Leadership Rant: Ever since I was young, I cringed whenever the conventionally quipped leadership lessons were taught or preached. There is something wrong with the Maxwell leadership stuff and I think I'm getting close to why it is so frustrating. Do you remember statements like:
"Character is who you are when no one is watching" - that's dumb. If that's who I really am then I'm a monster.
"The 3 C's of leadership - Character, Competency & Commitment" - The problem with these three C's is that they mean entirely different things to different people - thereby saying nothing really substantive to anyone except for what we want to hear.
So here is my shot at 3 leadership lessons (alliterations included).
#1. Leaders are not supposed to hold a higher standard in order to be models for the rest of us. They are to cultivate a higher standard because human nature dictates that when power over other people is given to a human being, that human being will eventually abuse the power given them unless they have a higher standard stopping them. The moralism perceived in the modeling done by most of us can be done without having actual real character. Being a real role model is at best a by-product of practices designed to keep our dark passenger from administering the power entrusted to us.
#2. The M&M's of Insecurities - We all have insecurities. They are the reason that we as good people do the worst things without any justification to other people, especially when we have power. When you are given the opportunity to lead, insecurities are:
"Character is who you are when no one is watching" - that's dumb. If that's who I really am then I'm a monster. "The 3 C's of leadership - Character, Competency & Commitment" - The problem with these three C's is that they mean entirely different things to different people - thereby saying nothing really substantive to anyone except for what we want to hear.
So here is my shot at 3 leadership lessons (alliterations included).
#1. Leaders are not supposed to hold a higher standard in order to be models for the rest of us. They are to cultivate a higher standard because human nature dictates that when power over other people is given to a human being, that human being will eventually abuse the power given them unless they have a higher standard stopping them. The moralism perceived in the modeling done by most of us can be done without having actual real character. Being a real role model is at best a by-product of practices designed to keep our dark passenger from administering the power entrusted to us.
#2. The M&M's of Insecurities - We all have insecurities. They are the reason that we as good people do the worst things without any justification to other people, especially when we have power. When you are given the opportunity to lead, insecurities are:
1. Magnified
2. Multiplied
3. and are no longer Manageable.
#3. The 3 C's of Insecurities: Insecurities will emerge and what you do with them when they do, will mark your ability to lead. It's best to look them in the eye early on and even put measures in place that give us:
1. Confession (agreeing with your limits and with what is broken in you regularly)
2. Complementarity (allowing people who are better than you to be better than you)
3. Creative Collaboration (inviting the ability for possibilities that exceed our abilities)
2. Multiplied
3. and are no longer Manageable.
#3. The 3 C's of Insecurities: Insecurities will emerge and what you do with them when they do, will mark your ability to lead. It's best to look them in the eye early on and even put measures in place that give us:
1. Confession (agreeing with your limits and with what is broken in you regularly)
2. Complementarity (allowing people who are better than you to be better than you)
3. Creative Collaboration (inviting the ability for possibilities that exceed our abilities)
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