The Black Swan Group Leadership Guide

The Black Swan Group
Leadership Guide
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 3
Black Swan Leadership Framework: An Overview....................................................... 5
Characteristics of Effective Leadership................................................................................12
Signs of Leadership Failure........................................................................................................ 20
Roles of a Successful Leader......................................................................................................25
It’s Time to Become an Effective Leader........................................................................... 29
The Black Swan Group Leadership Guide

2
Introduction
My time as a hostage negotiator allowed me to examine the

psychology behind human behavior. It gave me a unique
understanding of the human nature response, which requires
understanding that negative emotions and dynamics impact
decision-making and behavior.
Being a leader is all about de-escalating negative emotions—and

returning people to their normal functioning level. Leaders engage
in difficult conversations rife with negative components all day every
day. Those negative components are not unlike what I saw during
hostage negotiations.
That’s why I firmly believe that the principles of hostage negotiation

are applicable to improving leadership performance through the art
of Hostage Negotiator Leadership.
I hope you find value in what I have to say,
Derek Gaunt
Black Swan Group Expert Trainer & Coach

3
What Is Hostage
Negotiator Leadership?
Hostage Negotiator Leadership (HNL) is an approach to leadership

wherein leaders intentionally subordinate themselves to those in
their charge, balancing the needs of the organization with the impact
those needs are going to have on the employees in order to arrive at
the desired outcome.
In this e-book, you will find out how to practice Hostage Negotiator
Leadership, using emotional intelligence and specific conversation
skills to manage difficult conversations and become a more effective
leader. More specifically, you’ll learn about:
The Black Swan Leadership Framework
Characteristics of effective leaders
Signs of leadership failure
The five roles of an effective leader
hat you can do to take your leadership skills to the

W
next level

4
The Black Swan Leadership
Framework: An Overview
The Black Swan Leadership Framework: An Overview
Most leaders are interested in getting better. Unfortunately, for all

too many of them, ego and authority often get in the way. When that
happens, failure is right around the corner.
Remember the age-old adage: Employees don’t quit their jobs—they

quit their bosses.
A recent study from BambooHR—wherein 1,000 employees were

asked to identify the worst boss behaviors—reinforces that wisdom.
According to the research, the top three reasons employees leave

their jobs are:
Their boss’s management style (e.g., a micromanager)
Their boss’s condescending attitude
Their boss’s mean or bad temper
In large part, bosses end up pushing their employees away because

they’re governed by preservation of self-image. For many managers,
how they’re perceived by others is paramount. Even if they know deep
down that it shouldn’t really matter, their ego clouds their judgment.
And authority supports and feeds that ego in a vicious cycle that leads
to failure.

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The Black Swan Leadership Framework: An Overview
Though many managers want to become better leaders, there

haven’t been many books written that describe, specifically, what
they need to do to actually improve. Most books are filled with
generic advice—like “be more empathetic.”
This is the main reason I wrote Ego, Authority, Failure: Using

Emotional Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed
as a Leader to explain exactly how.
For many managers, how they’re

perceived by others is paramount.

7
Tactical Empathy: The Secret to Hostage Negotiator Leadership
Tactical Empathy: The Secret

to Hostage Negotiator Leadership
Using the Black Swan Leadership Framework, negative outcomes

and offensive behaviors are largely avoidable. The framework
teaches us to use Tactical Empathy—or the ability to consciously and
proactively put yourself in your employees’ shoes and see things
from their perspective. By practicing Tactical Empathy regularly, you
can build a dedicated and happy team that’s ready to go to bat for
you every day.
When you use Tactical Empathy in your day-to-day, you need to

remember these three things:
How you say something is more important than what

you say.
How, where, and when you deliver information plays a

huge role in how it’s received.
Your employees need to detect sincerity and genuineness

in your communications, otherwise your efforts will fall flat.

