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Leadership Myth #1: we are all leaders

The Leadership industry should start being honest and stop wasting peoples’ time by pretending that everyone can become a leader with a bit more effort and, of course, the right training materials.

Picture credit: nicasaurusrex

The honest truth is that not everyone can be a leader; real life isn’t like Lewis Carroll’s Caucus Race, with prizes for all.

This truth shouldn’t really startle anyone, afer all where would Leaders find followers if everyone was a Leader?

By definition, leaders need followers and followers need leaders.

Notwithstanding the fundamental dyadic relationship between the two parties, which might provide leaders with followers, Leaders always need three more important dimensions to succeed:

  • Leadership quality
  • Opportunity
  • Favourable context

Quality
As far as leadership quality is concerned, you’ve either got it or you haven’t got it. For sure some people seem to find leadership effortless while others have to work at it. But at the end of the day, you can’t polish a turd. Harsh words? Perhaps, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Opportunity
It doesn’t matter how good a leader you might be, if you never get the chance to demonstrate leadership. In some organisations leadership opportunities are rarer than hen’s teeth, while other organisations may present opportunities at every turn – provided you know what a leadership opportunity looks like when it stares you in the face (see leadership quality above).

Context
But the killer factor for leadership is always, repeat always, the benefit of a favourable context.

Whoa there! I can hear some of you saying; what about a great leader like Ernest Shackleton, where was the favourable context that sealed his reputation as one of the greatest Leaders of all time?

I appreciate that Shackleton struggled against overwhelming odds to gain the survival of his crew in incredibly adverse circumstances but I contend that the very extreme nature of their adversity actually created a far more favourable context for Shackleton’s leadership than might have been the case if his crew hadn’t been in such a dire life or death situation.

Here truly was a natural leader who seized the leadership opportunity and succeeded by dint of translating disastrous circumstances, perhaps unwittingly,  into a favourable context for successful leadership.

So why do I think the Leadership industry is not being honest?

Because I have yet to hear them admit the importance of the success factors outlined above (leadership quality; opportunity and context).

Instead they put far too much emphasis on personal skills development and leave their customers blithely wondering why their leadership isn’t working.

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  • Tom Thomson

    I think leadership opportunities are rather more frequent than you suggest in most organisations – unless you make the common mistake of assuming that a leader must be in a management position. A natural leader will find that opportunities to lead make themselves – he will find followers springing up around him even when he is trying neither to lead nor to manage.

    I also think that that particular mistake is one of the worst aspects of the “leadership” industry – they sell course on basic management techniques as courses on leadership, which is of course the last thing they are.

  • http://getstimulustoday.com Matches Malone

    In my high school government class we explored this concept as well. Of course, Mr. Bennett is probably retired by now…. :) Wow, flashback. Ok, what were we talking about? You don’t know? Well, then neither do I!!!

    The reality of the situation is there’s a 3rd type of person that sees where the leaders are leading, and who the followers are following, and chooses to do neither. Instead, he blazes a trail, and lets others decide if it’s a good idea or not. It is these people that are truly at the forefront of innovation….

    Which is why I always cringe when I hear the term leader, in any context. So, you might be right. However, you are also wrong.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/annievmuller Annie Muller

    No 2 people will likely agree on the definition of leadership. We will all agree to disagree in the end on this subject. We all have perceptions and opinions of what defines/makes or breaks a leader. It isn’t about followers, how much $ we earn or what titles we have. The myriad of leadership books, training, education, and how tos are bountiful, but if you take a closer look and deeper dive at the leadership teachings and writings of authors like the Patrick Lencionis’s of the world, there are a few common threads. The common thread that makes a leader is a servant leadership – humble, honest, visionary enough to admit no one person can do it all.

    Are you looking at a servant leader or a self-serving leader who is nothing more than a trophy title symbol with an extra large ego.

    So if we are serving others in whatever way we know how based on our innate or learned talents, then yes we are all leaders. It’s counter intuitive thinking, but just because I don’t have the Bill Gates/Microsoft follower mentality does not mean I or anyone else cannot lead.

    We are all capable of leading. Yet we cross intersections where discernment is key, but where we often miss the ride. Opportunity is about discerning when to take action and when not to take action which sometimes require deliberate intentionality and thought.

