Cutting Through the Leadership Noise: A Case for the 'Good Enough' Leader

Leadership.

I don’t know about you, but every time hear the word these days, I feel exhausted! Every day there's a new book, a new podcast, (new blog too) claiming to be the ultimate guide to leadership. Leadership experts are everywhere—management consultants, academic experts, ex-military, even spiritual leaders.

Walk to the bookstore (the few that remain) and you will come across all kinds of leadership books: Some with conventional titles like The Prepared Leader, The Fearless Leader, The Resilient Leader, and others a bit bolder: Leadership Jiu-Jitsu, Leadership and the Art of Struggle, Leadership and Training for the Fight, each of them offering the ultimate leadership medicine. Each of them squeezing the leadership lemon one more time.

Here's the thing: we're drowning in leadership advice. I once counted 267 discrete competencies from various experts that could perhaps get you to be a better leader than you already are. Imagine trying to nail down each one of those! ?Who has the time, the energy, or even the ability to attain proficiencies in all of them? These days, talking about leadership is like entering one complex maze- so many twists and turns that I would not be able to find my way out. And many of these competencies are opposites of each other, as my good friend Professor Hitendra Wadhwa from Mentora Institute points out. For instance, a good leader must take risks, and manage risks at the same time, must be tough minded and soft-hearted at the same time, be aggressive in pursuit, and detached in focus at the same time. By the time I pick up all the many competencies that make a good leader, I will go raving mad!?

So, have we overdone it? In our quest for the perfect leader, are we just chasing our tails? Is there even such a thing as a perfect leader? Maybe it's time to stop hunting for the next big thing and instead focus on honing a few key competencies. Aristotle was onto something with his Golden Mean—the idea that virtue lies between the extremes of too much and too little. Let's apply that wisdom to leadership. Let's aim for a balanced set of competencies that really matter, customized for each organization's unique needs. No more, no less.

This brings us to the 'good enough leader'. Not aiming to be a superstar in every area but being competent enough in a few key areas to make a real difference. I'm working with an organization that's nailed this down to: Mastery, Passion, and Empathy. That's their leadership gold standard. Anything beyond those three is a bonus. Another organization decided that they would describe leadership for their organization as: relentless focus on results, personal integrity and empowering as their three competencies. If a leader demonstrates these three competencies, it is ‘good-enough’. ?It simplifies training, assessment, and promotion, making leadership more manageable and meaningful. I know he was controversial, but three decades ago, Jack Welch narrowed his definition of a good leader to just five words: Energy, Energize, Execute and Edge (the four Es). Well, like them or not, they are not easy to forget.

Neuroscience backs this up. Focusing on a limited set of competencies allows for deeper learning and better memory retention. It avoids overwhelming the brain, making learning and doing more efficient. Plus, honing a few competencies strengthens neural pathways, making those competencies second nature. It's about quality, not quantity.

Perhaps we in HR and leadership development are partly to blame. We jump on the latest trend, eager to add it to the ever-growing list of must-have leadership competencies. But what if we focused on developing a few solid, impactful competencies instead? That's the essence of the 'good enough leader'. It aligns with how our brains work best, fosters strong leadership habits, keeps us motivated, and reduces stress.

The good news is that there are others thinking along the same lines. After I wrote this blog, I discovered another article on LinkedIn on the same subject The "Good Enough" Leader!

What do you think? Is 'good enough' actually better?