FACTOR III: COURAGE
CLUSTER H: DEALING WITH TROUBLE
57 Standing Alone
Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions. Dag Hammarskjöld –
Swedish diplomat and former Secretary-General of the U.N.
Section 1: Your Development Need(s)
Unskilled
 Isn’t comfortable going it alone
 Prefers to be in the background
 May prefer to be one of many or be part of a team
 Doesn’t take the lead on unpopular stands
 Doesn’t take on controversial issues by him/herself
 May avoid and shrink from dispute and conflict
 May not have a passion, may be burned out
Select one to three of the competencies listed below to use as a substitute for this competency if you decide not to
work on it directly.
Substitutes: 1,8,9,12,13,22,27,31,34,38,43,48,53
Skilled
 Will stand up and be counted
 Doesn’t shirk personal responsibility
 Can be counted on when times are tough
 Willing to be the only champion for an idea or position
 Is comfortable working alone on a tough assignment
Overused Skill
 May be a loner and not a good team player or team builder
 May not give appropriate credit to others
 May be seen as too self-centered
 May not wear well over time
Select one to three of the competencies listed below to work on to compensate for an overuse of this skill.
Compensators: 3,4,7,15,19,27,33,36,42,60,64
Some Causes
 Can’t take the heat
 Don’t like to be out in front
 Don’t relish working alone
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
607
 Laid back style
 Not identified strongly with any issue
 Not knowledgeable enough to take stands
 Not self-confident
 Shy away from conflict
Leadership Architect® Factors and Clusters
This competency is in the Courage Factor (III). This competency is in the Dealing with Trouble Cluster (H) with:
9, 12, 13, 34. You may want to check other competencies in the same Factor/Cluster for related tips.
The Map
Standing alone involves being comfortable with the conflict inherent with being an individual champion. It
means staking out tough and lonely positions, speaking out as a lone voice, and taking the buffeting that
comes with that. It requires a strong sense of self and a lot of self-confidence. Leading is many times standing
alone.
Section 2: Learning on Your Own
These self-development remedies will help you build your skill(s).
Some Remedies
 1. Not comfortable being out front? Face criticism with courage. Leading is riskier than following.
While there are a lot of personal rewards for taking tough stands, it puts you into the limelight. Look at what
happens to political leaders and the scrutiny they face. People who choose to stand alone have to be
internally secure. Do you feel good about yourself? Can you defend to a critical and impartial audience the
wisdom of what you’re doing? They have to please themselves first that they are on the right track. They
have to accept lightning bolts from detractors. Can you take the heat? People will always say it should
have been done differently. Even great leaders are wrong sometimes. They accept personal responsibility
for errors and move on to lead some more. Don’t let criticism prevent you from taking a stand. Build up
your heat shield. If you know you’re right, standing alone is well worth the heat. If it turns out you’re wrong,
admit it and move on.
 2. Facing a challenging issue? Prepare for tough stands against the grain. Taking a tough stand
demands confidence in what you’re saying along with the humility that you might be wrong—one of life’s
paradoxes. To prepare to take the lead on a tough issue, work on your stand through mental interrogation
until you can clearly state in a few sentences what your stand is and why you hold it. Build the business
case. How do others win? Ask others for advice. Scope the problem, consider options, pick one, develop a
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
608
rationale, then go with it until proven wrong. Consider the opposing view. Develop a strong case against
your stand. Prepare responses to it. Expect pushback.
 3. Up against adversaries? Sell your stand. While some people may welcome what you say and what
you do, others will go after you or even try to minimize you or the situation your stand relates to. Some will
sabotage. To sell your views, keep your eyes on the prize but don’t specify everything about how to get
there. Give others room to maneuver. Present the outcomes, targets and goals without the how to’s.
Welcome ideas, good and bad. Any negative response is a positive if you learn from it. Invite criticism of
what you’re doing. Even though you’re going it alone, you need the advice and support of others to get
there. Stay away from personal clashes. More help? – See #12 Conflict Management.
 4. Too emotional? Keep your cool. Manage your emotional reactions. Sometimes your emotional
reactions lead others to think you have problems with taking tough positions and stands. When this
happens, what emotional reactions do you have? Do you show nervousness or non-verbals like increasing
or wavering voice volume or fidgeting? Learn to recognize those as soon as they start. Ask a question to
buy time. Pause. Or ask the person to tell you more about his/her point of view. More help? – See #11
Composure and #107 Lack of Composure.
