Flashy leadership fails long-term, even when it seems to be sailing along carefree much of the time. In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn explains why the remedy to loud overconfidence is quiet competence.
Rob Artigo: Ray, I think we got a great topic on this one. We see a lot of high profile leaders today who thrive on, well, I guess what you describe as hype, bold promises and personal branding, the whole thing where you put your face on a T-shirt and everything’s suddenly, you’re a hot commodity. Yet many of those approaches, they just burn out or crash when the times get tough. I’m sure you’ve seen that over your 37 years at the helm of Micrel. You avoided the spotlight, you focused on steady execution. So, what’s the fundamental difference and why does flashy leadership so often fail long-term?
Ray Zinn: Well, because the focus is not on solving the problem. The focus on grandizing egocentric people who prefer more to pat themselves on the back than to be honest and upright individuals like Theranos. That woman that started that company, it was more to just to promote herself than it was to help the investors, those people who put their money up in that company. She was focused on herself and not the investors or the employees. And so, as you said, the quiet competence are not the ones that are out there grandstanding and trying to get the accolades of the audience as you would, but more are trying to help others. Trying to be helpful, trying to be honest, have integrity, dignity of all individuals, own up to your mistakes. That’s the quiet competence.
Rob Artigo: Quiet competence seems to create something the flashy styles really just don’t do. There’s deeper trust, there’s loyalty, loyal talent, and there’s resilience through volatility. And at Micrel, you led with humanity, humility, consistency. You expected results rather than rhetoric. It’s a huge difference in leadership styles from what you’ve done and what your examples are compared to what we’ve seen in some cases where we have these guys… You actually mentioned Elizabeth Holmes, and she’s an example of a person who became a billionaire. And really, it was all based on whatever got her thrown in jail.
Ray Zinn: Well, as you know, those individuals who are quietly doing their job, those are not grandstanding, know that actions speak louder than words. False promises, shadow promises, indirect promises, all these promises that are not substantial or substantiated, those are the ones you have to watch out for. Look out for people who are trying to scam. And really, when you think of people who are scamming, they’re not being honest. They’re not looking out for others, they’re looking out for themselves. That’s what a scammer is.
Rob Artigo: How does this understated approach attract and retain the right people while building what sticks the company together? You talk about what you infused into Micrel, it was necessary in order to keep the right people so that you always had that solid team that did things acted with integrity.
Ray Zinn: Well, that’s trust. You want to build that trust with your people, whether it be your customers, your vendors, your employees. Your employees are first. Of course, you want them to trust you and believe in you. And that’s the key that we had at Micrel was the element of trust because they knew that you were looking out for them. And whether it be, again, your employees, your customers, your vendors, you want to pay your bills on time, you want to pay your employees on time. You want to give them an honest wage. You want to give an honest product for an honest price to your customers. If you have a problem, you don’t want to shove it under the rug, you just want to get out and solve it. And that’s the difference. I think the key here as we summarize this podcast is being honest, being humble, being gentle, and recognizing the importance of others.
Rob Artigo: Yeah. I think this is something you talk about in your book, The Essential Leader. As the essential leader, you had to do this at Micrel, so that you could have the people that are learning underneath you, the ones that are mentoring, so that they grow to be leaders that have this leadership style.
Ray Zinn: Exactly.
Rob Artigo: Well, Ray, I want the listeners to join the conversation at toughthingsfirst.com. They can offer some questions. They can make comments there. Also, follow you at X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And of course, your books are available, Ray. Tough Things First.
Ray Zinn: Absolutely.
Rob Artigo: Yeah. And the Zen of Zinn series one, two, and three. And as we’ve talked about on this program many times is the new book, Zen of Zinn Daily. Don’t forget the, of course, we were just talking about, The Essential Leader: 10 Skills, Attributes, and Fundamentals That Make Up the Essential Leader. Please pick that one up, as well. Thanks, Ray.
Ray Zinn: Thanks, Rob.