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Though it’s a big one, Tactical Empathy isn’t the only tool in your
arsenal. It’s the umbrella that works in tandem with a slate of other
tools that fit inside it, including:
Labeling, a communication technique in which you make a

verbal observation of an emotion displayed, verbalized, or
implied (e.g., It seems like something is bothering you).
Mirroring, or repeating the last three to five words the other

side just said in order to extract more information from
them. For example, an employee might tell you that they are
“stressed to the max.” Using a mirror, you might respond: To
the max?
Summaries, recapping for the other side the dynamics,

circumstances, and conversation so completely that they
respond with: That’s right.
Calibrated questions, what, how, and sometimes why

questions that are designed to “shape” the other side’s
thinking. For example, an employee might say they’re too
busy to do something even though you’ve asked them and
their workload is reasonable. You might ask: What makes you
say that?

9
Beyond the tools themselves, Hostage Negotiator Leadership

boils down to understanding what’s important to the other person,
what they value, and what their environment looks like. When you
understand these things, people become predictable—and much
easier to manage.
At its core, the Black Swan Leadership Framework is designed to

change the way leaders look at communications. It teaches the
skills necessary to become a better listener, cultivate a healthy
work environment and, ultimately, achieve better business
outcomes. With the right approach, you can decrease the chances
that employees walk out—taking their irreplaceable institutional
knowledge along with them.

10
As you transition to HNL, you may notice that older habits will rear
their ugly heads. That’s because HNL is largely counterintuitive.
But don’t worry. You’ll do just fine as long as you embrace the
awkwardness—and do everything you can to embody the
characteristics of effective leadership.
With the right approach, you

can decrease the chances that
employees walk out.

11
Characteristics of
Effective Leadership
Characteristics of Effective Leadership
If we were to boil HNL down to one core competency, it would be this:

the ability to subordinate yourself to the person you’re speaking with in
difficult conversations.
It pays huge dividends.
Beyond that, leaders who practice HNL tend to possess the following
five characteristics.
1. Insatiability
Many leaders are confident in their abilities, and for good reason:
They’ve made it to where they are, and they think that they must be
doing everything right to have gotten there.
So they get overconfident and stop learning. They stop trying to

improve. They stop being curious.
The leader who stops learning is doomed to fail.
Effective leaders understand that the world is not static and never will
be. It is always moving and always changing. They know that if they
don’t adapt, they’ll go the way of the dodo bird.

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Rather than resting on their laurels, they look at every situation as a

learning opportunity. They’re always trying to gain knowledge, skills,
and information from other people. It makes them more prepared for
their next challenge.
2. Transparency
At one point or another, most people have worked for bosses who
keep them in the dark. The company’s finances are hidden from view,
there’s no visibility into how decisions are made. New initiatives and
expectations seemingly spring up out of thin air.
We’ve been there, and it sucks.

14
Effective leaders understand that this approach is counterproductive.
Effective leadership is all about transparency. It’s about showing

you’re authentic by being humble and unafraid to expose your own
shortcomings.
By simply admitting your mistakes, you’re creating an environment

that encourages direct reports to take risks. And that’s the recipe for
innovation—and a culture in which you retain employees and keep
them engaged for the duration of their time with your organization.
Phrased another way, showing that your transparency creates an

atmosphere in which motivation is heightened and productivity starts
to thrive.

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3. Agility
One of the most aggravating things an employee will come across is
a leader who thinks their way is the only way.
This mindset speaks to their own insecurities. Folks like these simply
can’t admit that someone else might have figured it out better than
they had, and that approach essentially dooms the organization.
Over the years, a countless number of lower-level employees have

come up with game-changing ideas. Who knows how many of
those ideas never saw the light of day because of someone’s ego
and authority?
One of the most aggravating things

an employee will come across is a
leader who thinks their way is the
only way.

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4. Empathy
A recent survey found that—although 80 percent of employees believe
that organizations need to be more empathetic—only 57 percent of
CEOs believe empathy is critical to success.
Remember, HNL is about subordinating yourself to others. It’s about

practicing Tactical Empathy to not only make sure that you’re seeing
things from your employees’ perspective, but also that they know
you’re seeing things from their perspective.
Effective leadership starts with emotional intelligence. As a leader,

every decision you make has an impact on your team. If you’re
incapable of seeing things from their point of view and just view them
as cogs in a machine, you won’t have their support or admiration. And
that just makes your job that much harder.

