Lessons in leadership… style vs. substance

Always in opposition and seldom combined, style and substance are widely recognised as mutually exclusive qualities in leadership.

That tension between outward presentation and tangible actions – charisma to motivate versus credibility to execute.

While the most influential leaders depend on both attributes to succeed, balance is essential for long-term effectiveness. Whether understanding when to assume each persona – or how to continually evolve in either – top-performers are forever walking this personality tightrope.

“My natural leadership approach balances style and substance but my default is style-based,” shared Hani Arab, CIO of Seymour Whyte. “When leading or collaborating with cross-functional teams, I found style-based leadership to be effective.

“Communicating a vision and inspiring a future state in which our team members are part of making that a reality is scalable and powerful. When style-based leadership is effective, the metric follows through.”

The Greeks had a word for it… charisma.

In the world of theatre, performances live and die by an actor’s ability to convey and command a certain stage presence. As the French would put it, je ne sais quoi.

Arab’s opening comments sparked intense executive debate at Breakfast Club by Moxie Insights, which hosted the most authoritative leaders in business and technology to understand the true qualities of effective leadership.

“I’ve always preferred working under leaders who have a strong, empowering style, and in turn it’s become my natural leadership approach,” added Chantelle Ralevska, Founder and CEO of Psyber.

“This also comes more naturally to me and is more authentic to my personality. However, as the founder of my own company that delivers cyber security services to clients, many more examples exist showing the need to move into substance to ensure we deliver quality outcomes.”

Perhaps the political arena best articulates the power of style over substance.

Personality has determined the winner of 22 presidential elections in the US between 1932 and 2020 – John F. Kennedy had it, so did Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. However, Richard Nixon did not.

That’s the view of Personality Wins: Who Will Take the White House and How We Know – co-authored by personality expert Merrick Rosenberg and Richard Ellis.

This unprecedented system unveiled the pattern of who takes the White House and why. That includes exploration of the unique characteristics of Eagles (Donald Trump and Franklin D. Roosevelt), Parrots (Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan), Doves (Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter) and Owls (George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon).

For Stefan Jansen – Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Software Combined – the quality on display is often interchangeable and dependent on the context. Remember, first impressions matter.

“When I meet someone, especially when it’s a first time, I have a tendency to start with style over substance,” Jansen explained. “I want to ensure someone feels respected, valued and is comfortable to be open in sharing their point of view. It reflects the way I like to be treated.

“Once I feel that we have established a comfortable connection or respect and trust, I then tend to switch to substance. Finding the right balance can at times be challenging.”

Alternatively, Cherry Yumul – Strategy Director of Moxie Insights – embraces a leadership approach built on the foundations of substance. Similar to Arab, this dovetails into natural tendencies and default ways of engaging… it’s hardwired.

“I naturally lead with clarity on commitment, exact on expectations and uncompromising in values,” Yumul outlined. “I don’t have trouble mapping out a strategy and making sense of the purpose for every required action.

“But I would have to exert a great deal of effort on adjusting and fine-tuning the manner in which I convey the message of pursuing success, in a way that not a single team member feels unduly intimidated, overwhelmed or distressed.”

Such self-awareness is key as leaders navigate the stormy waters of protecting business interests while accommodating individual emotions.

In alignment with Yumul, Prashant Gami – Founder and CEO of xenabler – acknowledged that his own instinctive leadership approach is also based on substance.

“For any good leader, being able to lead the team with real outcomes is important,” he stressed. “But substance without style portrays a mistrust and dictatorship. And style without substance doesn’t produce results and eventually fails in leading effectively.

“Use style to drive the culture and substance to keep the momentum and achieve regular outcomes.”

Style and substance… are they mutually exclusive?

For many years, Vicki Batka lived and breathed a commonly held belief among aspiring executives… ‘if I keep my head down and focus on outcomes, that will be enough and my results will speak for themselves’.

Fast forward to more than 35 years later – and a career running ecosystem strategies at market-leading multi-nationals across Asia Pacific – Batka has altered her original perception of how best to achieve professional success.

“My focus was on substance but as my leadership journey grew, I realised that you need an element of style as well,” acknowledged Batka, now Consulting Specialist of Go-To-Market across Asia Pacific at LinkedIn.

Both aspects are of fundamental importance – “delivery from the top down can make or break a strategy.”

Building on this, Elisa Kelsall – Head of Advertising Sales across Japan and Asia Pacific at Spotify – relies on “situational leadership” to strike such a balance, aiming to adapt to the operating environment for both the business and her team.

“Early in my career, when I was more prone to imposter syndrome, I relied heavily on substance,” Kelsall added.

“I needed to be a subject matter expert to feel qualified for my role. Today, style is often key in terms of how I show up to my up-line leadership or my own team.”

At senior leadership level, the way executives present themselves and the executive presence they exude becomes increasingly important.

“In a new role, you can lean on your skills in style while your knowledge of the company or industry comes up to speed,” Kelsall recommended. “But at some point you need to bring the substance or you do start to lack credibility and become in danger of becoming an actual imposter.”

The commentary of both Batka and Kelsall exposes a new avenue of literature linked to the characteristics displayed by the most powerful women in business and technology. Is the overwhelming desire to initially deliver substantiative leadership more common in female leaders?

“Leadership, whether for teams or businesses, is like being a gardener in a thriving garden,” explained Dr. Hema Wadhwa, Associate of Data and Analytics at Aurecon. “When each individual flourishes, the team collectively creates something extraordinary – just like a garden where every plant thrives and contributes to its beauty and balance.”

