Slow Leadership: Practicing Restraint
Some snippets are quoted here. I added the bold. I believe in leadership. I don’t believe in figure-heads.
“Restraint isn’t usually seen as a leadership virtue, especially today, when headlong action is typically rewarded. But doing something isn’t very difficult. Doing the right thing (and knowing what that is) is far harder. When leaders rush into action, goaded by impatient bosses or investors or misinterpreting their real role, the likelihood of making unnecessary errors is far greater than the chance of getting anything right.”
“The proper role of senior managers is twofold: to set a direction and purpose for the organization, and to provide the means for their subordinates to achieve it. No decision should ever reach senior levels if it can be handled effectively lower down. To let this happen is to waste the time of senior people and prove that those lower down are either incompetent or not being allowed to do their jobs. Too many top executives today are overburdened by making decisions that should not even reach them.”
“Executives who truly want to be more productive should start by questioning every decision they are working on: Not what the answer should be, but why the decision has reached their level at all. Subordinates who refer decisions upward without real need should be told to stop. Those who cannot handle such choices themselves should be helped to improve or find more appropriate roles. And any senior people who cannot restrain themselves enough to stop wasting their time interfering in what should not concern them directly should be fired. The last thing an organization needs is top people who cannot hold themselves back from doing the work of their subordinates.”
Technorati Tags: Leadership, Listening, Perspective
Filed under: Leadership, Listening, Perspective
