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Painting a Clear Picture while Seeing the Big Picture

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How do leaders effectively promote organizational change through their thinking styles?

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This video explores the effectiveness of different types of rhetorical communication used by leaders when articulating visions for their organizations or governments. Research indicates that the most compelling rhetoric is concrete and vivid, providing a clear picture of the future, whereas abstract rhetoric tends to be less engaging and harder for audiences to visualize. Although concrete communication is identified as beneficial, the research finds a paradox: leaders who excel in concrete thinking often focus on short-term, narrow issues rather than long-term, large-scale changes necessary for inspiring and galvanizing people.

The research further investigates the characteristics of leaders who can regularly convey effective rhetoric. It suggests that leaders in hierarchical organizations are more likely to communicate long-term visions because the structure prevents them from being bogged down by minute operational details. Consequently, these leaders can focus on broader strategic initiatives. The studies highlight two approaches: a big data analysis of CEO behaviors linked to organizational change and a controlled experiment assessing decision-making scenarios.

Findings suggest that CEOs who think concretely and are situated in more hierarchical settings are more successful at initiating organizational changes. In contrast, those who communicate abstractly do not seem to benefit from hierarchy in the same way. The research emphasizes the importance of selecting leaders who possess concrete thinking abilities, arguing that organizations should prioritize the selection of individuals capable of effectively communicating and implementing transformative visions, rather than solely focusing on organizational culture. The study points to opportunities for future research in understanding how best to identify and cultivate such leadership talent.

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We've had, an accumulating body of evidence

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for quite a while, suggesting that the types of rhetoric

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that leaders use

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that's most effective when they communicate visions

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for their organizations or their,

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or their governments, tends not to be the kind of rhetoric

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that, is the type of rhetoric that they use.

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So the type of rhetoric that they use

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and the type of rhetoric that's most effective

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are often two different things.

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Uh, we found that the rhetoric that's most effective tends

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to be very concrete, very vivid,

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giving a very clear sense of

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what the future could look like.

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So, for example, you know, a,

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a very compelling statement might be, we wanna have a,

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a city full of electric vehicles

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and solar panels on every rooftop

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and wind turbines on every hill.

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And that's gonna be very vivid.

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It gives you a sense of what the future could look like.

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Uh, by contrast, a more general and vague

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and abstract vision, like,

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we wanna have a very environmentally friendly

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and sustainable future, that's not quite as compelling.

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It doesn't give people a clear sense of, of

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where they, where we're gonna be going.

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It's more difficult to coordinate.

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It's, less emotionally impactful.

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So the basis for the research was, okay,

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there's certain types of rhetoric that's better.

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So let's try to identify what kind

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of leaders are most likely to be able

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to convey that kind of rhetoric.

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The growing body of evidence, suggesting that

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that particular rhetorical style is advantageous relative to

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abstract communication, even though abstract communication

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is actually much more prevalent.

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In one study, we found that more than 90%

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of visions are very abstract rather than concrete.

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One of the reasons is it's very hard

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to think concretely about the future,

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and visions are typically about the future.

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So, so that's the state of the science.

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And I think the big gap is, well, okay, if it's,

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if it's the case that there's a certain type of rhetoric

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or oratory or speech that better, then who, who is the kind

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of person, what kind of leader is, is going to be able

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to convey that on a regular basis?

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Who should, what kind of personality characteristics,

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for example, should we be looking for?

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The first premise is that people

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who naturally think concretely are gonna be better equipped

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to convey concrete visions of the future, right?

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So if it's desirable to talk more concretely,

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why don't we pick people who

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show a predisposition individually to speak concretely?

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So that's not very surprising.

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Um, however, the problem is that in cognitive psychology,

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there's been a pretty robust finding that people who think

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and speak concretely tend to focus on problems

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that are very narrow

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and very, very short term in nature.

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They tend, for example, instead

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of thinking about large scale change, on the order

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of many, many years, that includes,

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includes maybe thousands of people.

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They instead might focus on, the specifications

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of a very specific product that's gonna come

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to market in the next couple of weeks.

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So concrete thinkers tend to have a very short term,

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small scale, orientation.

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And so the conundrum here is that the person who appears

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to be, it would stand to reason to be best

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Equipped to communicate vivid visions

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of the future, the distant future.

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The problem is they don't really think

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about the distant future at all.

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Maybe the problem here is it's an attentional issue.

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So maybe it's the kinds of problems

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or topics that leaders are paying attention to,

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and maybe that is deficient

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amongst concrete oriented leaders.

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Um, and by deficient, I mean, at least with respect

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to communicating about visions, for the organization

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that are supposed to inspire people, galvanize people,

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maybe they are not thinking about the right topics.

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So attention is a really interesting topic

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because, you know,

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when we're focusing on whatever we're focusing on,

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so the people right now are, are watching this interview.