 5. Afraid of failure? Develop a philosophical stance toward being wrong or losing. After all, most
innovations fail, most proposals fail, most efforts to lead change fail. Research says that successful general
managers have made more mistakes in their careers than the people they were promoted over. They got
promoted because they had the guts to stand alone, not because they were always right. Other studies
suggest really good general managers are right about 65% of the time. Put errors, mistakes and failures on
your menu. Everyone has to have some spinach for a balanced diet. Don’t let the possibility of being wrong
hold you back from standing alone when you believe it’s right.
 6. Engaged in a difficult fight? Practice the rules of one-on-one combat. Standing alone usually
involves dealing with pure hand-to-hand confrontations. You believe one thing, they want something else.
When that happens, keep it to any facts that are available. You won’t always win. Stay objective. Make the
business case. Listen as long as they will talk. Ask a lot of clarifying questions. Sometimes they talk
themselves to your point of view if you let them talk long enough. Always listen to understand first, not
judge. Restate their points until they say that’s right. Find something to agree with, however small that may
be. Then refute their points starting with the one you have the most objective information for first. Move
down the line. You will always have points left that didn’t get resolved. Acknowledge those. The objective is
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
609
to get the list as small as possible. Then decide whether you are going to continue your stand, modify it or
withdraw. More help? – See #12 Conflict Management.
 7. Afraid of nasty questions or ones you can’t answer? Master the rules of responding. Think about
the 10 most likely questions you could be asked. Rehearse what you would say. Some rules. Practice 10to 30-second answers. Ask the questioner if that answered his/her question. Many spend too much time on
the answers. Make sure you know what the question is. Many answer the wrong question. Ask one
clarifying question if you’re unsure (do you mean how would this product work in a foreign or domestic
market?). If someone just won’t let go, say, ―We must really have different experiences. It’s apparent we
don’t agree so let’s just agree to disagree for now, but thanks for the debate.‖ If the question is hot, ―Why
are women so discriminated against in this organization?‖ extract the main issues and respond with, ―Here
are three things you can do about it.‖ As a general rule, don’t answer such questions as given because
they are negative, and stay away from classification (women, men, accountants) answers. Get it in your
mind that questions are your friends because they reveal opportunities to solve problems and headline the
difficulties you face. You just need five techniques to deal with them including the dreaded ―I don’t know,
but I’ll find out and get back to you on that.‖
 8. Don’t like risk? Expand your comfort zone. Standing alone involves pushing the envelope, taking
chances and suggesting bold new initiatives. Doing those things leads to more misfires and mistakes. Treat
any mistakes or failures as chances to learn. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Up your risk comfort. Start
small so you can recover more quickly. Go for small wins. Send up trial balloons. Don’t blast into a major
stand to prove your boldness. Break it down into smaller stands. Take the easiest one for you first. Then
build up to the tougher ones. Review each one to see what you did well and not well, and set goals so
you’ll do something differently and better each time. Challenge yourself. See how inventive you can be in
taking action a number of different ways. More help? – See #2 Dealing with Ambiguity, #14 Creativity, and
#28 Innovation Management.
 9. Blending in with the crowd? Tap into your passion. Maybe there’s nothing you care about deeply
enough to stand alone on. You stay in the background or within your group. This is OK, but most likely
won’t get you recognized or promoted. Leaders lead and take tough stands. Look around you—what’s your
passion? What do you have enthusiasm for or what truly needs to be done? Identify it. Appoint yourself as
champion. Throw out trial balloons to other units/groups to see if your notion strikes a chord or solves a
common problem. Find an experimenter to go in with you. Bring in a heavy expert or someone with political
clout to help you make your point. Plant seeds with others at every opportunity.
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
610
 10. Afraid of the consequences? Take personal responsibility. Standing alone means taking the
consequences alone. Both the credit and the heat. You won’t always be right so you need to just be as
quick to take the blame as the credit. Just say, ―Yes you’re right, my stand was wrong, sorry about that.‖
Make it a practice to conduct postmortems immediately after milestone efforts—win or lose. This will
indicate to all that you’re interested in improvement and excellence whether the results are stellar or not.
Don’t let your missteps chill your courage to speak up, step into the breach, and stake out tough stands.
Section 3: Learning from Feedback
These sources would give you the most accurate and detailed feedback on your skill(s).
 1. Direct Boss
Your direct boss has important information about you, your performance, and your prospects. The
challenge is to get this information. There are formal processes (e.g., performance appraisals). There are
day-to-day opportunities. To help, signal your boss that you want and can handle direct and timely
feedback. Many bosses have trouble giving feedback, so you will have to work at it over a period of time.
