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How Innovators Get Out of Their Own Way: A Framework
for Political, Technology and Business Leaders
It probably did not occur to most of the students attending Michael Fairbanks’s recent talk at Fletcher on “How Innovators Get Out of Their Own Way: A Framework for Political, Technology and Business Leaders” that Fairbanks would be talking specifically about them.
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| 1. You’re evalu-phobes.
If everyone receives an A, said Fairbanks, students are not getting candid feedback about where they are, and “you’re wasting your money unless you ask to be evaluated critically.” Fairbanks suggested that students worry less about their numerical grades and instead ask their professors, “What do I need to do in your class to succeed in all the things you have to offer? Do you perceive a skill that I should have that I don’t have? What am I going to need when I get out of here?” His SIPA classmates who have succeeded, said Fairbanks, are not the ones who were the smartest or fastest students, but rather the ones who were interested in improving their skills gradually over a period of time. “The best students in my class are nowhere to be seen.” 2. You’re afraid of your peers. The biggest barrier to class discussions is the environment the students place for each other, said Fairbanks. Students do not talk in class for two reasons: they do not want to sound dumb in front of the rest of the class, or they do not want to look like they are “kissing ass.” “If you’re afraid of being exposed as an ‘impostor,’ it’ll freeze you up to do the innovation you want.” But those who fail will learn the most if their hearts are in the right place, said Fairbanks. “I urge you to fail. Fail fast, learn from it, and change. You will be a success in any dimension faster if you fail faster.” 3. You’re defensive. “One of the world’s greatest diplomats is your dean.” If you were to sit down and talk to Dean Stephen Bosworth about diplomacy, said Fairbanks, he would tell you that diplomacy is not about harmony, but “about putting the contentious issues on the table and solving problems.” “You’re not here to love each other, you’re here to learn from each other. … Don’t just say you ‘agree, and build on that.’ Do you really agree? Remind yourself that it’s an academic environment. You are looking for the truth. Don’t sweep things under the carpet.” Unfortunately, said Fairbanks, “taking a side is seen as not being open to other people. [But] it’s okay to have a strong point of view as long as you say it in a testable way and you’re willing to have it disconfirmed by someone with better data, more structured thinking, or a more compelling argument.” |
| Fairbanks also talked about
what he looks for in prospective staff members. “In ten or
15 years, I’ve never asked to look at a transcript. I look
at references. We have lots of interpersonal tests.”
Essentially, said Fairbanks, he looks for four critical
attributes, to which he gives the acronym GICS. G. Develop the skills so that others will be willing to be Guided by you. “Can you speak well? Can you tell stories? Can you use riveting language? Can you write well?” Most importantly, Fairbanks asked, “is your objective something outside of yourself? People won’t be willing to be guided by you if your objective is yourself: ‘I want to bike across Asia… I want to speak this many languages.’ Find an objective outside yourself packed with emotion. Then people will be willing to be guided by you.” I. Be Integrators. “Use the Fletcher School as an outstanding platform. Productivity improvements come when you explore one domain, throw yourself into another, and try to solve problems across domains.” Students often say that they are not prepared for a new discipline in which they have no background. But the preparation is simply being in inquiry mode, said Fairbanks, and the goal is to bring data and concepts from different fields together into “an insight that causes action.” C. Learn to build Colleagueship. “Learn to build spontaneous sociability and trust. Every single thing you do either builds trust or destroys trust. If you’re late, if you don’t give proper credit, you destroy trust. Give the best to everybody around you, and make sacrifices.” S. Develop a Statistical imagination. You need to be able to recognize patterns, said Fairbanks, and to come up with numbers to explain complex phenomena. He recommended that Fletcher students take courses in statistics and finance. “It’s rigorous. It’s in the numbers. |
“One of the great things about Fletcher is that it’s a multidisciplinary approach. It allows you to integrate…. [But] I have taught one hundred students over two years here and I don’t think you’re even close to taking advantage of the Fletcher School. I think you’re in your own way.”
Students, said Fairbanks, are loath to be evaluated, afraid of their peers, and focused on harmony rather than uncovering truth and solving problems [see box]. However, Fairbanks, a graduate of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), was quick to say that the problems he was describing were by no means unique to Fletcher students, but rather, common across most institutions.
“Sadly, probably the most emotionally competent people [in an institution] are those who have just arrived. The norms of a place wash over you. They are really powerful. Our own identities aren’t that strong. The only thing you can do is [put] your norms out there for explicit discussion.”
The talk provoked much interest and discussion among the students, faculty and administration in attendance. Some felt that Fairbanks had been too sweeping and misjudging. Others felt that Fairbanks been deliberately provocative in order to get his message across, but that he had raised several issues that Fletcher students have already begun discussing amongst themselves in the online Student publication, The Fletcher Ledger.
Fairbanks closed with a story about a closed meeting he had attended in the 1990s with then-U.S. President Clinton and Rwandan President Kagame. Clinton had arranged the meeting in order to encourage private investment in Rwanda, and in attendance were potential investors including Hollywood producers, an executive from Sun Microsystems, and a prominent venture capitalist.
“All of a sudden, the big-time VC laid into Clinton [on U.S. foreign policy in Rwanda]. They got into a huge argument that would never make the press.” With that, all discussion on aid or investment in Rwanda ended.
“You know what? If Clinton’s intention had been to help Kagame, he won’t have let the argument go that far. He fought the guy because his intention was to persist his own persona. But his real intention was to appear with Kagame.
“The good leaders in every field have somehow come in touch with their real intention. They have a consciousness about what it is they’re really trying to achieve. My advice to you is to focus relentlessly on yourself, and [change] will happen. Foster this environment and promote this discussion with each of you.”
Michael Fairbanks is co-founder and Chief Executive of ontheFRONTIER, a Monitor Group company that advises business and government leaders in developing countries on making strategic choices in a changing global economy. Since spring 2002, Fairbanks has taught a course on International Entrepreneurship at the Fletcher School.
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2002 The Fletcher School, Tufts
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