Death Knells for Successful Leadership

Elitism DING Presumption DONG Entitlement THE WITCH Successful Leadership IS DEAD. Obviously, there are particular attitudes that prevail in many who seek leadership roles. (For the sake of this discussion, a leader is defined as a person who has commanding authority or influence over a person, group, community or nation.) Some of these foster success, while others failure. The attitudes that foster failure — at least in America (I will speak to this in another blog) — are of particular interest to me. Whether it is the failed performance of a leadership role at Home, Work, in a Community, or even in the Oval Office, my bet is that honest analysis would reveal, in many instances, the aforementioned trio of attitudes at the root.

But that’s after the fact. Is the deadly trio apparent to an acute ear during the process of one vying for a leadership role or even while performing the role? If the targeted subjects are listening, it’s hard to miss its loud tune, often causing a visceral reaction of adulation for those who admire and employ the trio’s said attributes, and one of disdain for those who are plain spoken and find them anathematic. I posit that a majority (no matter how slim) of the subjects fall in the latter category, especially when it comes to Americans (again, I will speak to this in another blog). When it comes to choosing or following a leader, Americans by nature detest the sound of a talking down to and even more so an expressed presumption that he/she is the bomb and has a natural birthright to “rocking” their world (however big or small).

So what does this all have to do with bidding for, or executing, a successful or failed leadership role? Keep in mind, ultimate success is not judged by getting the job, but by what is accomplished by the job — whether or not the leader positively influenced those he/she set out to lead. If a failure, notice will be given with a resounding and steady tolling of the bell, not once, but thrice.