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What it's hard to be mindful of is that there's actually

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thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of stimuli

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and topics that they're not paying attention to.

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And at any given moment of a time,

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it's actually quite remarkable

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how little we can pay attention to at any single moment,

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typically between only five

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and nine discrete bits

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of information we can pay attention to.

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So that means that we're neglecting everything else.

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So what we were interested in is, okay,

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maybe leaders are people who can think concretely,

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their attention is on the wrong type of thing,

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and we need to figure out how can we reorient

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or repurpose their attention toward large

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scale, long term problems.

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And so that's where hierarchy came in.

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So we became interested in,

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maybe there's something about the situations in which they

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operate, specifically the

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how hierarchical their organizations are, such

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that if they work in an organization

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that is more hierarchical.

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So if a very concrete oriented leader is in a,

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is it occupying a perch?

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That's, that's very high up.

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And there are many, for example, many layers

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of management in between them and entry level workers

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or employees who are doing the, you know,

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on the ground productive work

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or interfacing with clients and customers.

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If there's many layers of management, they're more likely

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to not succumb to their natural predilection

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to get bogged down in very small details.

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And instead, they're likely to think at a much higher level

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to think in a, in a, about the, the big picture.

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And as we say, they can speak,

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clearly about the big picture.

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So we can clearly communicate a,

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a clear picture about the big picture.

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If you are further away from on the ground work, you're not

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as likely to be distracted by

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and bogged down in small operational detail.

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So the, the day-to-day detail, the thousands

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of operational details that A CEO who's very,

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let's say very technical in their orientation,

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they can get consumed with, with the specifications

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of any specific of any, let's say product

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that's gonna come to market.

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Or they can be focusing on interacting

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with a very specific constituency

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or customer base in a very specific market,

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and then lose sight of the big picture.

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That's less likely to happen if they're in a very hierarchal

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organization where there's many layers of operation

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that already exist that are there to take to,

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to address those low lying operational details,

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well then they're likely

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to have their attention nudged away from those

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low level details and

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Directed more to these big picture considerations,

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including long-term strategy.

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We actually had two studies.

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One study was, a, maybe one way to say it is a, a kind

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of a big data study where we drew on publicly available data

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about CEOs and,

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and, we looked at real organizational outcomes,

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in this case organizational change, which,

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which organizations are likely to take healthy risks

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to position them for long-term success.

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So that was the first study. The second study was an

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experiment in which we created a scenario

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where people could, imagine people

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who actually did have direct reports in real life.

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They were asked to imagine, being in a scenario

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where they had to make certain decisions

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for their organization strategy.

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We, we did two different studies

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because one of the problems

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with research is you can't get everything in any single

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study that we care about to be as robust

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and rigorous as possible.

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So the, the big data study, what that allowed us to do is

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to study CEOs in their natural environment.

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And then the experiment allowed us

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to get more direct control

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and randomization of participants

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to be be more confident in the causal claims we were making.

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Um, the problem of course is you can't get,

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can't get all those things in a single study.

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So that's why we had multiple studies,

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to your question on how we selected cos.

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So we selected, ultimately our final sample was 303 CEOs.

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We actually started with a much bigger initial sample

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of organizations and we used a technique called stratified

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sampling, where we, we essentially,

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and one of the problems with dealing with big data

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that's publicly available is you are kind

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of at the whims of what's available.

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And there often is not the, the complete amount of data

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that you need to run your analyses.

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Often it's available for only a very select, subset

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of the data that you have.

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So we started

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with I think something like 25,000 organizations.

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Ultimately only about 300 plus

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of those organizations had the data, the complete data

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that we needed, stratified sampling.

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What it allows us to do is to ensure

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that the sample is representative of all organizations

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or as many organizations as possible so that the,

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the claims we're making are, are generalizable.

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Um, and then in terms of the,

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the way the rest of the study was run.

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So we collected data from, quarterly earnings reports

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where the CEOs were asked questions by analysts

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and they, they couldn't prepare for these questions,

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so they couldn't have, you know, canned and,

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and very polished responses at the ready.

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So we got a sense of

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how do they actually think about problems

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and how do they actually speak?

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And we looked at are, is there, are there stable patterns in

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how they speak across time?

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And, and then we, we see, we, we tracked

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to see whether their stable patterns of speech

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impacted whether their organizations

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engaged in long-term change.

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Meaning the, are there more concrete thinkers,

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in more hierarchical organizations,

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are they more likely to instigate change?

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A lot of large, and, and very successful organizations often

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stumble upon what we'll call success traps,

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where they don't, they're, they're not,

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sufficiently nimble across

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A long period of time. They,

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they end up exploiting what they're really good at

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and they don't explore enough to create new capabilities.

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So change is really important. Uh, change is very risky.

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It can, it can often lead to, to problems,

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but it can also lead to discoveries that can really pay off.

