The Mediocre (Incompetent) Leader! Part 1.

This week I will write about “The Mediocre (Inccompetent) Leader,” while also providing some virtual mentoring to explain the direction of improvement.

Yesterday I read a rather stale Harvard Business Review article on LinkedIn which highlighted the “Incompetent Leader.” I don’t see a lot of innovative content on HBR’s site, and this was no different. But it invoked a lot of posts from individuals who bemoaned that almost every leader was incompetent, with their own examples.

I don’t try to repost on comments from such individuals, but it started me thinking that I agree with most of them about their holistic characterization. True: Leaders are mostly incompetent! But why? And what can they do about it?

Reaching into my reservoir of quotes on leadership, I found this one from a scientist in Los Alamos, NM, Emily Schultz. I wish I knew Emily, because she speaks wisdom with her pen, and it fits with my postings for this week.

“So many of us are terrible at being terrible. As our children venture off to school, sports, dances and music lessons, we implore them: Just try something, keep practicing, you’re only a beginner. And yet, faced with evidence of our own mediocrity, we wilt in embarrassment, avoid the thing or quit altogether. Over time, competition for education and jobs has ramped up, and it’s a little insulting to people who have spent years and years of their lives acquiring skills to think that you should have those overnight.”

The French Philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, said that “Words are loaded pistols,” and this young scientist, Emily Schultz, just identified the reason so many key leaders and executives are quitting their companies in droves. The leaders they report to are incompetent!

My next posts will focus my sage mentorship on why this is occurring, and what you young leaders out there need to do about it.

?Suivez-Moi!

GW