 2. Human Resource Professionals
Human Resource professionals have both a formal and informal feedback role. Since they have access to
unique and confidential information, they can provide the right context for feedback you’ve received.
Sometimes they may be ―directed‖ to give you feedback. Other times, they may pass on feedback just to
be helpful to you.
 3. Past Associates/Constituencies
When confronted with a present performance problem, some claim, ―I wasn’t like that before; it must be the
current situation.‖ When feedback is available from former associates, about 50% support that claim. In the
other half of the cases, the people were like that before and probably didn’t know it. It sometimes makes
sense to access the past to clearly see the present.
Section 4: Learning from Develop-in-Place Assignments
These part-time develop-in-place assignments will help you build your skill(s).
 Become a referee for an athletic league or program.
 Plan for and start up something small (secretarial pool, athletic program, suggestion system, program,
etc.).
 Launch a new product, service, or process.
 Be a change agent; create a symbol for change; lead the rallying cry; champion a significant change and
implementation.
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
611
 Manage a group of people involved in tackling a fix-it or turnaround project.
 Prepare and present a proposal of some consequence to top management.
 Take on a tough and undoable project, one where others who have tried it have failed.
 Resolve an issue in conflict between two people, units, geographies, functions, etc.
 Do a postmortem on a failed project, and present it to the people involved.
 Audit cost overruns to assess the problem, and present your findings to the person or people involved.
Section 5: Learning from Full-Time Jobs
These full-time jobs offer the opportunity to build your skill(s).
 1. Change Manager
The core demands to qualify as a Change Manager are: (1) Leader of a significant effort to change
something or implement something of significance. (2) Success and failure will be evident. (3) Always
something new and unique to the organi-zation. (4) Must get many others to buy in and cooperate. (5)
Involves cross-boundary change. (6) High visibility sponsor. (7) Exposure to significant decision makers
and key stakeholders. (8) Resistance is expected and near-universal. (9) Cost of failure is significant.
Examples include: (1) Total Work Systems like TQM, ISO, or Six Sigma. (2) Business restructurings like a
move away from a core competence and into a new product space or industry, i.e., American carmakers
move into smaller, more fuel-efficient products. (3) Installing major systems (like an ERP or HRIS) and
procedures for the first time. (4) M&A integrations, responding to major competitor initiatives that threaten
the organization. (5) Extensive reorganizations. (6) Long-term post-corporate scandal recovery.
 2. Crisis Manager
The core demands to qualify as Crisis Manager are: (1) Leader responsible for an unpredictable, unique
crisis of significant proportion. (2) Success and failure will be evident and visible. (3) Takes Herculean
effort to solve. (4) Learning something on the fly. (5) Solution requires cross-boundary team. (6) Leader will
be a spokesperson and potentially subjected to media scrutiny. (7) Hostile questioning and suspicious
atmosphere is common. (8) Time pressure is extreme. (9) Solution involves working with parties outside
the organization. (10) Usually short-term (up to three months). (11) Other parts of job would have to be
temporarily set aside. Examples of crisis management would be: (1) A product safety recall; product or
system failure. (2) Unexpected death of a CEO or senior corporate executive. (3) Unexpected termination
or scandal involving a CEO or senior corporate executive. (4) Trouble with a key customer or supplier that
decreases revenue or production. (5) Natural disasters. (6) Terrorist attacks. (7) Kidnapping or arrest of
employees; violent crime against employees.
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
612
 3. International Assignments
The core demands to qualify as an International assignment are: (1) First-time working in the country. (2)
Significant challenges like new language, hardship location, unique business rules/practices, significant
cultural/marketplace differences, different functional task, etc. (3) More than a year assignment. (4) No
automatic return deal. (5) Not necessarily a change in job challenge, technical content, or responsibilities.
Examples of International assignments would be: (1) Managing local operations for an office located
outside your home country. (2) Leading the expansion into new global markets. (3) International sales
position. (4) Country/region head. (5) Managing transition for outsourced operations at an international
location. (6) Head of supply chain or manufacturing for global business. (7) Global compliance manager at
an international post.
 4. Start-Ups
The core demands to qualify as a start from scratch are: (1) Starting something new for you and/or for the
organization. (2) Forging a new team. (3) Creating new systems/facilities/staffs/programs/procedures. (4)
Contextual adversity (e.g., uncertainty, government regulation, unions, difficult environment). Seven types
of start from scratches: (1) Planning, building, hiring, and managing (e.g., building a new facility, opening
up a new location, moving a unit or company). (2) Heading something new (e.g., new product, new service,
new line of business, new department/function, major new program). (3) Taking over a
group/product/service/program that had existed for less than a year and was off to a fast start. (4)
Establishing overseas operations. (5) Implementing major new designs for existing systems. (6) Moving a
successful program from one unit to another. (7) Installing a new organization-wide process as a full-time
job like Total Work Systems (e.g., TQM/ISO/Six Sigma).
