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Positive leadership and adding value – a lifelong journey

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DOI: 10.1108/IJPL-12-2016-0055

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 International Journal of Public Leadership
Positive leadership and adding value – a lifelong journey
Kim Cameron, Robert E. Quinn, Cam Caldwell,
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To cite this document:
Kim Cameron, Robert E. Quinn, Cam Caldwell, (2017) "Positive leadership and adding value –
a lifelong journey", International Journal of Public Leadership, Vol. 13 Issue: 2, pp.59-63, https://
doi.org/10.1108/IJPL-12-2016-0055
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Positive
Positive leadership and adding leadership and
value – a lifelong journey adding value
Kim Cameron and Robert E. Quinn
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, and
59
Cam Caldwell
Dixie State University, Saint George, Utah, USA

Abstract
Purpose – Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn are two widely admired world class scholars at the University of
Michigan’s Ross School of Business. The purpose of this paper is to explore their personal views about
positive leadership and added values over the traditional approach to organizations and leadership.
Design/methodology/approach – This interview was designed to obtain personal insights to positive
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leadership from world renowned leadership scholars.

Findings – Most people do have something to give that is worthwhile, when they address the question of
positive leadership over traditional leadership. The moment we orient people to their highest purpose, there is
an incentive for them to close their integrity gap.
Originality/value – Obtaining personal insights from lifelong scholars of leadership by means of personal
interviews is paramount in the professional field of leadership.
Keywords Ethical leadership, Positive leadership, Positive organizational scholarship
Paper type Viewpoint

From time to time, IJPL publishes interviews with leading scholars as a complement to original
research articles. The interviews we publish are intended to afford readers brief insights into the
concepts and theories that these scholars have championed, and the issues and opportunities that
are concerning them today.
In this special edition issue we feature an interview conducted by the Guest Editor
Dr Cam Caldwell (CC) with Kim S. Cameron (KC) and Robert Quinn (RQ). Kim S. Cameron
currently serves as a William Russell Kelly Professor in the Ross School of Business at the
University of Michigan. He served as the Dean and Albert J. Weatherhead Professor of
Management in the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University,
as the Associate Dean and Ford Motor Co./Richard E. Cook Professor in the Marriott School of
Management at Brigham Young University, and as the Associate Dean and Department Chair
at the University of Michigan. He is the author of 15 scholarly books and more than
130 academic articles. Robert E. Quinn’s life mission is to inspire positive change. He is a
Chaired Professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He is one of the
Co-founders of the Center for Positive Organizations. He has published 18 books. His best-
selling volume Deep Change has been used across the world. His recent book The Best Teacher
in You won the Ben Franklin designating it the best book in education for 2015. His latest
book is The Positive Organization: Breaking Free of Conventional Cultures, Constraints and
Beliefs. He is particularly known for his work on the competing values framework.
CC: you have both played major roles in the development of Positive Organizational
Scholarship (POS) as a branch of Organizational Behavior. How does POS differ from
traditional approaches to understanding organizations and effective leadership?
Kim Cameron (KC): imagine a world in which almost all organizations are typified by
greed, selfishness, manipulation, secrecy, and a single-minded focus on winning. Wealth
International Journal of Public
creation is the key indicator of success. Imagine that members of such organizations are Leadership
characterized by distrust, anxiety, self-absorption, fear, burnout, and feelings of abuse. Vol. 13 No. 2, 2017
pp. 59-63
Conflict, law suits, contract breaking, retribution, and disrespect characterize many © Emerald Publishing Limited
2056-4929
interactions and social relationships. Imagine also that scholarly researchers investigating DOI 10.1108/IJPL-12-2016-0055
 IJPL these organizations emphasize theories of problem solving, reciprocity and justice,
13,2 managing uncertainty, overcoming resistance, achieving profitability, and competing
successfully against others.
Now imagine another world in which almost all organizations are typified by
appreciation, collaboration, virtuousness, vitality, and meaningfulness. Creating abundance
and human well-being are key indicators of success. Imagine that members of such
60 organizations are characterized by trustworthiness, resilience, wisdom, humility, high levels
of positive energy. Social relationships and interactions are characterized by compassion,
loyalty, honesty, respect, and forgiveness. Significant attention is given to what makes life
worth living. Imagine that scholarly researchers emphasize theories of excellence,
transcendence, positive deviance, extraordinary performance, and flourishing.
CC: in today’s highly competitive global environment, how does the POS leadership
approach compare with other leadership models in improving organization performance
and the bottom line?
RQ: if you look at the conventional assumptions of social science, they tend to be
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assumptions about constraints on organizational performance. Through the conventional

