A key and persistent assumption about leadership is that it typically emanates from specifically skilled or capable individuals. It then is more or less passively received by others, acting on them in a way to spur a focus and energy that would not otherwise exist among them. But consider this, from the humorist “Texas” Bix Bender: “If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.”
A short while ago I offered a review here of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff’s new book, It’s Our Ship. Lee Thayer, the author of The Leader’s Journey, made a comment filled with fascinating insights, one of which I think is of particular relevance in our current discussion. Here’s a quote from it:
Vision is closely related to purpose, which we discussed yesterday. But while purpose is fundamentally utilitarian, telling us what we are doing now, vision is forward-looking, struggling to discern how and where we will be doing it in the future. . .
As indicated yesterday, we are going to reorient our discussion of what leadership actually does in an organization directly onto the various functions described as uniquely attributable to it. But it might be advisable to establish at the outset that while I am an opponent of the transcendent view of leadership and of individual leaders that is promoted by the modern leadership movement, this does not mean that I do not believe that there are functions that are unique to leadership. . .
The discussion the past several days of goals was generated by the story of supposed leadership in a US Marine platoon, which turned out not really to be about individual leadership. The tale seemed to suggest that large, ambitious goals may have been behind the tremendous transformation that unit experienced, and so we considered one guru’s argument that this – the production of such lofty goals – is the quintessential role of the leader. . .
I recently observed a very peculiar negotiation. One of the parties, a woman, had been asked to organize an event for a leading expert in her field. The other, a man and a local figure of sorts in that field, wanted to step in, have the woman announce publicly that he was fully or partially responsible for work that he had not done, and then dominate the event itself. . .
When I argue that leadership is not something that comes from individuals, I am certainly not saying that individuals don’t express leadership. Surely, some people do. And at first glance, some of them even seem to be generally better at it than others, at least under certain circumstances or in particular organizations. But that doesn’t mean that the leadership, such as it is, that they exhibit is coming from them. Indeed, sometimes it isn’t even really leadership at all. . .
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