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So we looked at changes our dependent variable

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as our outcome, and we actually looked at it at

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three different measures of change.

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We looked at whether an organization was likely to,

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either, acquire new firms or,

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or avoid acquiring new firms,

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or I should say, acquire firms at a lower

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rate than they used to before.

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00:09:27.685 --> 00:09:28.925
'cause we wanted to look at change, both

242
00:09:29.235 --> 00:09:30.765
that was very growth oriented,

243
00:09:30.765 --> 00:09:34.085
but also change that was about reducing growth

244
00:09:34.145 --> 00:09:35.685
or actually pulling back on costs.

245
00:09:35.765 --> 00:09:38.485
Acquisitions was one, property sales was another.

246
00:09:38.665 --> 00:09:41.685
So is an organization engaged in a lot of selling or,

247
00:09:41.705 --> 00:09:43.205
or buying a property?

248
00:09:43.705 --> 00:09:45.005
And then, research

249
00:09:45.005 --> 00:09:46.765
and development spending property sales.

250
00:09:47.105 --> 00:09:48.765
So acquisitions is, is a separate

251
00:09:48.765 --> 00:09:49.885
measure from property sales.

252
00:09:50.365 --> 00:09:52.845
Property sales primarily is a, we can call

253
00:09:52.845 --> 00:09:55.405
that a reduction focus form of growth in the sense

254
00:09:55.405 --> 00:09:57.445
of if you're selling awful lot of property,

255
00:09:57.445 --> 00:09:59.445
you're actually trying to constrict growth,

256
00:09:59.505 --> 00:10:01.085
at least in one sense, often in terms

257
00:10:01.085 --> 00:10:02.365
of your productive capacity.

258
00:10:02.755 --> 00:10:04.005
It's especially relevant for,

259
00:10:04.025 --> 00:10:05.245
for manufacturing organizations.

260
00:10:05.425 --> 00:10:08.085
We did find that, for the, for the study

261
00:10:08.085 --> 00:10:12.045
of the 300 plus CEOs, 303 CEOs, we did find that

262
00:10:12.885 --> 00:10:16.205
concrete oriented CEOs, so CEOs who think more concretely,

263
00:10:16.585 --> 00:10:18.405
which we measured by, you know,

264
00:10:18.425 --> 00:10:21.405
and again, we, we made sure that they think

265
00:10:21.405 --> 00:10:23.165
and communicate more concretely in a very

266
00:10:23.165 --> 00:10:24.285
stable way over time.

267
00:10:24.865 --> 00:10:28.765
Uh, that those CEOs, if they were in an organization

268
00:10:28.765 --> 00:10:32.765
that was more hierarchical, they were more likely to,

269
00:10:32.765 --> 00:10:34.885
trigger the onset of organizational change.

270
00:10:35.665 --> 00:10:37.485
And we, you know, we suspect, as I mentioned

271
00:10:37.485 --> 00:10:40.125
before, it's partly because they can communicate in a very

272
00:10:40.125 --> 00:10:41.645
clear way about the distant future.

273
00:10:42.065 --> 00:10:44.125
Um, or I should say they communicate in a clear way

274
00:10:44.125 --> 00:10:46.565
because they're concrete, they have a concrete orientation,

275
00:10:47.025 --> 00:10:48.965
and that communication is then dedicated

276
00:10:49.065 --> 00:10:51.885
or repurposed toward the distant future, as opposed

277
00:10:51.885 --> 00:10:54.045
to their natural tendency to focus on the short term.

278
00:10:54.545 --> 00:10:56.965
But then it's also coupled with the fact that something else

279
00:10:56.965 --> 00:11:00.205
that concrete oriented CEOs are very good at is

280
00:11:01.025 --> 00:11:04.285
operationalization or the implementation of a plan.

281
00:11:04.385 --> 00:11:07.485
So once they have a strategy, they can get people to commit

282
00:11:07.485 --> 00:11:10.605
to it, and they can build plans and set objectives

283
00:11:10.605 --> 00:11:13.365
and goals to help people realize the change

284
00:11:13.365 --> 00:11:15.205
that they have in mind quite effectively.

285
00:11:15.825 --> 00:11:17.405
We did not find that the same,

286
00:11:17.515 --> 00:11:20.245
that hierarchy has the same effect for abstract thinking cos

287
00:11:20.245 --> 00:11:21.845
so abstract thinking, cos these are people

288
00:11:21.845 --> 00:11:25.605
who think at a very, very grand level, very high level,

289
00:11:25.755 --> 00:11:27.365
very, they're very general in

290
00:11:27.365 --> 00:11:28.725
how they tend to think about problems.

291
00:11:29.755 --> 00:11:31.325
They were not affected by

292
00:11:31.325 --> 00:11:32.965
how much hierarchy the organization has.

