Lousy Leadership is Scary
Lousy leadership is scary because it is so prevalent in our lives, and no one is entirely immune from it. New and established managers both make errors due to impatience, fear, or poor judgment. These mistakes hurt the people being led. An effective leader acknowledges their faults, makes corrections, and tries to make amends. They are devoted to continual learning, not only for process improvements and people development but also for ways to better themselves.
What makes lousy leaders especially scary is that, through intent or ignorance, they do not bother to look at self-improvement. They don’t recognize their shortfalls, and if they carelessly harm a customer relationship or a direct report, they shrug it off or, worse, pass the blame.
Everyone should aim toward technical proficiency in their chosen industry’s skills. However, accomplishing that alone does not make you an effective leader, even if someone decides to promote you to a title that confers leadership status. That is more likely a case of 8s promoting 7s. It is mismanagement and another example of why lousy leadership is hard to eradicate.
Leadership skills, like writing skills, are about influence. Their job is to make the unseen visible, convey knowledge to the unknown, and cause excitement in the curious; it is not to incite the discontented. Leadership entails nuanced relationship skills, reading people, and being brave and bold enough to challenge wrongs. It involves the acumen to run productive meetings, garner relevant resources, and know when to change course and when to plow forward.
These skills are rarely learned in a classroom or lecture hall. They are learned on playgrounds and walks between places with friends. They are learned while camping or negotiating dinner and a movie. Yes, they can be found in books, but they must be actively uncovered with highlighters and reflected upon in journals or through discussions over coffee. The study of leadership is not a passive endeavor.
Start with you. Test your assumptions. You are wrong more than you care to admit. That’s okay. It is a shared human trait. Refuse to accept axioms on blind faith. Make a note of your findings, and adjust.
What scares me is that we tolerate lousy leadership in others and ourselves. Blame it on constant negative reinforcement, the decay of trust, and the suspicion of those who differ in thought, faith, color, or cell phone choice. Our biases grow and will continue to unless we challenge them. Tear off masks that impend promises of transparency, but don’t gloat. Reconcile. Recalibrate. Learn. Constantly. Otherwise, we will continue to be haunted by lousy leadership.
