Hi! Managers: Learning how to lead from diva Lady Gaga

Pop singer is a dramatic example of 'leadership projection'

Should we be seeing pop diva Lady Gaga as a role model for corporate leaders? Does that sound a bit strange?

Typically, executives believe there is nothing they can learn from popular artists as they are too remote from the business world. However, three management academics, Jamie Anderson and Joerg Reckhenrich of Antwerp Management School in Belgium and Martin Kupp of the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin, are the authors of a case study entitled "Lady Gaga: Born this way?" - and they beg to differ.

Before diving into the findings of the case study, let us be clear about the term "leadership". There are hundreds of definitions of leadership, but I have two favourites. Peter Drucker, probably the greatest management thinker of our time, says "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers." And the definition of American leadership guru John Maxwell is, "Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."

Lady Gaga fits comfortably within both definitions.

In 2010, she was rated one of the world's most influential people of the year by Time magazine. She is one of the best-selling music artists in the world. The 25-year-old American is expected to generate sales revenue of about US$100 million (Bt2.98 billion) this year.

Lady Gaga is also a huge social-media star. She was the first person ever to reach 10 million followers on Twitter. She has 41 million fans on Facebook, and has already reached a landmark 1-billion views on YouTube.

Lady Gaga has what Anderson, Reckhenrich and Kupp call "leadership projection". This is a concept in which communication, behaviour and aspiration are integrated to provide a leader with wide recognition across an industry or sphere of public life. Leadership projection is very much about attracting followers - after all, a true leader only exists if he or she can excite loyalty in others.

Sociologist and Harvard professor Howard Gardner states that in order to gain buy-in from an audience, leaders use three universal story lines - the very same story lines that are used so effectively by Lady Gaga:

1. Who am I? A personal story about life experience and how it has shaped my individuality and character.

Lady Gaga stresses that she was the weird kid at school, but driven to be creative. She describes herself as a maverick and a lost soul looking for peers.

2. Who are we? A group narrative drawing in common values and behaviour patterns.

The controversial pop star calls her fans "my little monsters" and herself "Mama Monster". She tells them it is okay to be odd, a message to which her fans, a lot of whom are teenagers, can relate. It becomes a case of authentic like-mindedness.

3. Where are we going? Messages about a collective mission, explaining what is new and creating a sense of excitement about the direction.

The artist promotes gay and lesbian rights and celebrates self-expression. She tells her fans that together, they can change the world.

According to Reckhenrich, Lady Gaga has learned perfectly the art of connecting with her fans on different social-media platforms, which he calls "platforms for mass intimacy".

The authors of the case study believe that her ability to build emotional commitment in those she leads is a capacity of increasing value in today's business world. According to a recent article in The Economist that dealt with Lady Gaga as a leadership icon, European executive-recruitment firm Egon Zehnder is now working with the authors of the case study to figure out how to identify candidates for top company jobs who have the ability to "project leadership" in the way that Lady Gaga does.

In today's world, where employees crave more and more for meaning and purpose at their work places, it is important that leaders use storytelling and projection to take their audiences with them on their organisational journeys.

A good example from the corporate world in this context is Steve Jobs, the iconic and visionary chief executive of Apple - the man who created the world's most valuable brand. Jobs had the courage and vulnerability to put his own personal story out there. He dropped out of college, was fired by the company that he founded and was later re-hired.

Jobs always dreamed of changing the world, a dream to which many people could relate. That dream fueled the development of Apple's highly innovative, design-driven and market-changing products.

Like Lady Gaga, Jobs chose an outsider position for his communications. He said: "Here is to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

There is a famous story about Jobs' attempts to lure the man who was then the chief executive of Pepsi, John Sculley, to lead Apple. "Do you want to sell sugar water all of your life or do you want to change the world?" Jobs asked the reluctant Sculley when convincing him to become Apple's chief executive - a position that Sculley later held from 1983 to 1993. Jobs' vision is to change the world - and people believe him.

Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs have both earned themselves huge and devoted followings. Their highly effective storytelling and communication techniques were crucial to that. So next time you speak to your team, spend some time beforehand thinking of answers to the three universal questions listed above, and make sure you connect with your team on an emotional basis. After all, we know that "emotion creates motion", and that's what we want: to move together with our people towards a joint vision.

Heinz Landau is former chairman and managing director of Merck Thailand. Follow his articles in Hi! Managers on every second Wednesday of the month. He also writes a blog on caring leadership at www.thecareguys.com.