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The best leaders are active listeners who actually pay attention not
only to what their employees say, but also what they don’t say. They
put people first—treating staff as humans, not numbers.
To illustrate, I’ll share a story from EAF: Recently, a company needed

to downsize for budgetary reasons. They ended up laying off several
employees, some of whom had worked there for 10 or even 20 years.
To “celebrate” their tenure and say goodbye, the company executives
considered throwing them a pizza party. They weren’t even going to
serve any beer or Champagne either—only soda.
Pizza parties are great, don’t get me wrong. Thirteen-year-olds would

have been stoked, even. But for this occasion, the proposed move
completely missed the mark.
If the leaders at this company were versed in Tactical Empathy, this

never would have been considered. They would have understood the
optics and impact of such a gesture.

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5. Inclusiveness
According to TINYpulse’s 2019 Employee Engagement Report, only
one-quarter of employees feel valued at work. This is in large part
because many leaders are micromanagers, or at least don’t really trust
employees to do the jobs they’ve hired them to do. It’s also because
they’re not cheerleaders (we’ll see why that’s important in a little bit).
Effective leadership is about trust, and it’s about making sure your
employees know that you get them. Remember, that’s all anyone ever
wants: to feel understood.
Now that you have a better understanding of what, specifically,

effective leadership looks like, let’s turn our attention to the other side
of the coin: signs of leadership failure.

19
Signs of Leadership Failure
Anyone would be hard-pressed to find someone who’d say

something like this at a cocktail party: I’m a terrible manager and my
employees hate me.
Keep in mind, as we discussed earlier, that one of the main reasons

people quit their jobs is because they hate their bosses—or, if we’re
being nice, at least don’t like them.
If you want to improve as a leader, recognize where you’re falling

short. Here are some of the telltale signs of leadership failure. Even
if none of these sound like you, they should give you a better idea of
what kinds of behaviors to avoid.

21
1. Putting the Mission First and the People Second

Whereas effective leaders understand that people come first, poor
leaders reverse the sequencing and put the mission first. In the best-
case scenario, you’re working harder than you need to. Instead of
appreciating the mission’s impact on your direct reports—which almost
always leads to better outcomes—you start to issue “because I said so”
orders, which isn’t exactly inspiring.
2. Ignoring Difficult Conversations

Nobody necessarily likes having tough conversations. But when you’re
a leader, they come with the territory. Ignoring difficult conversations
never makes problems go away.
Effective leaders understand this perfectly—to the point that they

practically embrace difficult conversations because they know they’re
a launching pad for Tactical Empathy and, by extension, improve
motivation and morale.
Ignoring difficult conversations

never makes problems go away.

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3. Haste
Different situations call for different decision-making approaches.
Sometimes, you can take your time and think through a problem
thoroughly before acting. Other times, things have to be done right
away and you don’t have much time for discussion.
When the enemy is inside the wire and you’re passing out the last
rounds of ammunition, your communication style is going to be quite
different than when time is not of the essence. When something is
urgent, leaders need to be decisive. Bad leaders lack the flexibility
needed to adapt to the circumstance at hand.

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4. Knowing Your Job

In many cases, leaders get to where they are because of how they
performed in their previous role. For example, the best creative on
the marketing team might get promoted to chief marketing officer.
But all too often, leaders end up reverting back to the tasks they
performed in their previous position because that’s where they’re
comfortable. Instead of coaching and guiding their direct reports,
they take matters into their own hands. Effective leaders, on the
other hand, understand that they are in new positions and focus on
the responsibilities associated with it, letting their teams do the jobs
they were hired to do.
At this point, we have talked about what good and bad leaders look
like. Next, we’ll explore the other piece of the puzzle: the various
roles effective leaders need to play on a regular basis.

