How leaders pick their team ...

The other day a colleague raised an innocuous question ... why do these people in power positions or authority hire non-performer? She was definitely worked-up a little when she said so. And I too felt that her question makes sense. Does it make sense to you too? How you too come across people in leadership positions packing their leadership team with such slow or no-decision makers who pass the buck every time some work comes their way and are first past the post when credit is to be taken for things having gone right?

Well, my take on this matter is 'real leaders pick up the best available talent on their team, and the pseudo leaders get only loyal ones on board the team wagon'.

Real leaders know the value of team performance and are concerned with making a positive difference in the organization. But the pseudo leaders who occupy the 'leadership' role by virtue of them having everything other than merit, work for themselves and do everything possible possible to perpetuate this self-serving system.

A pseudo leader is a fly-by-night opportunist who 'networks' extensively to be in the good-books of those who may catapult her/him to any important role. Once arrived, such a person does not have confidence in her/his ability to sustain in these position for long ... knowing fully well that the ground underneath is tenuous/flimsy/shifty ... hence is perpetually insecure about slipping in to the depths of shifting-sand due to even a slight tremor. In order to retain the position without calamitous exposure of the reality, surrounds her/himself with 'familiar' few who may not be the best in terms of competency but are great in terms of sycophancy ... are loyal to and dependent upon the pseudo leader. Such loyalists never raise their head against leader's actions but keep them bowed in gratitude. They become a pseudo leaders fall-guys or last line of defense in case things go wrong ... and take the punch on their chin without whimpering ... and why not ... this leader had given them something that they never expected in their wildest of dreams!!!

Therefore, incompetent pseudo leaders pick loyal followers on their team. Such followers/team members may be incompetent, worthless, lazy, and non-performers for the rest of the world, but for that pseudo leader who gifted them with these important role ... such people are a personal asset. So what such loyalists are a liability or non-performing 'asset' for the team or the organization?