The Leadership Fallacy

I am at a point in my life where I now adamantly believe that the whole concept of ‘Leadership’ in the workplace, is a failed social construct, that forms the foundation of the abdication of effective authority and respect that ultimately leads to poor performance of teams, poor work outcomes and low productivity.

I always stand by my mantra that ‘leadership is not something you can learn from a textbook’ — but rather it is an innate ability to command the authority and respect of your peers and team members.

After working professionally for nearly 20 years in a vast array of roles and companies — and born out of my own frustration of experiencing exceptionally poor leadership, management and in some cases the non-existence of anything remotely close to it — I feel it is time to share my thoughts on this obvious fallacy; that exists in many workplaces today.

Not only because it has negative implications on those you work with, but statistics tell us that the most common reason people leave their roles and companies is due to lack of growth but followed very closely by poor management or leadership.

Leaders Must Eat First!

Simon Sinek tells us that ‘Leaders Eat Last’ — my response to that is No — leaders must eat first! Although I agree with much of what Simon highlights in his servant leadership approach — it is clearly flawed by it’s own logic.

In his book ‘Leaders Eat Last’ he states:

“The true price of leadership is the willingness to place the needs of others above your own. Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.” — Simon Sinek

You cannot be an effective leader that commands the authority and respect of people — if you handover the very primitive qualities that form the foundation of leadership. Leadership is not about a level playing field — in which you hand over your authority to those you are required to lead. A football coach certainly does not abdicate their leadership to their staff or team players. Just as a military commander will not bow down to the whims of subordinates. Leadership is based on hierarchical constructs.

Simon Sinek relegates the concept of self-interest to a point where it directly impacts on how others perceive authority and thus the inevitability of the loss of respect. In the workplace — the whole point of leadership is to guide, mentor, and direct people to align to a vision. Sinek, is not wrong about caring for others and considering their needs — but I disagree that this should be at the expense of your own needs as a true and effective leader!

My message is simple and clear:

Leadership needs to have a selfish element which does not diminish empathy and compassion for others.

The Corner-Office Syndrome

During my 20-years or so, in various multinational corporate companies — I noticed a pattern of behavior in people who were in a position of leadership. I call it the ‘corner -office syndrome’. All too often the people who should be leading are simply non-existent, apparently too busy doing ‘who knows what — behind their closed glass office doors’.

In some cases I have had managers who walked into their office in the morning, worked the entire day ‘apparently working hard’ — while intermittently glancing over their screens, through their glass divide and disappearing at the end of the day — without a single interaction with anyone in their team. Does that encapsulate great leadership? — I think not!

This is just one of many cases — all too often so called leaders in the business and corporate world forget that just a couple of feet away outside their office in the open workspace, is a group of people who are yearning for that all elusive ‘leadership’ from their managers and leaders. What has happened to the world? I get it most of the people who have ended up in such positions were probably never meant to be true leaders — they just happened to end up in these high-paying leadership positions to climb that invisible corporate work or promotion ladder.

ACT like a leader!

When we think of great corporate leaders — people like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg don’t jump out. But after watching how they behave in their workplace from a leadership perspective — it all makes sense. Both Elon and Mark don’t sit or work in a fancy corner office. They both sit on the floor in the same open workspace with the rest of their teams. There is no glass divide and their is no need for that ‘my door is always open’ lie. It’s simply here I am working alongside you and come and say hi!

It’s all about ACTING like a leader — being present and available and visible to those you are leading. This can only work if it is backed up with the principles of acting like a true leader. I thus propose the ACT leadership efficacy model.

A — Action and Accountability

C — Courage and Compassion

T — Time allocation

Take action — rolling up your sleeves and doing the work and making sure those around you see that you are doing it- like the mantra of Nike — ‘Just do it! Practice what you preach and that will have a positive affect on others.

Be accountable for yourself but most importantly for your team — never abdicate responsibilities and always have your team's back, even if you are not the direct source of problems or issues — have a backbone and be human. Don’t be a disingenuous manager who, blames others for mistakes.

This leads on to courage which is directly related to accountability. Be brave and be the voice of your people not just yourself — leaders represent the voice of their teams by proxy. Stand up for others and show you care and never back down on doing the right thing. Be compassionate with people and show your empathic nature through kind words and action. It’s not about bringing in a box of donuts once in a while — its about being there for your team through thick and thin — you are the captain of the ship — direct the ship and get everyone on board and sail together!

Lastly and most importantly give people your time. There is a phenomenon called the 5-min chat. Go to people’s desks (no matter how low in the workplace hierarchy they may be — every person has human value), stand next to them for 5-mins and ask them about their work, what they are working on or how they are — it doesn’t even have to be work related — just give people some of your time. Your job is to be there for them and lead, not sit in your office doing whatever you need to do — to please your bosses!

So like Sinek says:

‘Let us all be the leaders we wish we had’. - Simon Sinek

Now go and lead — inspire, guide, direct, align and orchestrate your leadership to help you and your teams succeed.