293
00:11:33.105 --> 00:11:36.645
And it turns out that in no circumstances did they

294
00:11:36.845 --> 00:11:38.565
communicate very concretely about the distant future.

295
00:11:38.905 --> 00:11:42.165
And we essentially chalk this up to, it's hard

296
00:11:42.325 --> 00:11:43.605
to do something if you don't even

297
00:11:43.605 --> 00:11:44.805
have the potential to do it.

298
00:11:44.865 --> 00:11:47.765
So irrespective of the circumstances they were in,

299
00:11:48.035 --> 00:11:49.485
they just didn't co communicate

300
00:11:49.725 --> 00:11:51.005
concretely about the distant future at all.

301
00:11:51.565 --> 00:11:52.765
I feel this focuses

302
00:11:52.835 --> 00:11:55.965
Very heavily on creating situations

303
00:11:55.965 --> 00:11:57.685
and circumstances that will allow people

304
00:11:57.745 --> 00:11:59.245
to thrive as much as possible.

305
00:11:59.245 --> 00:12:01.685
Whether it's the, the nature of the work that they do

306
00:12:01.985 --> 00:12:05.605
or the way that their work teams are structured, the way

307
00:12:05.605 --> 00:12:07.245
that conflict is managed, whether

308
00:12:07.305 --> 00:12:08.685
and when their opinions are

309
00:12:08.685 --> 00:12:10.085
solicited, when they're collaborating.

310
00:12:10.585 --> 00:12:12.765
So the, the environment in which people work,

311
00:12:13.025 --> 00:12:15.405
the culture in which they work is incredibly important for,

312
00:12:15.465 --> 00:12:16.925
for helping them reach their potential.

313
00:12:17.035 --> 00:12:21.205
However, I think there, there is sometimes a neglected,

314
00:12:21.345 --> 00:12:23.925
or it is sometimes neglected to think about, well

315
00:12:23.955 --> 00:12:26.205
what about the people that we choose for our roles?

316
00:12:26.745 --> 00:12:29.725
Before we even think about which circumstances we want them

317
00:12:29.725 --> 00:12:31.405
to, they're gonna allow them to thrive.

318
00:12:31.415 --> 00:12:33.565
Maybe we need to choose, spend more time

319
00:12:34.085 --> 00:12:35.205
focusing on the kinds of people we

320
00:12:35.205 --> 00:12:36.405
choose for certain positions.

321
00:12:37.225 --> 00:12:39.845
And it turns out that there's only a certain type of person,

322
00:12:39.905 --> 00:12:41.805
at least in this one personality characteristic

323
00:12:41.805 --> 00:12:43.325
that we looked at concrete orientation,

324
00:12:43.435 --> 00:12:46.165
there's only a certain type of person,

325
00:12:46.405 --> 00:12:49.165
a concrete oriented individual who is likely

326
00:12:49.345 --> 00:12:52.165
to have the potential to communicate in an inspiring way,

327
00:12:52.185 --> 00:12:53.965
in a way that's memorable, in a way

328
00:12:53.965 --> 00:12:56.805
that helps people coordinate activity, especially in very,

329
00:12:56.805 --> 00:12:57.805
very large organizations.

330
00:12:58.265 --> 00:13:00.965
So it might be worthwhile for organizations to focus more

331
00:13:00.965 --> 00:13:04.245
of their energy on, on the selection component rather than

332
00:13:04.245 --> 00:13:05.925
just on the, the culture component.

333
00:13:05.925 --> 00:13:07.565
Both, of course are very important,

334
00:13:07.705 --> 00:13:09.285
but I think that's a critical, area,

335
00:13:09.585 --> 00:13:11.005
and I think that's actually a really important

336
00:13:11.005 --> 00:13:12.205
area for future research.

337
00:13:13.055 --> 00:13:14.965
Which organizations, what kind

338
00:13:14.965 --> 00:13:16.885
of attributes do they have are best at

339
00:13:17.325 --> 00:13:18.365
recognizing that kind of talent.

340
00:13:18.545 --> 00:13:21.205
And I would actually say even more specifically,

341
00:13:21.555 --> 00:13:23.885
what are the instruments that we can create,

342
00:13:23.945 --> 00:13:26.125
to help identify the skill?

343
00:13:26.315 --> 00:13:28.525
It's something that we spend a lot of time on trying

344
00:13:28.525 --> 00:13:31.005
to identify which people are really good at communicating

345
00:13:31.005 --> 00:13:33.525
and thinking concretely versus abstractly.

346
00:13:33.945 --> 00:13:36.045
It would be great to have a more refined

347
00:13:36.265 --> 00:13:38.245
and, rigorous, instrument

348
00:13:38.245 --> 00:13:41.645
that organizations can use more readily to attract the kinds

349
00:13:41.645 --> 00:13:43.245
of leaders that are, they're gonna help 'em be successful.

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