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Roles of an Effective Leader

25
As we discussed above, effective leaders are agile. Part of that agility

involves understanding that they themselves don’t know the best way
forward in every scenario. Another aspect of improving leadership
performance involves assuming different roles depending on what the
situation warrants.
Here are five roles successful leaders need to play on a regular basis.
1. Cheerleader
Sing legitimate praises for legitimate performance. Cheerleaders
recognize their employees’ great work—especially in front of other
people—because they know that, deep down, we all have a desire to
be appreciated and valued. When things happen, they give the credit or
take the blame.
2. Director
Directors balance the demands of the organization with the needs
of their employees. This is the hardest role to play—one that involves
blade-running. If you don’t keep your balance, you’re going to get
sliced—either by management or by your direct reports.
Tactical Empathy plays a huge role in being an effective director. For

example, when the organization is moving in a different direction, you
need to let your team know that you understand how the upcoming
changes will impact their lives.

26
3. Mentor
Help employees reach their full potential. Work hard to lend a
helping hand. And it’s not for show, either. These leaders are
genuinely concerned about their employees, and they assume a
servant-type leadership approach, doing everything they can to
support their teams.
4. Communicator
This role is arguably the most important because when you use your
tone and delivery to communicate sincerely—and your employees
believe it —everything else falls in line. Being a great communicator
requires agility, too. Your message may need to change depending
on the situation.

27
Pro tip: When you need to share bad news, use labels to diffuse them
preemptively (e.g., This might seem as though it’s going to be the worst
thing that has ever happened here), and then share the bad news. This
can be followed by fielding questions to address their concerns.
5. Team Builder
Effective leaders are team builders. They know that it’s not all about
them and that they’re only as strong as their direct reports. During my
law enforcement career, I learned how important it was to encourage
and embrace new ideas and opinions—particularly during difficult
events.
When you focus on people first, you focus on the team first. In turn,
you’re cultivating a collaborative environment where everyone has
each other’s backs and no one wants to let anyone down.

28
It’s Time to Become an
Effective Leader

29
It’s Time to Become an Effective Leader
Because you’re reading these words, you’re interested in learning

more about becoming the best leader you can be, and that’s great
news. Not only does that mindset help your organization, but it also
makes life much easier for the people you depend on every day.
If you’ve liked what you’ve read so far, you may be interested

in reading my book, Ego, Authority, Failure: Using Emotional
Intelligence Like a Hostage Negotiator to Succeed as a Leader.
The book expands upon some of the content contained herein and
provides additional insights into the fundamentals of HNL and what
you can do to operate at a higher level than most.
Read it and you’ll learn why you should manage your ego and
authority to avoid failure—and how you can accomplish this.

30
It’s Time to Become an Effective Leader
Beyond that, you need to understand that knowledge without

implementation is worthless. There are plenty of stories in which leaders
go through training, think it’s the best thing, and then never apply
the skills.
Repetition is the key to continuous improvement. As you’ll remember,

you may feel awkward and uncomfortable as you transition to HNL. But
that’s to be expected because HNL and Tactical Empathy are largely
counterintuitive.
But practice makes perfect—and you don’t have to practice in the office,
either. Use these new skills (e.g., Tactical Empathy, mirrors, and labels) in
low-stakes situations. Practice at Starbucks or the grocery store, when
nothing’s hanging in the balance.
While you’re at it, consider attending our live events, subscribing to our
blog, and checking out our free e-books and other resources.
Never forget that being an effective leader is a never-ending work in

progress. Learn constantly and try to improve every day, and you’ll be a
leader your direct reports never forget.
Sign up for our training course

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Have questions about training,
speaking engagements or coaching?
CONTACT US

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The Black Swan Group

Black Swan Leadership Framework: An Overview....................................................... 5

Characteristics of Effective Leadership................................................................................12

Signs of Leadership Failure........................................................................................................ 20

Roles of a Successful Leader......................................................................................................25

It’s Time to Become an Effective Leader........................................................................... 29