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So a co-worker forwarded me this article about trust in managers this morning, and it's got me thinking about leadership.
Business is hardly the only environment in which there seems to be growing gulf between "leaders" and the people they are ostensibly "leading." I would say that trust in politicians is at an all-time low if I didn't see it keep dropping. Managers and executives are increasingly seen as mercenary jackals in sharp suits, with MBAs from distinguished institutions. As a Roman Catholic, I often find the edicts of the Pope and the Curia to be pretty deeply different from my own convictions.
Is this new? Am I living in the modern equivalent of the reign of Caligula? Why is it that, with the unprecedented understanding of psychology and the wealth of information we have today, leaders Just Don't Get It?
I started writing my start-up meta-plan (plan of how to plan a start-up) over the weekend, and trust-building is explicitly part of it. To me, it seems pretty apparent that a leader whose followers don't trust them isn't going to achieve much, either towards their own vision (if they have one) or towards the (often inchoate or unarticulated) vision of the group they are "leading." Plenty of others have said it; I'm hardly such a genius as to be the first to discover something so fundamental.
Is there something about the experience of being a leader that draws leaders into their own little world? I suspect there is, and that it's ego. Ego alone doesn't seem sufficient, though: some seem to become downright delusional (Kim Jong-Il, we're all looking at you!), and behave to all external appearances utterly irrationally.
I've considered going into politics at some point, but frankly, I'm not sure I'm strong enough to resist this. For so many people to have succumbed to whatever this force is, it must be substantial. I want to do good, but if I become just another example of the kind of leader I'm hoping to displace, I've merely worsened the overall situation, both for myself and for everyone else.
Just a collection of thoughts. Final notes:
a) Yes, I know that not all leaders are "like that." It's just that there are an alrming supply of highly visible ones.
b) Please don't comment to bash specific leaders or (especially) all leaders.
Business is hardly the only environment in which there seems to be growing gulf between "leaders" and the people they are ostensibly "leading." I would say that trust in politicians is at an all-time low if I didn't see it keep dropping. Managers and executives are increasingly seen as mercenary jackals in sharp suits, with MBAs from distinguished institutions. As a Roman Catholic, I often find the edicts of the Pope and the Curia to be pretty deeply different from my own convictions.
Is this new? Am I living in the modern equivalent of the reign of Caligula? Why is it that, with the unprecedented understanding of psychology and the wealth of information we have today, leaders Just Don't Get It?
I started writing my start-up meta-plan (plan of how to plan a start-up) over the weekend, and trust-building is explicitly part of it. To me, it seems pretty apparent that a leader whose followers don't trust them isn't going to achieve much, either towards their own vision (if they have one) or towards the (often inchoate or unarticulated) vision of the group they are "leading." Plenty of others have said it; I'm hardly such a genius as to be the first to discover something so fundamental.
Is there something about the experience of being a leader that draws leaders into their own little world? I suspect there is, and that it's ego. Ego alone doesn't seem sufficient, though: some seem to become downright delusional (Kim Jong-Il, we're all looking at you!), and behave to all external appearances utterly irrationally.
I've considered going into politics at some point, but frankly, I'm not sure I'm strong enough to resist this. For so many people to have succumbed to whatever this force is, it must be substantial. I want to do good, but if I become just another example of the kind of leader I'm hoping to displace, I've merely worsened the overall situation, both for myself and for everyone else.
Just a collection of thoughts. Final notes:
a) Yes, I know that not all leaders are "like that." It's just that there are an alrming supply of highly visible ones.
b) Please don't comment to bash specific leaders or (especially) all leaders.
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How does someone become a leader or gain a leadership position?
What puts a person in that position or give someone that power?
(NOT how does someone gain leadership characteristics or become a good leader.)
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One becomes a leader in, I suggest, one of three ways:
* Assumption of leadership (by oneself)
* Election to leadership (by those led)
* Elevation to leadership (by another leader)
I won't presume to jump ahead in your thought process and comment further.
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I would lump non-democratic systematic selection in with elevation, as it's brought about through rules which were created by organizational leaders, but any way we categorize it, your point about leaders not necessarily being personally selected is well taken.
Do you have an example of chance selection? I can't think of one offhand.
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I still think they are different selection methods.
Haven't you ever been in the right place at the right/wrong time doing something and suddenly discovered that there are people following you and looking to you as a leader for no particular reason other than you were there? That happens to Draco and I with disturbing regularity.
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2: Different categorization scheme recognized; I think we can still discuss it profitably.
3: Ah, I see. I think I got the wrong idea from the word "chance" then. I think that's a matter of de facto election: people have chosen to follow that person as a leader, regardless of whether they wanted that or not.
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I agree with your point here, that there are quite a few people who want it their way, which is kind of what I was getting at in talking about ego.
I'll be interested to read at greater length.
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Where are leaders getting the information they are operating on, the parameters for their world?
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If the information you get is the information you ask for--especially if it's the information you ask for from people who have worked with you for a while and think they know what you want--you're likely to start get a very homogenous and self-reinforcing point of view.
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From:
Interrogation is fun
Do you think you are a Leader or Leader material?
Do you think you would do well in a Leadership position?
Do you want to be a Leader or in a Leadership position?
Do you want to be In Charge?
And for fun we have the ever present... Why?
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Re: Interrogation is fun
I will say, though, that the phrase "Leader material" sticks in my craw a little.
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Re: Interrogation is fun
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Re: Interrogation is fun
I'm learning to be a Leader. I'm getting to know what I am and am not good at in terms of fulfilling leadership roles, and am considering how to find or construct a position that will fit me well. A large part of it seems to consist of surrounding myself with people unlike me who fill in my weaknesses with their strengths.
I want to do things well, and I like the idea of being a Leader. I don't however, want to be a Leader so much that I would be content with being a poor or mediocre one.
I like being In Charge of things that I think are important, but not of everything.
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