Five just plain wrong notions about leadership

On occasion I find myself startled at hearing a persistent wrong notion that just won’t go away. These notions are sometimes overheard in informal conversation, but sometimes they are offered in lectures or presentations. I don’t doubt that the people who express these notions believe them—even if they are just plain wrong.

Here are five notions related to leadership, three of which I heard recently in one form or another:

1. Leadership is about having and exerting power and authority. That may be true if one equates leadership with despotism. But the nature of leadership is about making it possible for people to commit to the same vision, embrace mutual corporate values, and work together toward shared goals for the benefit of all. As such, leadership is more about one’s capacity to influence the system than it is about bossing people. And despite any appeal to authority it remains true that one can only lead the willing.

2. Your personality determines your capacity for leadership. I heard this wrong notion most recently in discussions during a search for a corporate leader. Several persons on the search committee expressed reservations about one candidate because of that person’s introverted tendencies. One person expressed the importance of having a charismatic personality at the helm. Leadership is about providing the function the system needs of the person occupying the position of the leader (the “L” position). That function depends on several factors: context, life cycle of the organization, stages (transition, developmental, crises, etc.), and the mission and goals of the organization. No one person can provide everything the organization needs of a leader, but the leader needs to always provide what the position of the leader requires.

3. Leadership is about changing the organization or system. The leader as “change agent” remains a pervasive idea. While leaders of necessity need to deal with change, and in some cases bring about change (developmental, procedural, managerial, cultural, attitudinal, etc.) it is also true that we must balance our ideas about change with the reality of the nature of homeostasis in organizations. I think at best an effective leader brings about the changes necessary for his or her time in the position of leader in the organization. Those changes need to focus on helping the organization function better (healthier) in carrying out its mission and purpose. A leader whose idea about change is to create an organization in his or her own image is in for a ton of resistance, sabotage, and ultimate failure.

4. Leadership requires knowledge and intelligence. Why this belief remains pervasive is a puzzle. The notion that the primary quality of leadership is expertise totally ignores the reality that leadership is more an emotional-relational function than it is a cognitive-logical one. Certainly we desire our leaders to be intelligent and knowledgeable, and the best ones often are. But the most effective leaders are those who understanding and function within the emotional process flux of their organizations and relationships. They do not mistake knowing with doing, or communicating with connecting.

5. People will follow the leader they need. Cesar Millan, the “Dog Whisperer,” states that the human species is the only one whose members follow a dysfunctional leader. The greatest challenge to leadership is the fact that anxious organizations rarely seek out, or have the capacity to listen to, the leaders they need. There is no end to the examples of the fate of prophets whose messages are never received in their time. A prophet is recognized as such after the fact, “Huh. I guess he was right. We should have listened to him!” Systems in crises want to be rescued, and they’ll follow anyone who promises deliverance, when what they need is to be challenged to responsibility. Systems in pain want to be healed, and they’ll listen to anyone who promises comfort, when what they need is toughness.

From, Perspectives on Congregational Leadership: Applying Systems Theory for Effective Leadership, by Israel Galindo. Check out the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog.