We-dership
Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison highlights how the emphasis should always be on others, not the leader.
Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry. For more career advice, read his latest book, I Need a Job!
It starts with the leader, but it’s never about the leader.
That’s why leadership is one part strategy, two parts judgment—and, most importantly, three parts grace. While it’s easy to intellectualize, leadership is elusive to actualize—requiring both sense… and sensibility.
I can remember several years ago when I coached youth basketball. At the end of every practice, I chose a player to make one three-point shot. If the ball went in, practice was over. If not, we kept going.
On this particular night, I picked the youngest, smallest, and least experienced on the team to make that last “game-winning” shot. And there Jason stood, visibly trembling with nervousness. Everyone expected him to miss. Including Jason. He hadn’t made a basket all season.
When he took his shot, the ball hit the back of the iron, went several feet straight up and almost bounced in. The whole team groaned.
That’s when I gave Jason a second try. “Just picture the ball going through the net,” I said to him quietly. “You can do this.”
Swish!
His teammates erupted in cheers. In the doorway stood his father, eyes damp with emotion. He tried to thank me, but I stopped him. “That was all Jason.”
This was the day Jason began building confidence in himself. But he wasn’t the only one who was changed. Every player learned what’s possible when we all believe—and when that belief becomes reality.
And maybe that’s a playbook—embracing “we-dership” as opposed to “me-dership.” So, what does that look like?
The Me-O-Meter.
It’s a simple gauge. When someone constantly says “I,” “me,” and “my”—perhaps without realizing it—we have to wonder about their mindset. Far more impactful is speaking in terms of “we,” “us” and “our,” especially when talking about goals and accomplishments. With we-dership, the emphasis is always on others. After all, it’s the players who win the games.
The Genius of the Collective.
Every person has their own ambitions and agenda. It’s natural, and that’s a good thing. Leadership brings it all together—self-interest melded into shared interest, “what’s in it for me” to “what’s in it for we.” And nothing aligns a group quite like a sense of purpose.
That's when individual talent coalesces into collective genius. This sentiment echoed in something I read just the other day—a quote from Rodri, the team captain who won the coveted Golden Ball after leading Spain to victory in the World Cup: “I’ve always tried to lead from my position…. It’s the captain who lays out the path for the group.” As leaders, we’re always on the pitch, acutely aware that it’s the people around us who truly make a difference.
Where Our Aspiration Meets Their Inspiration.
In all my years of being a CEO, one of the things I’ve learned, time and again, is that strategy is 90 percent execution. And 90 percent of that execution is people. That’s why our aspiration should truly be the inspiration of others. We aren’t solo performers—like sculptors chipping away at marble or poets in a garret writing by candlelight. In life and leadership, it’s about others.
I’ve been reminded of an Albert Einstein quote: “Brief is this existence, like a brief visit in a strange house. The path to be pursued is poorly lit by a flickering consciousness whose center is the limiting and separating ‘I.’ When a group of individuals becomes a ‘we,’ a harmonious whole, they have reached as high as humans can reach.”
And that is the essence of we-dership.
