personal needs. Once that’s accomplished, I think a lot of other problems are taken care of, too.
@Chris – Thanks for stopping by! I know there are a ton of leadership theory models, but this one seemed fitting for what I wanted to illustrate. Your comment about leaders who put the needs of organization make me think of this MLK quote:
“The urgency of the hour calls for leaders of wise judgement and sound integrity. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1956