How NOT to Lead

Leadership is such a fascinating and complex subject, isn't it? It seems there have been at least eleventy-billion books, brochures, and pamphlets written about leadership (I hope to soon add one more to the mix). A person could literally spend every moment of their life studying leaders and leadership. That's certainly not a bad thing - leadership affects every aspect of our lives. Not just good leadership, but bad leadership as well. In fact, I think we can sometimes learn more from studying the habits of a bad leader than we can by studying the habits of a good one. As they say, everything rises or falls on leadership, or a lack thereof.

With that in mind, I'd like you to think about something: In your experiences, what is the most common trait exhibited by the bad leaders you have known (no, body odor and bad breath don't count)? Rude? Unorganized? Uncaring? Mean-spirited? Whatever your answer may be, I'd be willing to bet lunch that we could boil it down to one thing: an attitude centered on self. One who is focused on himself and his own little world, by default, fails to properly lead his people. Even good, well-meaning leaders are in danger of falling into this trap. Bad leaders live in it. To make things worse, a leader who focuses on self is quite often more concerned with the spoils and/or power of his position - or the fear of losing it - than with the investment in and development of his people. Leaders, this is your chance to check yourselves. You may think you are doing fine in this area, and you may very well be, but I am convinced that this is a blind spot for many, many leaders. And it's a sure-fire way to short-circuit the realization of your vision.

In the weeks and months to come, we'll peel back the onion on this topic, beginning with a real-life example of a leader who was consumed with self. In fact, you may be familiar with his work: the Roman Emperor Commodus. Not the movie version we saw in "Gladiator", but the historical version. Spoiler warning: he was even worse in real-life than as portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. Stay tuned...



J.