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Put listening at the top of your leadership skills list
You won’t learn anything new about the now famous incident where President Trump sacked the then FBI director, James Comey. In fact, less than a third of the book deals with the interaction with Trump. This is what you will get out of the book:
Why you should listen: loyalty, honesty and commitment to values are leadership strengths
Higher Loyalty - it's not loyalty to the person but to values
Listening as a push-pull experience for greater understanding
You need to be confident enough to be humble
The leadership models you might have missed
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Shownotes:
A high profile leader looking at his early influences, good and bad, in shaping his values and models for leadership. One of the most impactful leaders was a supervisor in a grocery store. That gentleman showed patience, composure, and understanding.
Key messages from the book:
Listening is a core skill for leaders. Comey worked with George W Bush, Obama, and Trump. He said the differences in listening were significant. Obama in particular was a deep listener. Obama, Comey says, was keen to explore the other person’s perspective, to really understand the why and how of opinion. He also shared his perspective in an invitation for the other person to consider another viewpoint. It was a real push and pull respectful interaction. Trump on the other hand was a different story. Trump conversations were much more one way - it was hard to get air time, and there was not much interest in a dissenting opinion.
Be confident enough to be humble. Comey says Obama was one such a leader. Confident enough in himself to invite other opinions, to explore perspective. That takes courage to be vulnerable and open to changing opinion. Less confident people hang on tight to their opinions.
A higher loyalty is commitment to values. As an author myself of a book called Loyalty, I was keen to read Comey’s view. He contrasts the blind loyalty to individuals, such as those demanded by tyrants, mobsters, and liege lords, with loyalty to bigger principles. Comey compares the loyalty expected by a mob boss - where you swear loyalty to the Don - to the loyalty expected by Trump, a similar type of personal loyalty. Comey discussed a private interaction with Trump in a Senate hearing in to the Russian investigations. He reports that Trump asked twice for loyalty from Comey. Comey found this confronting as he felt Trump was expecting personal loyalty to override his duties as FBI director. In response to ‘I expect loyalty,’, Comey replies, ‘You will always have my honesty.’ For Comey, loyalty is commitment to the institution of the FBI and its principles of being an apolitical, independent service to the American people.
Comey’s book is definitely worth the read. It’s a great example of a leader in a high pressure, high profile position required to make tough calls, guided by his values. Two thumbs up!
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Related episodes on leadership principles:
Thought Nugget 1: Book Recommendation Hits and Misses, Plus Insight on Systems
E59 - Stop Staff Turnover in Small to Medium Enterprises
E58 - Staff Loyalty and How to Get It - Interview with Craig Cherry
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About your host, Canberra leadership expert Zoë Routh:
Canberra based leadership expert Zoë Routh share leadership principles from James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty
Zoë Routh is one of Australia’s leading experts on people stuff - the stuff that gets in our way of producing results, and the stuff that lights us up. She works with the growers, makers, builders to make people stuff fun and practical.
Zoë is the author of four books: Composure - How centered leaders make the biggest impact, Moments - Leadership when it matters most, Loyalty - Stop unwanted staff turnover, boost engagement, and build lifelong advocates, and People Stuff - Beyond Personalities: An advanced handbook for leadership. People Stuff was awarded Book of the Year 2020 by the Smart WFM Australian Business Book Awards.
Zoë is also the producer of The Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast.