As is often the case, I read about leadership and think about what kind of leader I want to be, and what kind of leadership I have experienced. A leader and a captain are different than a supervisor or boss. Managing, supervising and leading are all different. Lots of managers and supervisors totally stink it up when it comes to leading. Lots of subordinates have excellent leadership qualities.
The quote below is the last couple paragraphs of a post. You need to read the whole post to understand why me quoting the last couple paragraphs is poor leadership in action… (It will take 3 to 5 minutes to read the post. I bet you’re debating if you should do it. Well – - What kind of leader do you want to be? What kind of leader do you want to follow?)
The very worst leaders demand to be fed a diet of simplified information that will never, ever, question their biases and preconceptions, or force them to think beyond their immediate levels of prejudice.
Simplistic, black-and-white thinking produces poor leadership. It is becoming more common, not because leaders are generally declining in quality, but because more are being denied the time to do their jobs properly. Slowing down, sorting out proper work priorities, and delegating correctly usually provide a complete cure. If that still doesn’t work, you have the wrong person in a leadership role.
Source: Slow Leadership: Seeing in Black and White
UPDATE: Selected some better wording and adjusted some paragraph breaks.
Filed under: Leadership, Listening, Perspective, Writing
