Lead Like Dee: The Art of Self-Management

Discover why managing yourself is the first step to true authority—and how to lead without power.

Dee Hock, the founder of VISA (the world’s largest credit card payment system), was one of the eminent thinkers in management and organizational theory. As a lifelong student of Hock, his work and insights, I came across the following — which I thought about summarizing in my own words but realized that it’s too good to be butchered by me.

On Leadership

“I used to have sessions with my employees once a week. Anyone could come, and we’d talk about anything on their minds. They always wanted to talk about management. ‘How do you do it?’ ‘What’s the best way?’ So I would ask them, ‘What is the single most fundamental responsibility of a manager?’

And I’d get a thousand different answers, all having one thing in common: They would be downward looking. They always had something to do with controlling those folks over whom they had power.”

At this point, Hock’s audiences usually smile expectantly: Isn’t that what management is about?

“Dead wrong,” says Hock, who waits for the confusion to settle in. “The first responsibility of anyone who purports to manage is to manage themselves.” What?

Hock continues, “Their own integrity, their own knowledge, and their own ability, conduct, knowledge, ethics, and wisdom. Unless you do that, you’re not fit for authority, no matter how much you acquire. You’re not fit; you’re dangerous. You’re going to be destructive.

“And then I’d ask what the second responsibility is. And, boy, they’d think they were going to get those folks now. Dead wrong. The second responsibility is to manage your bosses. If they don’t trust, respect, and support you, how are you possibly going to do anything with your people? Managing your staff is useless if you can’t manage your boss.

“So, then I’d ask for the third responsibility of anyone who’s a manager - downward looking again. So, I’d say, ‘Dead wrong! Manage your peers, those over whom you have no authority and who have none over you. If you can’t manage them, how are you going to do anything with your people?’

“Then I’d ask, ‘What’s the fourth responsibility?’ And by then, everyone would be looking around. No one wanted to be wrong again. The fourth responsibility is to manage your staff.”

Hock likes to test his audience. “If you hire good people and teach them the theory and if they manage themselves, you, and their peers well and they hire good people and are willing to be well-managed by them, what do you have to do but recognize them, reward them, and get out of the way?” (Laughter, relief, and a few questioning looks.)

Hock responds to the unasked questions: How do you manage your boss? How do you manage your peers? He faces a sea of wide eyes with a calm smile.

“Well, the answer is incredibly simple. You can’t. There’s no way. You have no power over superiors and peers. But can you understand them? Can you motivate them? Excite them? Persuade them? Influence them? Set an example? Inform, forgive, and interest them? Disturb them? Of course you can. And eventually the work will emerge. Can you lead them? Absolutely.”

Hock contends that there is nothing that can stop anyone from setting an example. He tells audiences, “The truth is that you were born a leader.” (Raised eyebrows)

“You think not? Then, one of you stand up and deny that you managed your parents.” (Laughter.) “You were leading yourself, your superiors, and your peers from the day you were born until you were sent to school and taught to manage.”

The Evolutionary Vision of Dee Hock: From Chaos to Chaords by Bonnie Durrance (Training and Development. Copyright 1997, the American Society for Training and Development.)