“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
One inspires courage in times of deep unrest, uncertainty, and disruption.
One demands performance by permeating and enforcing ideas and methods that must never be questioned or challenged.
One advocates values by bridging culture and innovation through the spirit of teamwork.
One associates progress with increasing bottom line and ROI.
We’ve all had our share of feelings like sheep led to the slaughter, blinded by poor judgement, petty prejudices, and shoddy decision making, where we have placed our corporate trust in leaders driven by self-esteem and ego who have let many of us down.
Ineffective bosses are rampant, virulent, and ubiquitous. The ones with the audacity and attitude to keep plummeting a sinking ship until everyone drowns. The kind who believe, in archetypal Lankan fashion, that if one stumbles, one ought to drag all and sundry with them.
Walk with me in hell
Horrible bosses (the movies weren’t half bad, right?) will always further their personal agendas and advance their lacklustre management shenanigans at the risk of creating a toxic environment for others to work in.
Those top-brass dilettantes affect the consistency of workflow and productivity of the workforce with short-term goals of self-benefit and zero long-term vision of organisational growth.
Those men and women who step over boundaries by exploiting employees and stakeholders through micromanagement, bullying, targeting anyone they are threatened by and causing irrefutable stress and anxiety across the gamut of the organisation. There are those who are manipulative physically, by means of sexual gaslighting and gratification, and those who are psychologically and emotionally abusive.
A bad boss can destroy a company – like a cancer that spreads malignantly and noxiously – from inside out.
Whether you are an inventor, an innovator, entrepreneur, business partner, proprietor, a CEO, COO, or a manager, it matters very little how brilliant or experienced you are, or how professionally or academically qualified you are, if you possess a poor understanding of team dynamics and organisational values, ignore customer needs, do not treat vendors with respect, and disregard how important it is to set an inspirational benchmark for those who you manage, and work for you and with you.
Ineffectual leadership triggers negativity, disengages employees, and reduces productivity, resourcefulness, and optimal performance.
Why? Because a horrible boss cares not for the professional development needs or wellbeing of others, but rather focuses primarily and secondarily only on their own wellbeing and advancement, and surrounds themselves with sycophants, bootlickers, and yes – men and women at all times.
They will choose to ignore the depletion of valuable resources, be it time, human capital, or physical assets. More oft than not, they are apt to ignore current trends due to short-sightedness and conceitedness, propelling greater insult to injury, as opposed to finding solutions to problems, nor will they let anyone else fix any of the problems either. It’s the proverbial “kana gonata denneth naha” motto.
‘Why you gotta be so bad?’
So why does this happen? Why is it allowed to happen over and over again?
Ineffectual management, while grossly overrated, will never take responsibility or accountability for any issue that may prop up. Too great is the burden to shoulder such pressure.
Many will deviate from facing challenges, instead building a bulwark to cower behind, letting others face the brunt of the consequences and repercussions. This could be due to the lack of ability to take any criticism, or humility to own up to a mistake.
Insecurities are also paramount. There are many in leadership designations and roles who use their positions of power to abuse their authority and status. Little are they concerned about contextually evaluating the present health and future condition of the company; their main focal point rather is to indulge in opportunistic traits and when threatened by anyone who works harder than them, will pole-axe the threat and replace them in a heartbeat.
They believe they are indispensable, while others are not as valuable, and thus easily replaceable.
Uninspiring leaders are bound to misapply and abuse their authority, power and exploit their employees, customers, and organisation. Some cannot handle positions of authority. Some choose to play God and resort to an “it’s either my way or the highway” shtick.
There is no cure for egocentric grandiosity in a world where processes take precedence over people. Where politics take prominence over good corporate sense. Where vanity takes the top spot over values.
In or out
We see in a pandemic world how more businesses must adapt strenuously to align themselves to the disruptions posed by the rapid advent and advancements of technology: be it big data, AI, IoT, robotics and machine learning, cloud and edge systems, blockchain, autonomous vehicles, drone technology, genomic and gene editing, cyber security, and social media.
