Reasons Why Bad Leaders Exist
we need to be awake to the fact that that our functional hierarchical structures can become unproductive, tyrannical, and blind in the blink of an eye. - Jordan Peterson, Psychologist, "Beyond Order"
From last month's what makes a leader a Hero or a Zero, to a conversation on the challenges that good leaders face, and the Reasons Why Bad Leaders Exist. Let's go!
the perpetual leader, the career minded manager, that acts like once they are cast into a leadership role, and become a boss, it's their role for life... organizations replete with this mindset become sluggish, ineffectual hierarchies. - Liz Wiseman, Business Leader and Researcher, "Impact Players"
We need a new model of leadership and what it means to be an effective and trust worthy leader in our modern, rapidly changing environments. Last month in our Hero's Journey I shared the need for leaders to be courageous, and those who are not up for that journey end up being the bad leaders that we all have seen or even worked with. You know how painful this can be, and so do I! Ugh!
I refer to our human pitfalls as the gravitational pull that keeps us in survival mode and our comfort zones rather than adventuring out courageously to become the whole hero version of ourselves, capable of truly serving others as leaders who have actually taken the journey, faced their monsters, and overcome their obstacles.
For this edition of PeopleChamps Newsletter I want to introduce you to three thought leaders that I think handle the pitfalls of human nature (and thus leadership) quite well.
All three authors have provided their works to help us understand and navigate the practical and often imperfect world of human behavior that allows for bad leaders and culture to emerge. I would love to geek out and give you every quote and reference but you don't have that much time to read this article! You can definitely explore these books on your own if you don't already have them. For now, thank you for allowing me to paraphrase and share some quotes with you.
Liz is a favorite of mine ever since I hosted a Live2Lead simulcast event in Scottsdale when her book Multipliers was released. I like to say that Multipliers was written for leaders (and diminishers), but if I summarize Impact Players, Liz is giving the individual contributor and occasional "on-demand leader" the playbook to better navigate the corporate hierarchy and sometimes bad leaders/culture. She helps us to contribute toward a greater impact and WINs - "What's Important Now" so we can earn the right to influence appropriate changes later on.
By being the HOW to [my leader's] WHAT, my work was valued... I had made a habit of working on what was important to my stakeholders, and over time I had built influence, and probably earned the right to help shape the company agenda. - Liz Wiseman, Impact Players
Jordan is a perfect resource if you want a deep dive into the human psyche! His first book, Maps of Meaning is decades worth of research that covers the entire span of human mythology, religion and philosophy that makes up our human experience. His more recent book duo, Beyond Order and An Antidote to Chaos, give us each 12 Rules For Life to help us on our journey. Jordan shows us the reasons for our dilemma and shortcomings through the temptations of both laziness and lying - that we avoid the hard work of dealing with the truth about ourselves and fellow humanity.
In consequence, [the hero] suffers re-exposure to the terrible unknown. Such re-exposure engenders mortal terror, but allow for the union with possibility - allows for inspiration, reconstruction and advancement. - Jordan Peterson, Maps of Meaning
Well it is no stinking wonder that most people don't take the Hero's Journey to return selflessly for the betterment, improvement, and service of others! OMgoodness - mortal terror!!
Of all these works, Robert's book 48 Laws of Power was the most challenging for me to digest as it deals with the darker, more manipulative (Machiavellian) sides to human behavior. Robert has shared in interviews and his social media videos that he wrote the book to help the good people better understand and navigate the devices that some people would otherwise misuse for their own gain. When it comes to bad leadership, I offer a sample of the Laws that may shed some light to someone's need for survival, position, power, pride, and envy/intimidation:
领英推荐
Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay. - Thoreau
and,
[a subordinate may desire to prove] their dedication... but an excess of effort exposes you to the risk of making the master suspicious of you... [you] might become a rival instead of [remain] an underling. - Robert Greene, 48 Laws of Power
Resources: Video, Book, Questions, Quote for the month ahead...
Check out this TED Talk by Elizabeth Lyle, "How to break bad management habits before they reach the next generation of leaders".? Elizabeth challenges new leaders to adapt and evolve, to move past old metrics, systems, processes and paradigms of leadership. "What got her here, won't take her there."
How about you? How about your team members?
Does your organization foster a new paradigm of leadership, and equip new leaders to make a meaningful impact?
Are you coaching and training your teams in person, live, and in the moment to affect the best feedback and practices?
How are you creating opportunities for seasoned leaders to grow and adapt, and for bad leaders to know it is safe to courageously step into unknown territory and embrace their Hero's Journey, overcoming the person in the mirror, and the monsters and challenges that they inevitably will have to face so they can be the best leader they were meant to be?
How can you and your organization bring awareness and have brave conversations about the pitfalls and temptations that affect us all as human beings so we can recognize them and grow through them, emerging as better leaders and impact players?
I hope, as we move into the second half of 2022 talking about becoming PeopleChamps - helping to develop people, leadership and culture in positive ways - that camping for a moment in awareness to identify some of the challenges and pitfalls preventing good leadership and culture development will help us all to be more intentional about how we do what we do... and maybe why we are who we are. Let's each become Heroes - Champions of People, Leadership and Culture - so we can Change Our World!
Thank you for reading the 5th edition of PeopleChamps Newsletter here on LinkedIn. You are invited to join the conversations,?PeopleChamps on Clubhouse?LIVE audio, Monday mornings 7am PST (more on LinkedIn LIVE Audio, as well as community pages coming soon).
Are you looking for a way to Change Your World? Starting July 7th we have up to 12 spots to commit 1hr/week through Q3, Thursdays at 7am. Leave a comment below or message me so I can get you a registration link or follow up with you on a future cycle. This content is always FREE.
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2 年I wanted to come back and re-read this article to see if it said what I wanted it to. Your feedback is definitely appreciated! It is my hope the message that we all are human and need to be aware of the traps/challenges ahead of us, so we can lead better, was shared in a meaningful and inspiring way for you to make the most of your journey as a leader and a PeopleChamps ambassador!