Delusional Leadership

-Because there is a lack vision, there is no direction- 

As I looked in his eyes I asked him the question, "How do you rate yourself as a leader on a scale from 1-10?”

His answer?  “About an 8.”

Now, I know you have no idea of whom I am referring to, and it is just as well. The important point is that this is a person who has seen his business decline dramatically, and he has no answers for the slide. The question I asked was to help him personally analyze his leadership with respect to the overall performance of his company. As we continued to talk, it became quite apparent that he did not believe his leadership was the reason for the poor performance.

This is what I call delusional leadership. This is when a leader has lost touch with his team and a connection to his business.  In this case, he did not even see a need to change how he saw himself as a leader. This is delusional thinking.

He attributed the poor performance to others and to bad luck. However, upon closer inspection and introspection, we find that the real reason for the decline of the business is a lack of vision and a lack of accountability from the top to the bottom.

After digging a little deeper, he realized that the quality of his leadership was and is the reason for his company's poor performance. His commitment to addressing his weaknesses as a leader is the key to the future success of his company. 

Great leaders are always assessing their leadership performance and seek out constructive feedback from others to help them to continue to grow. They have to be honest with themselves and personally hold themselves accountable for the results.

How about you? What steps are you taking to grow your leadership? Are you getting the results you are looking for?

If not, it is time that you take a hard look at how you are leading and seek out trusted counsel from others whose leadership and character you trust.

-If you don't know where you are going, how do you know when you get there?-

Everyone's a Leader

Many times when I speak to people about leadership, they say, “I am not a leader.” I then ask them the following questions, and if they say yes to any one of them, then I say YOU ARE A LEADER:

Are you married? Then you are a leader. It does not matter if you are if you are the husband or wife. You are leading in some way, no matter how small.

Do you have kids? Then you are a leader. Your children will look to you for direction and in many cases their lives will be shaped by what they see in yours.

Do you work? Then you are a leader.  Whether you are an employee, a supervisor, or a manager, you are leading those employees who work alongside you or who report to you. I believe that the front desk receptionist is also a leader. People are influenced by his or her attitude and character, and some will emulate what they see.

Do you have friends? Then you are a leader.  Your friends are looking at you and your influence is being felt. You can influence them in many ways, so don’t take your leadership lightly.

The question then becomes ‘what type of leader are you?’ There are good and bad leaders. I am sure for every good leader you can name, you can equally name bad ones.

Leaders influence and, as result, people will follow.

So, what kind of leader are you, or what kind of leader do you want to become?

What is Leadership anyway?

Every day we hear the word leader being bandied about with no real thought as to the effective meaning of the word.  This causes me to think, what defines leadership? What does it do and how does it behave?  During my research for this post, I looked up some definitions of leadership, and although there were similar components to the definitions, they were very different. 

Merriam-Webster gives us a place to start:

1 : the office or position of a leader

2 : capacity to lead

That’s a pretty flat description.  Let’s see if there’s something a little more  3-dimensional that will help:

Here are just a few from Wikipedia:  Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith of Genentech states that, "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." According to Ken "SKC" Ogbonnia, "effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals."

The Business Dictionary defines leadership this way: “In its essence, leadership in an organizational role involves (1) establishing a clear vision, (2) sharing (communicating) that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, (3) providing the information, knowledge, and methods to realize that vision, and (4) coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members or stakeholders.”

So, do any of these definitions answer our questions about what true leadership is?

In the aftermath of the Tucson shootings, President Obama gave a speech about civility in public discourse.  After this speech, his approval numbers improved by 3-4 points.  Commentators attributed the increase to his speech’s leadership tone and Obama acting presidential.  However, subsequent to his speech, the rhetoric and caustic speech continues.  Does the fact that some of his constituents are not listening mean he is not a leader?  Absolutely not!  He remains the “leader of the free world.”

In sports the player with the best skills and the highest contract is often deemed to be a leader.  In politics a leader is one who won the election.  In business we associate leadership with the person who has the title.  You don’t have to look far to find examples of people with leadership roles and titles who are ill-suited to the work of leadership.

Leadership is not only about having a vision for the future and meeting goals, it is fundamentally about a deep set of beliefs that allows the leader to inspire and motivate individuals to achieve their greatest potential.  Does that deep set of beliefs matter?  Or is it all just a matter of having a platform to lead from and employing a certain skillset that is effective in getting people to follow?

Leadership is a complicated concept that is hard to define.  There seem to be a lot of moving parts to leadership.  Maybe this is why there are so many books, tapes, seminars and workshops on the subject.  We are all still trying to figure it out.