Section 6: Learning from Your Plan
These additional remedies will help make this development plan more effective for you.
Learning to Learn Better
 1. Learn New and Frivolous Skills to Study How You Learn
Practice learning frivolous and fun skills (like juggling, square dancing, skeet shooting, video games, etc.)
to see yourself under different and less personal or stressful learning conditions. Ask yourself why that was
easy while developing new personal/managerial skills is so hard. Try something harder with the same
tactics.
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
613
 2. Do Something on Gut Feel More Than Analysis
Act on ―gut feel‖; go with your hunches instead of careful planning. Take a chance on a solution; take some
risks; try a number of things by trial and error and learn to deal with making some mistakes.
 3. Sell Something to a Tough Group/Audience
Think of the person or group who will be the toughest to sell, the most critical, skeptical, or resistant, and
sell that person or group first. Take time to understand the opposing viewpoints. Find common ground and
leverage points; line up your best data and arguments and go for it.
Learning from Experience, Feedback, and Other People
 4. Getting Feedback from Bosses and Superiors
Many bosses are reluctant to give negative feedback. They lack the managerial courage to face people
directly with criticism. You can help by soliciting feedback and setting the tone. Show them you can handle
criticism and that you are willing to work on issues they see as important.
 5. Learning from Bad Things That Happen
Bad things happen to everyone, sometimes because of what we do and sometimes with no help from us.
We all have bad bosses, bad staffs, impossible and hopeless situations, impossible tasks, and unintended
consequences. Aside from the trouble these bad things cause for you, the key is how can you learn from
each of them.
 6. Learning from Mistakes
Since we’re human, we all make mistakes. The key is to focus on why you made the mistake. Spend more
time locating causes and less worrying about the effects. Check how you react to mistakes. How much
time do you spend being angry with yourself? Do you waste time stewing or do you move on? More
importantly, do you learn? Ask why you made the mistake. Are you likely to repeat it under similar
situations? Was it a lack of skill? Judgment? Style? Not enough data? Reading people? Misreading the
challenge? Misreading the politics? Or was it just random? A good strategy that just didn’t work? Others
who let you down? The key is to avoid two common reactions to your mistakes: (1) avoiding similar
situations instead of learning and trying again, and (2) trying to repeat what you did, only more diligently
and harder, hoping to break through the problem, yet making the same mistake again and with greater
impact. Neither trap leaves us with better strategies for the future. Neither is a learning strategy. To learn to
do something differently, focus on the patterns in your behavior that get you in trouble and go back to first
causes, those that tell you something about your shortcomings. Facing ourselves squarely is always the
best way to learn.
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
614
Even if I have to stand alone, I will not be afraid to stand alone. I‘m going to fight for you. I‘m going to
fight for what‘s right. I‘m going to fight to hold people accountable. Barbara Boxer – U.S. Senator
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
615
Suggested Readings
Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (2007). Leaders: Strategies for taking charge (2nd ed.). New York:
HarperBusiness.
Chaleff, I. (2003). The courageous follower: Standing up to and for our leaders. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.
Cloud, H. (2006). Integrity: The courage to meet the demands of reality. New York: HarperCollins.
Cooper, C. (2008). Extraordinary circumstances: The journey of a corporate whistleblower. Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons.
Kolditz, T. A. (2007). In extremis leadership: Leading as if your life depended on it. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lee, G., & Elliott-Lee, D. (2006). Courage: The backbone of leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Linsky, M., & Heifetz, R. A. (2002). Leadership on the line: Staying alive through the dangers of leading.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Maney, K. (2003). The maverick and his machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the making of IBM. Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons.
McPherson, J. M. (2009). Abraham Lincoln: A presidential life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Swartz, M., & Watkins, S. (2003). Power failure: The inside story of the collapse of Enron. New York:
Doubleday.
Thornton, P. B. (2002). Be the leader, make the difference. Irvine, CA: Griffin Trade Paperback.
COPYRIGHT © 1996–2010 LOMINGER INTERNATIONAL: A KORN/FERRY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MICHAEL M. LOMBARDO &
ROBERT W. EICHINGER
616