Leaders aren’t always the smartest people in the room. But they are smart about people. They surround themselves with highly competent managers and give them responsibility, authority and trust to make decisions and resource appropriately to achieve a clear set of objectives. These leaders then get out of the way.
Too bad this sort of leader seems to be in short supply in Corporate America.
What we have today is an abundance of individuals of both genders who rise to a management position with ample self confidence, an insatiable appetite for power, a tremendous ego, an over-inflated sense of their own intelligence, (and sometimes buckets of insecurities), to name a few common traits.
Who are today’s “leaders”?
They are micromanagers at every level of a company and they are not good leaders. They question the smallest details of work performed by interns. They are executives who rewrite brochures, override event staffing decisions, challenge shipping expenses, cancel supply purchases, and hold veto power over Spotlight awards. Their actions (a.k.a. meddling) breed insecurity, distrust, contempt and resentment.
They are VPs who move from company to company every three years or so and bring their entourage, firing high performance employees at their new company without remorse, and they are not good leaders. Rarely do the achieve anything of significance during their time served. But they take good care of their inside circle, providing generous compensation packages and sparkling annual reviews, raises and bonuses.
They are CEOs who spend hours in staff meetings challenging their team, nitpicking every decision and debating every detail simply to outpoint the “opponent” and prove they are the smartest person in the room. They are not good leaders.
Is it any surprise the companies these imposters lead fail to innovate; fail to attract and retain top talent; fail to inspire excellence; fail to excel at anything and fall far short of their potential?
They came. They saw. They conquered. They moved on.
I sincerely hope in these humbling times we see a new school of leaders emerge with an old school philosophy.
What do I mean? See paragraph 1.
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