However the paradox lies in the fact that these future trends need to be coupled with logic, aptitude, good sense, moral fibre, and an indefatigable appreciation for one another.
No more is there B2B and B2C, but H2H in the corporate jungle.
The old ways are ushered out into the ether of nostalgic forgetfulness, and we welcome new methods, mechanisms, and means, creating new value networks.
It’s prudent that we stay up to date and on par with the relevant innovations and pivotal frameworks that alters how industries, consumers and businesses operate. This is a given. Yet the bedrock of it all needs to be how we respect, treat and value people.
Difference and indifference
A leader inspires. A manager slave-drives.
Leadership deals with understanding people to bring out the best in them.
Management deals with administering processes to ensure people follow protocol and stay in line.
Good leadership celebrates hard work, compliments ideas belonging to others while encouraging teamwork.
Good management is knowing when to press the right buttons to get your ideas worked on.
Great leadership is knowing when to give credit to others, how to inspire courage and confidence when the chips are down and times are tough, and encouraging passionate people to find purpose and make mistakes so they can learn from them and become better.
Great management is knowing how to get your work done on time, no matter what the cost, and a focus on increasing bottom line and shareholder value.
The many faces of inspiration
Leadership can inspire people through empathy: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden dealt with the coronavirus pandemic and consistently communicated with her people, not just hosting Facebook Live sessions, but “checking in” on everyone regularly and building harmony through trust and unity.
Leadership through patience and dedication: Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically-elected President faced insurmountable hardship and bigotry, and achieved ending apartheid through a commitment to showcase that fighting for equality and freedom in a peaceful demonstrative transformative way can bring about significant change.
Leadership through camaraderie: Foreman Luis Urzúa helped 33 men caved-in after a San Jose copper-gold mine collapsed, trapping them 700 m underground. Luis was quick to act and help everyone cope with the mental stress, making detailed maps of the service area, and co-ordinated with engineers on the surface for rescue efforts.
Leadership through politics: What better example for political leadership than Eleanor Roosevelt? Eleanor was a politician, then the first lady of the US, a diplomat, journalist, the United States Delegate to the UN for seven years, and an activist. She advocated civil rights for African and Asian Americans, the rights of WWII refugees, and fought to empower women to have a greater role in society.
Leadership through strategy and non-violence: Martin Luther King, until his assassination in 1968, was the quintessential leader in the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His “I have a dream” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom still resonates with people to this day, emboldening others to continue on paths of meaningful activism in peaceful non-violent protests for greater reform and change.
Leadership through vision and fortitude: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Heryl Sandberg, Netflix Co-Founder/CEO Reed Hastings, Tencent Inc. Founder and President Pony Ma, entrepreneur genius Richard Branson, or Elon Musk – the Cleantech Entrepreneur and Inventor of SpaceX, Paypal, and Tesla – all have charisma, personality and interactive skills with employees, stakeholders, and the public, inspiring superior performances and unmatched loyalty.
Leadership for enlightenment and the betterment of humanity: Albert Einstein is the most famous physicist of the 20th Century. His profound impact on our understanding of the universe, time, light, and gravity is immense. He said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Few and far between
True leaders persevere with dreams and visions in spite of their circumstances, even achieving extraordinary feats when all odds are stacked against them. A true leader will always inspire, empower, and influence others to act in meaningful ways, passionately and with purpose, and inspire change.
He or she will always have your back, standing in your corner, and have the courage to fight battles on your behalf, comprehending how integral the concept of “we” is, over “me”.
Leaders are selfless, embody humility, value honesty, nurture patience, and reward hard work, knowing to listen without condescension. To never rebuke and reject ideas. They will always be willing to adapt and learn in order to grow and become better versions of themselves. Good bosses are hard to come by. Great leaders are few and far between.
Which are you?