Professor

Charlotte Observer | 08/19/2007 | Panthers star prefers<br> actions over words

Has Julius Peppers immersed himself in best-selling books on business management?

The Carolina Panthers star took heat last week on sports radio and elsewhere for his response to owner Jerry Richardson's challenge to assume more of a leadership role. Peppers, long known as being one of the quieter Panthers, replied that he's not the only leader on the team and that he doesn't intend to turn up the volume.

"I would rather have my actions speak for me," he said.

While many of us might prefer charismatic leaders who deliver give-'em-hell speeches and take swift and decisive action, people who teach leadership for a living say a quieter approach can be surprisingly effective.

The stories of well-known, bold leaders such as General Electric's Jack Welch and Gen. George Patton might make good theater, but many of the best leaders turn out to be quiet, or even shy.

"One of the characteristics of great leaders is they tend not to be flamboyant show-offs who have big egos or are attention-grabbing," says Gerald Bell, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School who co-authored a book on leadership with legendary UNC basketball coach Dean Smith. "A characteristic of the best leaders in the world in any field is they tend to be modest, more humble."

But this isn't just a case of one Tar Heel giving cover to another. (Peppers played football and basketball at UNC.) The idea of quieter, softer leadership stretches back at least two or three decades. It's been the topic of best-selling books on business management.

Perhaps the most notable in that field is the 2001 best-seller "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap And Others Don't" by Jim Collins. It showed that CEOs of the most successful companies in their industries tended to be humble, not outgoing.

Four in 10 CEOs turn out to be introverts, according to CPP, a human resources firm that publishes the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality test.

Other research has shown that managers' sociability varies by industry. A 2006 study by PsyMax Solutions, a human resources firm, found that managers in insurance tended to be the most sociable. People in the scientific research tended to be the least sociable.

Bell says, though, that just because successful leaders are often reserved does not mean that they don't talk.

"You also have to take initiative," he says. "You can't be a highly effective leader if you don't take the initiative to communicate."

For Peppers, he says, that might take the form of pulling younger players aside, expressing himself clearly with powerful examples that motivate them. It doesn't mean delivering big speeches or giving media interviews.

The same communication principles apply in business, Bell says, though the results of effective leadership are much more immediately seen in sports.

He offers plenty of examples of modest leaders, from former NFL quarterbacks Joe Montana and Roger Staubach to generals Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall to investor Warren Buffett.

"Probably a large number of people believe to be an effective leader, you've got to be out front and loud or clever and charismatic," he says "It just doesn't prove to be the truth."

John Berkley, a principal with the Charlotte leadership development company Real-Edge, says he once led a seminar in which a Fortune 500 executive told his small group at the beginning of the day that "failure is not an option" on the day's exercises.

As a result, Berkley says, nobody on that team took any risks that day, and some felt alienated. He tries to teach the opposite approach.

"A softer leadership style that's more humble really invites people to be engaged and take risks," he says.

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