This is the 4th segment of the series “Shoddy Workmanship. “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan.” Proverbs 29:2 Have you ever noticed the time and attention focused on bad leadership? Articles abound and are very descriptive on who bad leaders are and what they do. Why […]
Shoddy Leadership Part 3: The Most Common Leadership Style Is Shortchanging Companies and Staff
This is Part 3 of the series: “Shoddy Workmanship: Why 90% Of Leaders Are Average Or Worse” updted from an article originally posted on LinkedIn. The Epidemic Of Average Leadership The most common leadership style is inhibiting the success of companies and diminishing the morale of employees. It is leadership that looks like a duck, […]
Shoddy Leadership Part 2: The Common Belief Behind The Three Worst Leadership Styles
If leadership were an organization it would rival cable companies and airlines in the degree of customer dissatisfaction. While leadership is in great disrepute to be fair, leadership is a difficult profession and evaluating it honestly leadership is not easy. First, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If one person does not like […]
Shoddy Leadership: 90% Of Leaders Are Average Or Worse – Why?
(This article is modified from an article originally authored and posted on LinkedIn in July 2014) I. Shoddy workmanship is a sign of our times We live in a world of shoddy workmanship. In 2012 there were more than 650 car safety recalls affecting over 17.8 million vehicles; that number rose to 22 million vehicles […]
Are You A Clever Leader? That’s Not A Good Thing!
When I was in the Army I learned that military life was long stretches of boredom interspersed with moments of trouble, tension and even terror. Interestingly enough, leadership follows a similar pattern. On most days leadership involves doing what is necessary to keep the ship floating and running properly. Decisions are usually straightforward and are […]
“Do It My Way Or I Am Leaving!”
All seasoned managers have faced this dilemma. An employee, (sometimes talented, sometimes not; sometimes experienced, sometimes not), threatens to leave if he or she does not get something they demand. It may be a promotion, a bonus, a pay increase or some other desired result. But the threat is always the same: these employees put […]
Disloyalty?
Normal Reaction or Being a Jerk? In Lisa Eadicicco’s recent article, “How Steve Jobs Reacted When A Top Apple Executive Left For A Competing Company”, http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-reaction-when-jon-rubinstein-quit-2015-3, she describes Job’s disbelief and disappointment when a long time employee and friend left Apple for a job in another company. This is a common problem for leaderw when […]
Why Copying Other’s Best Practices Means You Often Get Worst Practices
Recently I read an article on the most overused and meaningless phrases in organizations. (There were sure a lot of them! It seems many people communicate in buzzwords and catch phrases without having any idea what the terms mean. Maybe that is why we are so bad at identifying talent. Sounding like a person knows […]
Persuasive Communication: A Powerful Tool In The Leader’s Toolkit
“What we have here is a failure to communicate.” The Captain, Road Prison 36 from Cool Hand Luke Leadership Communication Leadership communication is an interesting topic. First we know that communication is essential to any and all relationships. People cannot work together and collaborate together without the ability to communicate. As such, communication underlies everything […]
Does 10,000 Hours Of Practice Make A Great Leader?
“When I was in school the teachers told me practice makes perfect; then they told me nobody’s perfect so I stopped practicing.” Comedian – Steve Wright • 61% of Americans think athletic ability is mostly achieved through practice and hard work. • 25% think it is mostly something with which you are born. • 14% […]