We have only just been trodden under the heels of some of the most profound failures of the modern leadership movement’s singularly qualified individual leaders. And yet, we now find ourselves awash in ever more wide-eyed calls for yet more abject submission to still greater leaders, together with some of the most vacuously uncritical celebration of putative examples of such to issue from presumably mature and experienced observers.
It might seem counterintuitive for it to be suggested that the cure for the dismal leadership we have suffered in past years is the promotion of more of the approach that caused it. Nevertheless, the dynamics that led all of us to be complicit in the last explosion of this particular bubble persist still, and are breathlessly at work inflating the next one.
As a result, too, the presumption that such people exist, that we need them, and that we can do either or both of indentifying or developing them has resurfaced at various levels. Such promises are of genuinely good intention, but they nevertheless pave the road to disaster. They inevitably result in the untoward arrogation of authority and power by some, the abrogation of them by others, and the general avoidance of responsibility by all.
We will be talking, over the coming days, about the various ways all of this is surfacing – or resurfacing – and about its implications. Please do stop in and let us know your thoughts.
—
Today’s tip: Years ago the US Air Force determined that leadership styles should vary according the situation. But please stop over to see what Miki Saxon has to say about the role the ever-changing situation may really have in the genesis of leadership.
—
Did you know that as a subscriber to this blog (by either RSS reader or email), you are entitled to a FREE download (.pdf format, 344KB) of the first chapter from Jim’s critically-acclaimed book, Managing Leadership? Download your free chapter now! (Even if you haven’t subscribed, yet – download it anyway! – (and then subscribe!))
Technorati Tags: failure, leadership, leader, submission, authority, power, responsibility, US, Air Force, situation, Miki Saxon
Sphere: Related Content
Note:
Hi Jim, I hope the upcoming series addresses the basic laziness of the human race; I find it escalates the more esoteric the subject and leadership is about as esoteric as they come. It’s so much easier to let ‘them’ fix it, since ‘they’ know how and I’d have to learn/think/act/get-off-the-couch/out-of-the-armchair.
Hi Miki,
That, sadly, will factor in – it’s a basic feature of the dynamics that make the argument for individual leadership so powerful.
Thanks, as always, for stopping by!