The State of Today's Leadership

Intro: 00:00

Welcome to Leaders Lift - a podcast for aspiring and existing leaders!

I'm your host, Greg Cunningham and I look forward to being a part of your leadership journey.

As part of the intial launch, today I'll be sharing my thoughts on the state of leadership today.

Intro

Leadership is a major challenge and frankly is lacking in so many key areas. We see this as companies come and go. We see it in trends like the great resignation or quiet quitting. If you look at the news recently you can see high profile examples of what different styles or types of leadership can do.

Now I'm not saying there are no leaders out there. There are. Nor am I saying that they have to be perfect because none of them aren't. But I do think we have a huge challenge in the leadership area and it might be approaching crisis level.

In the episode today I want to talk about what I see as the state of leadership today, how we got there and the impact of that leadership.

I'll also briefly about what I think we need and that will be covered in more detail in the next episode.

f Today’s Reasons to Lead -: 02:00

Let's talk a little bit about perceptions on why people want to be leaders today. I'm not trying to make an exhaustive list here, but hopefully covering a few of the reasons will give point out the general theme behind this, or at least what I consider a prevailing reason to want to be a leader today: too much focus on yourself.

These motives for leading I have seen in almost all aspects of life. They exist in business for sure, but also in politics, religion, education, non-profits and almost anything else that you can think of. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that there is a deliberate decision to choose these reasons, sometimes they just happen, and we will definitely discuss what we can do to get past these just happening (and hopefully to reduce how often folks choose these reasons to lead) in the future.

Fame and Recognition

Let's start with fame and recognition. Use whatever analogy or cliché you want here. I want my name in lights. I want the most followers/subscribers/friends/etc. Some of this motivation comes from a misconception that if no one knows my name, I'm a nobody.

All of us want to believe that we have or add value. That's pretty universal. But this assumption that unless I am famous (even if it's in a smaller circle), my value is somehow less is something that we really need to work on as a society.

The other reason this is a big deal, and this ties into the money topic later in this discussion, is the misconception that famous/rich people are way happier than I am and seem to have no problems in life. Who doesn't have days where it would be really nice to have no problems and for everything to go just the way it's supposed it. I'll let you in on a little secret - there are plenty (maybe more than their fair share) of rich, successful and famous people that are miserable and have way more problems than you know about.

It's like the comparisons you see of a social media post vs. reality. What's in the post looks awesome, but that's because it's either photoshopped or if you were to zoom out, everything around the picture is in chaos.

Is it wrong to achieve notoriety in your life. Not in and of itself. But it's in the sole or obsession with it that potential leaders really go astray. This leads to wanting to do what is popular, to avoid doing anything that could be perceived as controversial, even if it's the right thing to do and taking shortcuts in life that leaders should not be taking.

Power

Now for the second reason - the need for power or to be in control. This is another one where I think most of us want to feel like we at least have some control over our lives. That's not really a problem. But similar to fame, it's the pursuit of that power at the expense of everything else that can be a real challenge.

Leaders that want to lead just to have power tend to be focused on keeping that power at all costs. Anything that threatens their ability to hold onto power must be bad. You can see this in governments, business leaders that refuse to work with anyone that may have a difference of opinion, in churches and even down into families where you have a head of household that insists on it's my way or the highway.

See any problems with this?

I will say that I have seen a lot of leaders that got into the game for the right reasons (those will be part of our ongoing discussion). But something happens even to the best leaders when they get even a little bit of authority or power. If that tendency goes unchecked, then eventually power and control become the primary motivator and they become hard and harder to hold onto. This leads into a vicious cycle of negative reinforcement that can be very tough to break.

Need to Do Things My Way (Ego and Intellectual Superiority) and Lack of Trust

For the third reason, let's get into something a little different, yet very much related to and maybe even caused by the first two - I'm the smartest and know better than anyone else so of course we should do it my way. Some might call that arrogance, pride, ego or any number of things. It's all of those things for sure, but I also think this ties into a lack of trust.

What do I mean by that? And how might that tie into the first two. Let's just talk through a fictional scenario (even if you feel like you know this person, I've made it up). Early in life our fictional leader decided to be an entrepreneur. They had a brilliant idea that would change the world. They assembled an amazing team and a few years later sold the company for a gazillion dollars. This leader then decided they enjoyed that journey and because of their success, got offered a leadership position in a much larger, more established company. They then moved from position to position with increasing degrees of success. It wasn't long before major companies looking for their next CEO were knocking on the door.

Do you see how over time this leader could feel like they were the secret to success? If everything they touched turned to gold, then maybe it was them. This is where leaders faced an ongoing crossroad. Either they focus on leading, which is all about lifting those around them and making a difference, or they start to drink their own kool aid.

