My Size Fits All - Not
I spent several hours today cruising the web looking for people with something to say about leadership. As a scholar-practitioner I was looking to discover some kind of pattern to what is “out there” on the subject.
Most of the people talking about leadership in the sites I visited fall into three categories: executives who claim success in “leading” an organization; people like me who claim to have had some success in some field of work and now consult to people who have organizational problems or needs they want to address; and professors in universities or PhD-holders in a related field working in some form of education in some kind of organization, either for- or not-for-profit.
Was It Really Leadership?
The most interesting thing about all of this, though, is how infrequently the businesspeople (and consultants) reference anything the least bit academic on the subject. They rarely discuss leadership in any particular context, or juxtapose their belief that leaders must possess “10 key leadership traits” with the current (or even historical) research about traits or anything else that might contribute to the sustained performance of effective leadership. More often than not, and almost certainly the bolder they are, they fall into the trap of the “fundamental attribution error” (Ross, 1969).
In the interest of fairness, even on this site, my past blog entries and articles were written from my point of view, as if my point of view and experience (and whatever meager insights I offered you) would perfectly fit the situation you are facing. And even worse, it wasassumed that success was a result of leadership, and in particular, the leadership of the person writing. That “my size fits all” approach is naive. It may even be arrogant. But, I assume everyone is trying to help someone else out, so I’ll stick with naive.
Rigorous Analysis or Anecdote?
The advantage of tapping into the research on the subject of leadership is that it can act as a kind of sounding board and acid test for the expertise claimed by executives. For example, a successful executive may or may not have executed leadership at all if you use James MacGregor Burns’ definition of leadership. That executive may actually have been a very, very successful manager. A strong balance sheet does not a leader make. The analysis shifts again if you consider Joe Rost’s definition. Likewise, those claiming the real-world benefits of servant leadership probably under-analyze the strong management systems that naturally underpin a successful implementation of servant leadership philosophy.
Organizational success can be achieved without much leadership at all. Or, it may be achieved with a combination of leadership and strong management, no matter whose definition we use. But, those selling leadership services and ideas pretend leadership alone created success. It surely was important, and but one element in a complex situation over time.
Anecdotes and Academics
What we really need is a combination of valid first-person experiential learning and the deep analysis that comes out of good academic work, including research. Why? Because the success stories usually underestimate the factors that fostered success, and so often even downplay the amount of work that went into their success. The story-tellers would actually be more impressive is they accounted for more of the dynamics that they (and everyone else involved) successfully addressed. A more academic analysis would help them.
Positively influencing others–the very heart of leadership (Burns, 1978)–or any attempt to affect another person’s thinking and behavior is inherently psychological, sociological, relational, and philosophical. Most stories about business success miss a great deal that went into it, even when told by the proud executive who “led” the charge.
So, when you read what’s online about leadership, look awry at it, as Simon Western says (2007). There is more, and often less, there than meets the eye.
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I’ve been collecting definitions of leadership since 1980. We’ll have to compare notes someday!
Paul