Bono: a rock star, an artist, a poet, an activist. How about an incredible leader?
Bono has had some serious success as a world leader. In a time when the world is looking for change agents to arise and lead us back to economic stability and sanity, there is a lot that can be learned from Bono’s leadership and change agent abilities.
Is Bono more than just the lead singer of the biggest rock band in the world? Well the answer to that would simply be, yes! He’s a business man: he sits on the board of an investment fund called Elevation Partners and is a co-owner of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin as well many other valuable pieces of real estate. He’s a co-founder of numerous organizations and companies: he co-founded DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa), he is a co-founder of EDUN (an Irish fashion company creating fair-pay employment and trade in Africa), and he co-founded the ONE Campaign and Product Red in the fight against poverty. He’s continuously honoured for his contributions: he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times, has received an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, and was named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2006 along with Bill and Melinda Gates – just to name a few accolades. Did I mention that he played a critical role in the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt and Make Poverty History campaigns? Bono’s leadership efforts are many in number, but it’s not the quantity that is impressive it’s the impact that they’ve had – a true measure of successful leadership.
What kind of impact?
Bono’s leadership has been a driving catalyst behind a ton of successes in Africa. Of course it’s not a one man show, but there’s no doubt that Bono has played a major role behind the encouraging news that is starting to come out of Africa. For example, his efforts with Jubilee 2000 and the Drop the Debt campaign have helped drive commitments from western nations to cancel over $100 billion USD in 3rd world debt (over $35 billion USD has been written off already). Debt servicing in 26 countries in Africa has been reduced by an average of 40%, setting the stage for increased investment in education, healthcare (fighting HIV/AIDS), and infrastructure. This has translated into a number of successes: 59 million insecticide treated malaria bed-nets distributed across Africa, 29 million more African children are now in school, over 2 million additional Africans are on HIV/AIDS medication, and the number of children in Africa dying from preventable, treatable illness has reduced from 12.7 million to 9.2 million per year. In addition to his efforts in helping to bring increased foreign aid and debt cancellation, Bono’s role as an active spokesperson and leader has brought about much needed visibility and political might to the fight against these prominent issues in Africa.
So what makes Bono a model leader and change agent?
A few months back I was sitting in a ‘Leading People and Organizations’ (LPO) MBA course at the Richard Ivey School of Business. The course is taught by an incredibly passionate and energetic professor by the name of Gerard Seijts. He taught us about Kenneth Blanchard, a renowned management expert who says that the key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. In my opinion, this perhaps explains a lot about Bono’s success as a leader. Bono has no authority but does have an extraordinary amount of influence. Let’s face it he’s one of the biggest celebrities and musicians of our time. His celebrity has earned him extraordinary respect and that respect has translated into a monstrously powerful set of friends including the Clinton’s, the Bush’s, the Mandela’s, the Gates’and the Pitt’s to name just a few. Did I mention Oprah? Politicians are constantly after photo ops with him and often just want to be associated with his initiatives to buy votes. What these politicians fail to realize is that they are playing right into his hands: a photo op with Bono followed by a face to face meeting where he’ll impress you with his knowledge, facts, charisma, celebrity, influence and tact – before you know it he’s gotten you to commit to increased aid and debt cancellation for the 3rd world. Ok maybe I’m exaggerating the process just a bit, but the point is that it’s his influence and celebrity that get him into the politician’s door and gets them to listen – a definite fit of Kenneth Blanchard’s definition of a successful leader.
As another key take away from the LPO course, we learned about Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter, who is widely regarded as the world’s foremost expert on leadership and change. Kotter identifies eight common qualities of successful leaders and change agents:
1. Establish a sense of urgency
2. Create a strong guiding coalition
3. Develop a compelling vision and strategy
4. Communicate the change vision
5. Empower employees for broad-based action
6. Generate short-term wins
7. Consolidate gains and producing more change
8. Anchor new approaches in the culture
In my opinion it’s quite easy to find supporting examples of how Bono demonstrates all eight of these qualities, but I will focus on just the first two since I think they are his greatest strengths.
Establishing a sense of urgency is second nature for Bono. "Christ won't let you walk away because it's difficult, expensive and a moral hazard," Bono said, speaking of the AIDS epidemic. “Africa is bursting into flames while we all stand around with watering cans,” says Bono as he delivers a message on live TV warning us about the potential of our generation going down in the history books for something other than the internet. It’s messages like these ones that establish his burning platform of urgency – a key to a successful change agent and leader.
Creating a strong guiding coalition is another strength that Bono has demonstrated throughout the years. From day one, Bono has been working in a team that has become a massive coalition – one that just seems to get more powerful and influential by the day. His coalition now spans far wider than his political and celebrity friends. It includes millions of supporters that have joined movements like the ONE campaign and Make Poverty History, as well as people like you and me that have heard the message and are making poverty, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and the cancellation of third world debt political issues in our own respective nations. Of course, Bono’s work in securing Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Oprah on his team definitely helps his cause.
Is Bono for real?
In November, 2005 my wife, brother, sister-in-law, and I had the opportunity to meet Bono outside the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa just prior to a U2 concert. He had just arrived from a meeting with then Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin. As he got out of his black Cadillac Escalade he approached a few of us telling his security guards to back down. As he signed autographs and posed for pictures he asked us about our thoughts on Canada backing down on its commitment to increase foreign aid to 0.7% of GDP. He asked us about our opinion on Paul Martin and whether it bothered us that he was reneging on his campaign promise to increase foreign aid. It didn’t take much to realize that this man was the real deal; he was truly concerned about Canada’s lack of commitment and was using every opportunity to poll and listen to Canadians first hand to gain additional insight on our sentiment toward the issue – a true leader.
All great leaders seem to have strong communication skills, many of whom have a knack for delivering quotes that just seem to stick and make sense. Here’s one of my favorites from Bono in the closing lines of a book entitled ‘Bono on Bono’:
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