Those that take the latter road end up alone at the time with a team they don't trust to do much of anything. They feel like they have to do everything themselves, or at the very least, make sure everyone they hire is willing to do things they way they want and just execute on their ideas.

At this point, you are probably saying to yourself, this is absolutely not the kind of leader I want to work for. I agree. Which is why I think we are facing a bigger leadership challenge than most are willing to admit.

Money

And finally, let's talk about money. Ever seen the Richard Pryor movie Brewster's Millions. (QUICK SUMMARY)

Money doesn't solve all problems. Money doesn't mean a lack of problems. In fact it can cause way more problems.

I'm not saying all of these are always bad and if you have any of them, you are not a good leader. What is important is that these reasons (if they exist - and most of us have a need for money in our lives), they take a back seat to the real reason to lead - which is to lift others and make a difference (get used to hearing that).

How We Got to This Point -: 12:48

So what got us to this point? There are a lot of potential factors and when you find an organization or individual struggling with leadership, it's most likely a combination of things. Again, I'm not trying to make an exhaustive list here. I think there are a few high level categories. There are also a few areas where I can give benefit of the doubt and then others where there is probably very little room for excuses.

I'll Give Benefit of the Doubt for These

Circumstances

Forced in to leadership without experience or training

Founders

Those that have great ideas and just drive them forward

Hyper Growth companies

Sometimes circumstances just drive explosive growth for a company. In those circumstances it can be hard to focus on leadership training and development when all you are doing is trying to hire enough to keep up with the growth.

What happens often there are that outstanding individual contributors or managers get thrust into leadership positions whether they are ready or not.

Small Businesses

Struggle to stay afloat eclipses leadership learning and training

If I think of my own business, I struggle to consider using resources on anything that doesn't have a pretty quick ROI and I'm just me. If I'm a small business that has enough employees where leadership of others is essential I may not even think about getting myself training due to time constraints or cost.

(by the way, if you find yourself in any of these circumstances, reach out to me on our website. I can help).

Training

No management training

No leadership training

I do keep those two things separate. I'm a firm believer that there is a distinct difference between management and leadership. I'm sure I'll cover that another time but anyone that believes they are a great leader because they are a great manager is missing part of the equation.

In order to be an outstanding leader, I think you need to have both types of training. You need to be good enough as a manager and then focus on developing and polishing the additional leadership skills.

Ineffective training

I think the biggest problem here is that there is either a lack of vision for leadership training or that the training really becomes a list of tasks to check off.

Examples

At two of the major companies I have worked for, I got deliberate management or leadership training. At one we had a plan and it was tied into our desired company culture. All managers were expected to go through the training. What I think was missing there was more accountability for demonstrating the principles and showing the results. The training was good and I learned a lot.

At the other company, our EVP was very focus on making sure we got management and leadership training. We were in the hyper growth mode I mentioned above. I was put into a management position with zero experience and then eventually was the leader over half of the organization. Our leader, and she was a leader, had a deliberate plan. Trainings were designed to addressed gaps in our management and leadership skill sets. We invested the time and were expected to apply the principles and demonstrate the results. It's fair to say I learned more in my time in this organization than I have the rest of my career.

Lack of Vision

Without a vision of what kind of leadership is best for your organization, you can get caught up in the latest fad or trendy book or something similar.

Don't start training potential leaders until they get into a leadership position.

A lot of damage can be done before they get any significant training and implement it.

Throw concepts at the wall and see what sticks

There is no accountability. People attend the training (sort of in today's world of remote work) and then check that off their list and just go back to doing things they way they believe they should.

Task List Approach

Focus more on legal/compliance aspects

Not enough time investment

Lack of application (in one ear and out the other)

No follow up

No connection to results

Leaders have more responsibilities

More direct reports as companies flatten leadership hierarchies

I think we are seeing some of this in the current economy. Leadership roles seem to be high on the chopping block. It's hard to cut back programmers if you are a software company but you can flatten out the leadership structure and just expect more of your leaders.

This in and of itself is not a bad thing. But if you combine that with a lack of training and support, good luck.

Broader scope of ownership

Need to always be growing the company. This is not necessarily my area of expertise as I'm not a financial analyst but it seems that growth is the biggest focus of the market. It's not what have you done but what are you going to do. If that is the focus, then leaders get more projects and initiatives than maybe they would if there wasn't such a focus on explosive growth.

As I mentioned above, if you combine this with a lack of training or support (and more direct reports) and you could be setting most leaders up for failure.