In other words, leadership requires adaptability.

“I can’t water a cactus twice a day just because other plants need it, nor can you neglect a water demanding grass simply because the cactus survives without much need for water,” Dr. Wadhwa detailed.

Leaders must not only recognise – but critically adapt – to the unique needs of team members to ensure individuals can grow, develop and ultimately succeed. If substance is about delivering results, then Dr Wadhwa considers style to become the tool to enable such results.

“Style and substance are partners in leadership,” expanded Lisa Bouari, Partner of AI and Data at EY.

“Style allows me to open doors but it’s substance that keeps them open. True leadership is rooted in substance but it’s the style that enhances substance by building respect, empathy, credibility and doing what you say you will.”

Consequently, a balanced approach is required to inspire others to not only follow but to innovate and contribute in the achievement of collective goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).

With both a corporate and entrepreneurial background to draw upon, Dane Meah – CEO of MyCISO – defines style versus substance as values, culture and behaviour based leadership.

The aim? To cultivate an environment where people can succeed.

“Substance based leadership is focused more on the individuals, skill development, setting clear parameters for success with metrics that enable the person to identify when they are on or off-track,” Meah highlighted.

“My style is a combination of both; I live in style focused on developing the right culture and values, but ensure that the team understand clearly what skills, traits and metrics will determine their success, but then allow them to take ownership of this.”

With such definitions, Meah documented the critical nature of focusing on style while deep-diving into substance at regular intervals to ensure team progression.

Echoing this executive sentiment, Luke Power – Regional Director and General Manager of Extreme Networks – deploys a combination of both and uses his considered judgement to pull each lever at the appropriate juncture.

“I like to lead by example and get my hands dirty but also enable and coach my team so that they can come to their own conclusions,” he noted. “It’s part of the leadership culture I’ve tried to incorporate over the years.

“Yes, they are equally important but knowing when and where, and how, to use them is key. You need to know your people and your team. Taking my team out of their comfort zones allows me to get to know them better and to best understand when to switch gears.”

Switching gears, playing personas

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in the Australian construction industry, Arab is well-versed in adapting his leadership approach to different situations. Common consensus is that context is key.

“For example, in crisis management, prioritise substances for clear and data-driven responses,” he advised.

“Conversely, when engaging stakeholders, focus on style to convey your vision convincingly. Understanding your audience and context is essential, whether you’re presenting a business case to executives or mentoring a team.”

For executives seeking to succeed in an environment that requires teamwork and stakeholder management, Jansen also stressed that style is as important as substance.

“The ability to deliver your message and lead with style aligned to the environment you operate in, is very important otherwise substance may not be understood or accepted,” he added. “But style will only matter when it is authentic and based on your personal and core company values.”

If personality wins the hearts of minds of individuals – and potentially a presidential race – then pragmatism rules the boardroom of publicly-listed corporations.

As one former CEO of an ASX-listed business alluded to, body language is everything in the world of investor and analyst relations.

What you say, how you say it, the terminology you use. Whether reporting a good or a bad result to the market, never get too high and never get too low.

It’s not the job of a CEO in this scenario to be liked or loved – commentary must be objective, considered and balanced.

“Leaders need to have a good balance of EQ and IQ and knowing when to switch between style and substance can often come down to the audience or attendees and the meeting, presentation or situation,” Batka accepted.

“For example, presenting to a board or during quarterly earnings would require more substance. Presenting at a company sales kick-off would require more style.”

Despite dominantly leading with substance over style, Yumul subscribes to a ‘personalised leadership’ philosophy.

At the heart is a commitment to engage each team member uniquely and according to individual levels of receptiveness, what is most important to them and what they hold to be true.

“I’ve brought out the best in people by doing so,” Yumul shared. “So I switch gears with each person. When I understand an individual’s order of priorities which dictates how they might handle a situation, I link that to how I motivate and incentivise them.

“Then they shine and everybody wins. The business, the team, the customers and the team member which extends to their family.”

Equally, Dr Wadhwa also focuses on understanding individuals’ strengths, challenges and needs, then tailors her style to help them perform at their best.

“So they can deliver on my target and KPIs,” she detailed. “Ultimately, when we respect and nurture our teams, we create a winning environment in which individual growth drives business success and vice versa.”

Akin to Yumul and Dr Wadhwa, Kelsall translates that into “reading the room” – widely considered as one of the most important skills in leadership.

“Being able to flex the way you show up is key,” she outlined. “This relies on a level of self awareness and emotional intelligence which I think good leaders work on building over time.”

Given the high-intensity nature of consulting, Bouari is skilled at adapting personas instinctively, with a focus on keeping teams grounded but inspired.

To achieve this balance, substance is essential – it’s what grounds a leader and ensures decisions are sound. Yet, style is the accelerant, enabling those decisions to be communicated, accepted and supported across a diverse audience.

When combined, Bouari is aligned to the belief that substance provides lasting value while style ensures such value is accessible and compelling.

“In times of change, lead with style – clear communication and steady reassurance to build resilience and trust,” she shared. “In moments requiring precision, like strategic or financial decisions, substance takes precedence.”

In summarising executive sentiment, Batka shared a profound example of style and substance – an example that best articulates the journey that all leaders undertake.

Referencing the words of Maya Angelou… “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”