My curiosity was piqued by John McKenna’s blog post, Does Most Leadership Suck – The Challenge. He tagged me (thank you) with the challenge to discuss why, as he puts it, most leadership sucks.
I can’t say that I agree with that statement merely on the premise that it’s hard to quantify. such One is left to their own inner discussion about leadership based on numerous points of reference including:
- Individual experience as company rank and file
- Individual experience as company brass
- How easily one succumbs to the influence of media
- What they read in the trade pubs
- Which leadership book of the week is getting the most press
The initial cold response to the leadership question is that we need to discuss not leadership principles, but the human beings that make up the leadership and what drives them as individuals. We need to ask them these questions:
- What are the ethical and moral values by which you govern?
- Is the work you do aligned with your purpose as an individual?
- Is your work meaningful to the collective group of individuals who make up your company?
- Is there a particular leadership model you use and is it successful?
- How do you gauge a successful leader; by the bottom-line, employee retention, employee engagement scores, employee loyalty?
Leadership is a journey of adhering to – and living out – certain principles. It’s about whether an individual can align these principles with the day-to-day activities of running a business in a profit-first culture. I would say that is the greatest challenge. I suppose we have to delve further into the minds of the leaders to learn more about how they think – without being attached to the desire for definitive pearls of wisdom. But alas if they come – wouldn’t we be happy we asked? Still,I suppose we’re likely to hear a lot of the same stuff – so I can understand John’s cynicism.
Coincidentally, CNN/Money in conjunction with Fortune Magazine has just posted an opportunity for career or leadership pundits which sounds too good to be true. They’ve opened the floodgates to the mind of former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina. You can post questions to her and she’ll be answering some of them in the October 29th issue of Fortune.
Fiorina made history as the first female to head up a Fortune 20 Company. Her leadership skills during her six years at H-P’s helm have been scrutinized across the unforgiving internet since her ouster in 2005. But don’t you just wonder what really happened there?
The higher you are, the bigger the target you are as a leader. That idea alone gives us a lot to think about when we cast a generic stone in the direction of leadership.
For some interesting insight into the minds of some cutting-edge thinkers in this field, head to my WorkLife Monitor Podcasts which run on this blog, and at JudyMartinSpeaks.com. I’ve got a bunch in the hopper with some extraordinary people in the coming months.