As I contemplate the word leadership and its effect on society, it stimulates me to ask you the following questions:

• Are we evaluating leaders by the right criteria?
• Are effective leaders always good leaders?
• Do people always follow good leaders?  

Credit Crisis

”There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
— Ronald Reagan


Now that the mid-term elections are over, the real fun begins, (can you hear my sarcasm?).  The past few weeks since the elections, the Democrats and Republicans have started in on each other once again to pass blame and to criticize the ideas and direction that each side believes is the best way for the country to move forward.  They talk about the “lame duck” session of congress and what they will try to push through.  Will they be able to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”  Although this issue may be important to some, its resolution is not essential to turning the economy around.  

During the many interviews and face to face debates on the network and cable news stations, the phrases “The American People” and “The Future of our Children” come up often. Each time they do, my head feels like it wants to EXPLODE! With all of the talk about their concern about the American People it is quite apparent that they care very little about our current and future state.

While they bicker with each other, many Americans struggle to make ends meet.  They’re concerned about the cost of health care, about the economy, about high and burdensome tax rates, and the never ending spending of our financial resources on things that do not keep our people safe or enhance the quality of our lives.

Last week I was walking in our downtown area where I met two men sitting on a bench drinking coffee.  As I began to speak with them they said that this is the worst they have ever seen in terms of the economy.  They spoke of the struggle to find work, to pay bills and to get ahead.  This is what is on the minds of the American people.

Please hear me when I say that I am not expecting the government to take care of me or my family, I can do that myself.  What I am saying is that our elected leaders continue to miss the mark on what is truly important to us. For many of them it is about winning and losing the party fight.  It is about their personal agenda and making the other side look bad.  We must demand from our elected officials to put away partisan political games and get this country back on track, together.

We can accomplish great things when we “don’t care who gets the credit.”  

The Blame Game

A few years back our company was in a deep decline. Revenues were down and sales were extremely slow. The cause of the problem was poor decision making and a lack of understanding of our business. The general manager in charge of the largest division of our company made several decisions that accelerated the decline. As the Vice President, I was asked by the CEO if I would take over the division, and I gladly accepted the challenge.

I proceeded to implement a new strategy for the business and within several months we began to experience a significant turnaround. I made the best decisions I could, but not all of them proved to be successful—sometimes you learn through trial and error. When something I tried failed, I did not point to the prior leader as an excuse for my failure.

Leaders accept the blame when we fail and give the team the credit when we succeed.

As a nation we continue to endure an unemployment rate of 9.5%, crime, war, poor educational system, homelessness, foreclosures, etc. Politicians on both sides of the aisle claim to have all the answers. Meanwhile many Americans continue to suffer through one of the greatest downturns in our country’s history.

When asked why things are not turning around, our elected officials continually blame the prior administration’s policies and the mess they inherited. Even if there is truth in that position, it should not have come as a surprise. After all it was clearly evident that our nation was in trouble and none of our problems were hidden from those who said they had the answers to setting the country on a new course of prosperity. When it did not happen they merely blamed the prior administration. They were elected on the promise of “Change”.

If we are ever going to extricate ourselves from this morass, we as a nation need to come together and work through issues that continue to divide us. We must be willing to be held accountable for the actions we take and the decisions we make, not play the blame game.

True leaders hold themselves accountable for the results of the decisions they make, good and bad.

The lives of millions of Americans are at stake. Fear and anxiety continue to dominate the hearts and minds of those who do not see a future with much hope. If we continue to seek out our own interests and not those of all Americans, Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, we will continue to decline. Remember, this economy is affecting us all.

Are you willing to be held accountable for the decisions you make?

18000 vs 40000

On March 17, 2010, Bret Baier, commentator for Fox News, conducted an interview with President Obama. During the interview Bret Baier shared with the President that he had received over 18,000 emails from Americans with questions they had for the President. One of the first questions he read was one questioning the passage of the Healthcare bill. Without missing a beat the President retorted with the statement that he had received over 40,000 emails in support of the Healthcare bill. What a disappointing response from the leader of all Americans.

My disappointment was not the fact that the President expressed an opposing viewpoint, but the fact that he did not answer the question. He totally dismissed the person’s question as not being worthy of a response. As a leader it is not only important that we listen to those who agree with us, but to listen to the ideas and opinions of those who do not. It is about shaping consensus. The ability of a leader to gain consensus is vital, especially for the President. A leader will not always be able to gain consensus on every issue, however with so many critical issues facing our country we must be able to find common ground that transcends partisan politics.

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

How does a leader mold consensus? The key is leaving your ego at the door, realizing that others might have better ideas than you do.

What are some of your ideas for molding consensus?