lens, the bias is toward studying central tendency or average performance. POS takes the
questions of science and focuses them on the outstanding performance at the far-right side
of the distribution curve. That is, “What is excellence? What does an individual or an
organization look like at its best?”
That emphasis radically shifts attention from what is normal to what is extraordinary.
Now that is of huge significance. When we ask people to make a list of what constitutes
normal behavior and compare it with a list of extraordinary behaviors, the latter describes a
different social order of high collaboration and achievement. Normal assumptions lead us
away from achieving excellence. For example, many leaders see employees as “children
needing to be controlled” and create organizational systems that focus on control.
Employees typically respond negatively to that approach and the process creates
performance that is average and less successful than it needs to be.
Both the conventional framework and POS describe reality but the conventional focus is
exclusive while POS is inclusive. POS emphasizes “both” and “and” – acknowledging
conventional realities but seeking extraordinary outcomes. One lens focuses on constraints
and problems, the other focuses on opportunities. Both are real. The effective leader can see
the realities of constraint and the realities of possibilities. They can turn attention on where
we are going while attending to constraints and can integrate those seemingly different
things. That capability is at the heart of why there is so much power in a leadership
approach from the positive lens.
CC: some people would infer that POS suggests that people can “do well” by “doing
good.” Is that a correct assumption and does it have a valid empirical foundation?
KC: doing well is usually defined as being profitable and productive. Doing good often
refers to fostering human well-being and sustainability. It is much more acceptable now
than it used to be to think of the triple bottom line and pay attention to outcomes that benefit
humanity and the environment. However, a substantial number of scholars, especially in
business, insist that anything that deflects an organization from shareholder value and
profitability as the preferred outcome are doing a major disservice. From a POS perspective,
there is very little conflict between these two perspectives – doing well and doing good.
Abundant empirical evidence has been produced which shows that implementing positive
practices, enabling virtuousness in organizations, actually elevates profitability, and
productivity beyond the norm.
For example, one study found that in financial services organizations, implementing and
improving positive practices – including compassion, integrity, forgiveness, kindness, and
optimism – produced significantly higher performance than firms pursuing a normal
 approach to success. Improvement in these positive practices accounted for 45 percent of the Positive
variance in financial performance. Studies of organizations in other industries have leadership and
produced similar outcomes – profitability, productivity, quality, innovation, customer adding value
satisfaction, and employee engagement; all improve significantly as a result of POS-related
practices. Doing good – in the sense of demonstrating virtuousness – is certainly not
incompatible with doing well.
CC: many leaders struggle with the apparent contradiction of the focus on control with 61
the focus on empowerment and commitment. How does POS address that dichotomy?
RQ: F. Scott Fitzgerald said that “The mark of great intelligence is to hold two opposing
ideas at the same time and to remain functional.” Traditional thinking tends to focus us in one
direction that may be goal oriented, but that tends to create its own dysfunction. In contrast,
“both-and” thinking allows leaders to focus on the people and to focus on the task – both
achieving the ability to maintain stability and develop people.
The reality is that we need to achieve both objectives, but typically leaders do not think
that way. Profit may be a prerequisite for survival but it is not the purpose of an
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organization. The purpose is to serve the client and to make a positive contribution to
society. When your people see that purpose and feel that it is the focus of an organization,
that focus leads to significant motivation… and you are more profitable as a natural result.
That is the power of “both-and” thinking.
Another example is diversity and integration. If I bring in people who are “different”
into an organization and treat them negatively because they are different, there is no
benefit – and often problems are created. But if I bring in people who are different and
integrate them into the organization by treating them well, the results can be powerful.
POS emphasizes the value of moving past single concept thinking and focusing on
achieving a broader set of purposes.
CC: from a global perspective, the problems facing both the public and private sector
seem to be highly interrelated in many ways. What solutions do you think need to be
pursued to create greater public and private partnerships to address the problems facing
society today and in the years, ahead?
KC: in my view, the distinctions between the public sector and the private sector are
becoming less and less relevant. Public-private partnerships are an important prescription
for the future success of both sectors. One example of such an integrated partnership is the
case of the state of South Australia, one of eight states in that country. The state has
adopted a focus on the concept of well-being for all its constituents. They have embedded
POS and positive psychology into their educational system and in 175 schools within that
state. Their corrections system and their environmental sustainability systems have