    When we realize we’ve taken a wrong turn, there is a degree of magnitude and sensitivity to adjusting the course back on the right track.

    We need to see others not with follower/lead mentality and but as people who come together for a greater purpose than just the ‘self’. At such an intersection it is a mentor/student relatonship where one guides and influences the other for meaning with greater purpose.

    I look at leadership with different color lenses. It’s a journey not a final destination. There are varying degrees and level to which we step into and out of, hopefully for the right reasons and with meaningful results.

  • Mark Dalton

    The question I have about real Leaders is how many people in Leadership positions are natural Leaders. You will often find in Multi-Nationals or Politics that more often than not it is the Follower who ends up leading the company.

    Why I hear you ask?

    Well a natural leader will always be true to thier own beliefs and follow the path they believe will produce the best result. the follower will accept the route of least resistence.

    Now ask yourself how often do the “Nay Sayers” in a team get pushed to one side and the “Yes people” are promoted by the “current” leader.

    Have a look at all the Prime Ministers of Europe and show me a dynamic leader. How many of these so called leaders will last the course and would the Global economy be in its current state if Political Leaders had led and the Followrs had not followed.

  • Richard Hathway

    I used to believe that I too could become Bill Gates or Richard Branson.

    After all, there are thousands of self-help books out there which tell me this.

    I have worked at MANY firms over the years, often close to the CEO level.
    I could imagine becoming one of those CEOs .. but looking back they weren’t REAL leaders.

    However one day I started work at a firm which was run by a Gates / Branson personality.

    It was then that I realised that leaders are born not made. These people are NOT like us. Those self help books are plain wrong .. well almost.

    Sure, ‘positive thinking’ WILL allow you to get top jobs and earn good money … BUT … it will NOT make you into a Davos invitee business leader.

    Most of us can do very well in life … BUT … that does NOT mean that we can all become Leaders.

    Just saying that “Anyone can become a Leader” does not make it so.

  • Pablo Reig

    The leader has a vision and a mission, he has the tools to make things happen and uses them. Wise enough to delegate most of the work onto the right people: those who will deliver. Wise enough to determine who those people are and what are the best possible decisions. Repeated success or repeated disaster recovery will then make him become a LEADER.
    While Rome’s fall began when its rulers started adopting oriental leadership habits, germanic tribes got to mine the eternal empire. Sir Robert Graves reminds us that “barbaric” leadership was based on how good the king was in convincing his nobles on these two premises:
    -I am the king, I had a problem to solve and you have the solution, therefore our success will depend on how good you are in making it happen.
    -I am the king, this has to be done and big honor will go to the enlightened leader that brings success.
    If a germanic king had temptations to govern by his own lights and by direct orders he would be near from reaching the divine right of having his skull as the main toy for a football match.

  • Ian

    I have really had enough of the leadership focus so prevalent in academia. Give me some decent managers and I’m a happy bunny.

  • Diane McWade

    Leadership role models are not confined to the workplace.

    Mothers, Fathers, Aunts, Mentors, friends often have the opportunity and context to lead. And we all learn from that. These people can lead instinctively to set us on the right path.

    However, I do agree that leadership is an innate quality rather than a taught process. Those who have it, though, can always improve through learning.

  • http://www.leanitblog.com Nick

    A couple of key points on the subject.

    1. Leaders are people who others choose to follow vs. managers or administrators who you are forced to follow.

    2. You cannot assume a leadership role unless there are people willing to follow. If you are in a group of Type-A personalities, chances are that none of them wants to be a follower.

    3. You are not born with leadership skills. You are born with personality traits and abilities that can facilitate the development of Leadership skills. Some people are willing to follow a person with specific personality traits but that doesn’t necessarily make you a leader.

    4. Being a leader isn’t necessarily a good thing. Adolf Hitler was a very effective leader but he certainly wasn’t a “good” leader.

    5. It is hard to lead if you don’t know where you want to go. Leaders by nature are very decisive and getting them to change course is difficult (even if they are implementing a strategy that is doomed to fail).

    6. There are few opportunities to learn leadership skills unless you are pre-selected and groomed (usually because of your personality) in a university, a company, or the military. You can also learn leadership skills from parents or acquaintances. The school system teaches conformity and inhibits the development of leadership skills.