7 signs of weak leadership 📎
↩️UNFOLLOW University — August 18, 2023
Happy Friday!
For every “sexy” brand or product I’ve had the privilege of working on, I’ve also had my share of failures. I love showing people highlights of my work on Patron, Nike and Apple but I’m not as quick to replay the bloopers from businesses that no longer exist like RadioShack, Liz Claiborne and Footaction.
Sometimes remembering failure can be the secret to preventing it.
❓I remember the questionable decisions that accelerated low morale, layoffs and lost profit.
👈🏻 I remember the blame that bounced around from sales to marketing to product and back.
🤐 I remember the “silent treatment” as senior execs became escape artists - abandoning inboxes, canceling meetings and hiding in their offices.
🪦 Most of all, I remember the lack of leadership among people I considered good leaders.
Good leadership was plentiful when business results were good. But strong leaders turned scarce when business results were weak. As failure became the forecast their focus shifted from problem-solving to problem-avoidance.
So here’s the $370 billion question: Why do so many competent, motivated people become such weak leaders?
Because motivation and competence can’t substitute for courage.
Motivation is the will to start. Courage is the commitment to not quit.
Competence is a measure of performance. Courage is a measure of resistance.
The teams were talented. We didn’t need newer, smarter or more motivated leaders to step up and save the day. We needed tired, uncertain, uncomfortable leaders to sit down and be real.
We needed leaders to be human, not heroes. We got neither.
🤯 Radical Truth
Knowing how to lead effectively is not the same as being an effective leader.
Today, I can see with clarity things that seemed so confusing back then. The presence of weak leadership was a bigger threat than the absence of strong leaders.
Each year we spend more than $370 billion globally on leadership development programs, books, articles and classes to crack the code on how to successfully guide human organizations to a desired goal.
More often than not, they fail. Why?
Because people don't like change. Both managers and direct reports are naturally resistant to change. The lack of quality leadership in an organization is not a knowledge problem. Yet, leadership training is 3 times more effective at teaching knowledge than it is in changing behavior.
Change is often messy, inconvenient, unpredictable and uncomfortable. And leading people through it is one of the most critical and challenging skills on this planet. Aside from parenthood - which has many similarities - there aren't many positions that universally possess equal amounts of hope and horror.
Courage is more than a mindset or belief. It’s a process that informs a set of behaviors and skills that can be learned.
Diagnosing your leadership strengths and weaknesses doesn’t have to happen in hindsight after failure. With foresight and honest introspection, we can learn to adjust to conditions and shift how we respond to adversity.
I’m living proof. 🙋🏾♂️
⚡️Courageous Question
Would I want to work for a leader like myself? Why or why not?
🗣 Wonderful Words
“It is not fear that stops you from doing the brave and true thing in your daily life. Rather, the problem is avoidance. You want to feel comfortable so you avoid doing or saying the thing that will evoke fear and other difficult emotions. Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run but, it will never make you less afraid.
🙏🏽 Prayer Package
God, my weakness becomes strength when I give it to you. You know my frailties, frustrations, flaws and shortcomings. Instead of taking them away, today, will you show me how to place them in your hands? I trust you to make all things new. Amen.
🎵 It’s Not Over - Israel & New Breed 🌞
🛠 Practical Tool
Ten years ago I wrote an article entitled, The Top 7 Distinctions Between Weak and Strong Leaders. To date, it remains the most popular article on my website and garners thousands of views each year with zero promotion by me.
I’d like to revisit it and share new learnings, lessons and research with UNFOLLOW University subscribers on the major distinctions between weak and strong leadership.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll cover:
Conflict - How strong leaders create clarity by embracing confrontation.
Ownership - The decisions weak leaders outsource that strong leaders rarely do.
Understanding - Knowing when to be a “team player” and when to walk alone.
Results - Identifying which events and activities distract us from delivering the right outcomes.
Alignment - Why acceptance is a strong leader’s competitive advantage and approval is a weak leader’s kryptonite.
Growth - Nurturing the necessary patterns of growth, preparation and separation in the leadership lifecycle.
Empathy - Unlocking the emotional and cultural intelligence of an entire team, even when it’s painful.
This is basically a collection of my “greatest hits” from years of leading, struggling, failing and building courageous teams that deliver real results.
I’m amped! Feel free to email me any requests or questions you’d like me to cover and I’ll try to fit them in. The things I’ve learned from so many of you have been the biggest rewards these last 6 months of UNFOLLOW University. I’m grateful.
If you’re new to UNFOLLOW University you can learn more about me here or check out my previous posts.
See you next UNFOLLOW Friday!
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Every Friday I’ll send you 5 courageous ideas to help you redesign your work life by making better career decisions:
🤯 Radical Truth - A story from me
⚡️ Courageous Question - A challenge for you
🗣 Wonderful Words - A quote worth remembering
🙏🏽 Prayer Package - A moment of meditation
🛠 Practical Tool - An actionable resource