similarly adopted that POS approach.
Agencies throughout the government are immersed in these positive practices
and so have some of its manufacturing companies. On both the public and private sides they
have acknowledged the importance of merging positive values and philosophy that
lead to thriving, well-being, and extraordinary performance. They are known as the
well-being state.
At the Ross School of Business, we have similarly adopted this positive approach in the
various academic disciplines – positive finance, positive law, positive marketing, positive
operations, and positive accounting as well as positive leadership. The approach has
become a good integrator in and of itself.
CC: what new or more effective roles should universities and colleges play in addressing
the major problems that are facing a troubled world?
RQ: first, they should continue to do what they have been doing because it is functional
and it is useful. Then, they can do so much more. For example, in the training of students in
a technical area we can not only train them in developing their technical expertise but
 IJPL are also training a leader. But if we send them out with just a technical mind-set they are
13,2 going to be a very limited leader. Virtually in every department of the university, there is a
role for leadership.
What does that mean? I envision a university wherein every student takes a class at the
beginning of their first semester asking them to address the questions, “Who am I?” “What
is the purpose of my life?” and “What is my contribution going to be in the world?”
62 Redirecting students from the perspective of self-interest to a view of the world through
the positive lens would enable those students to establish a clearer direction for their lives.
We find in our Executive Development programs that middle managers are coming to terms
with this issue, but young people need to pick this insight up at a much earlier level. On the
research level, the positive lens expands the awareness of virtually every discipline. You do
not do away with the more traditional material but you add new insights from POS that
enriches the insights and makes them more powerful. POS has the potential to touch every
aspect of a functioning university.
CC: who would you suggest are outstanding examples of highly effective leaders and role
models in the public or private sectors?
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KC: the danger is this question is that highlighting one or two leaders is
invariably inaccurate. Almost no leader is able to sustain his or her level of effectiveness
without missteps and flubups. All leaders inevitably fall short of their highest principles
and fall off their pedestal. We all become hypocrites to the extent that we sometimes fail to
honor the best that is within us. But leaders at any level who seek to become highly
ethical and who strive to adopt a virtuous approach to their lives are examples that we
should emulate – acknowledging that no one individual is perfect. Each of us has the
inherent capability to become better than we are, and that pursuit of excellence is what
POS emphasizes.
CC: scholars like David Callahan of Princeton and Thomas Friedman have written about
the problems of dishonesty and a deficit of moral integrity that contribute to the problems
facing today’s world. What solutions do you see as practical for turning around the ethical
and moral direction of many dysfunctional leaders in society today?
RQ: I often say to the group in the Executive Education classes that I teach that “I, Bob
Quinn, am a hypocrite. There is a standard or line, much higher than I can reach that I seek
to achieve and that I endorse and believe in – but that I often fall short of. My performance
line below that standard and the difference between my standard line and my performance
line is the gap of my integrity.”
I aspire to live values and I constantly fail. Those failures are my hypocrisy.
My inclination is to take those failures, put them in a garbage can, and close the lid very
tight. Virtually all of us have such a garbage can.
But it is only in opening that garbage can of failures, and taking a whiff of that horrible
stench that empowers us to redefine ourselves and that motivates us to become more
honorable and more ethical individuals and people with greater integrity. The stink of our
failures can create an intense motivation to close our integrity gap – or we can choose to
ignore the reality that we must change if we are to help create a better world.
When I am honest with myself, something dramatic happens: I suddenly begin to love
myself. Because I love myself, I can then see the person next to me with a different set of
eyes and recognize their tremendous potential.
The world is full of dishonesty, deceit, and moral failure. We look at the contradictions of
the world reflected in the political campaigns we are watching and we ask, “How did we get
to where we are now?” We see the transparency so clearly today.
At the heart of the question, it all goes back to one question: “To you, what result do you
want to create?” It turns out that most people do have something that is worthwhile when
they address that question. The moment you orient people to their highest purpose, there is
 an incentive for them to close their integrity gap. They may not have the conscience to do so. Positive
They may not have the full understanding – but the potential is there in virtually every leadership and
person. The positive lens is there. adding value
Leadership is about moral power. Moral power is about common good and sacrificing
for it. When that concept becomes crystal clear, we have very interesting conversations
with people about that. POS lends itself to elevating the honesty and integrity of people in
the world. 63

Corresponding author
Cam Caldwell can be contacted at: cam.caldwell@gmail.com
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