Leadership falls on its ass
I’ve never been a big believer in the cult of individual leadership, a subject brilliantly discussed at Managing Leadership.The current economic meltdown is brought to you by the same folks who have been lauded for years for their extraordinary leadership.
Nor do I believe that leadership is positional; true leadership is found at all levels—it comes forward and makes itself felt when need arises.
Of course, that rarely happens, since most organizations subscribe to the tenets of individual and positional leadership.
CEOs are praised for their brilliant leadership during good times and condemned for not producing the same results in economic downturns.
Worse, their results are compared to predecessor’s performance during heady economic expansion—an environment in which it takes far less skill to produce profits.
It’s said that leadership requires vision and all these leaders had visions—unfortunately. They had visions of being the biggest, baddest, richest corporation in their field—and they were lauded for that vision.
It will be interesting to watch leadership gurus roll out the disclaimers and disavow the same folks who they’ve held up as examples of how to lead.
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Image credit: izzyplante CC license