Harder to Give Benefit of the Doubt

Pursuit of prosperity

Let's just get this out of the way right up front. I'm not allergic to financial prosperity. I think we all believe that the kind of salary the top leaders make would be nice to have. Where I think we run into problems from a leadership standpoint is when those salaries are our goal or are what drive us. When that is the case, some of our decisions may not be made in the right way for the right reasons. Just as an example: if I'm the CEO of a public company and my compensation is heavily weighted towards a target stock price and I'm motivated by money there is a good chance that my decision making tendency would be to do those things that impress shareholders and the financial markets.

Again, this is a general example but hopefully you can see where this would lead.

The flip side of this: if I'm not motivated by money but I'm more motivated by the mission or the culture of an organization then my decisions could be very different.

There is a famous story of a shareholders meeting where shareholders were complaining about some of the more social goals and initiatives where the company was spending a tremendous amount of money. The CEO's response was that if you didn't believe in those initiatives then you should probably change your stock position.

Polarization

I don't want to dive deep into this here as there are more than enough examples in the world today in business, politics, communities, etc.

The problem with a polarized leader is that they could be set in their ways and not really open to new ideas, changes, or anything that doesn't align with their point of view.

Just think about how much better our world would be if we were all open to the idea that there are difference of opinion, that it's ok to agree to disagree and that we need to work together to move forward.

Attributes

Huge Egos

Lack of humility

I'm the boss so I must know best

Stop learning

I think this is the biggest problem when it comes to ego. Once someone stops learning because they think they know best, they are going to stop growing. In theory this would work fine in an organization that doesn't face any new problems.

I think we saw organizations run into this during the pandemic. It was an unprecedented problem that almost no leaders today had ever encountered. Remote work, supply chain disruption, constant change of guidance and regulations, etc. all contributed to a very unique situation. Some business all of a sudden had to deal with growth because they made this new situation manageable. Other companies found ways to pivot to take advantage of it (think about shifting manufacturing to cleaning supplies). But we also know a lot of organizations just went away.

Lack of compassion

Treating people as disposable assets

Not realizing or caring about the impact your decisions make on others

Sometimes this is because they are insulated from the impact of their decisions. The rich and powerful can do some pretty dumb things and still be rich and powerful. If the rest of us were to do those same things, it would ruin us.

Impatience

No focus on or vision for the long term

This is not about the latest founder or huge idea but more about focusing on short term gains instead of the long term vision that would be extraordinary

Working hard = effectiveness

I see this over and over again. And we have seen it very publicly with a high profile company. The idea that the harder I work (more hours, less rest, etc.) the better things will get is just not valid. I don't know how many times we need to see studies to realize that this is not a sustainable model.

Too Easily Influenced

There is a balance here because leaders need to be open to new ideas, the ideas and perspectives of others and be willing to course correct as needed. That being said, if as a leader I'm jump at every latest trend, listening to only those that shout the loudest or even just trying to take the easy route all the time, then I need to find some courage and gain some confidence. That also means the leader probably doesn't have much of a vision. If the vision was there, all of these things would be evaluated against that vision.

Lack of Courage

This is where folks are unwilling to stand up (alone if necessary) and do the right thing

This could also include a lack of willingness to take risks

Lack of Accountability

I include this in the hard to give benefit of the doubt section because as a leader, I should be able to influence accountability. After all, I can control my own actions an reactions.

Wrong metrics

Even if I report on the wrong metrics, I could also be watching and working towards the right ones.

If the metrics really are wrong, that's where influence management comes in.

Reward the wrong things

This ties into the money piece but is more than that.

This also ties into the values we hold higher than others. Sometimes those values lead us to bring in or support individuals that are just not going to lead.

Examples:

A leader is a complete jerk as a boss but because they are good at talking to the media it's ok.

???

Golden parachutes when things go wrong

This drives me crazy. I've been part of layoffs in my career and I was certainly grateful for the consideration and support that was part of those layoffs. But it is nothing like someone getting a multi-million dollar payout after they completely failed at what they were asked to do. Do we really want to continue to pay for a lack of performance.

cts of Today’s Leadership -: 30:42

So what are the impacts of the leadership challenge today? I'm not sure I could list them all if I tried. Let's just say that if we could solve even some of these challenges, we would see a big difference. In fact, you can probably see organizations that have outstanding leadership.

Let's talk about some of the key areas of impact - how does a lack of leadership impact an organization, the leader and those they lead and let's go bottom up.

First those they lead cause that's where it all starts. Those with poor leaders:

Learn the wrong lessons (unless you’re the type of person that can learn what not to do and stick around long enough). I've definitely learned what not to do from others. Not a great experience and I can't stick at it very long.

Don't engage as much as they could. This is an interesting one. Those that just want to get by will probably do just the bare minimum but those that may go a bit above and beyond will default back to the minimum if they don't work for a good leader. Those that would normally be the star performers - well, they probably won't stick around long enough. They want to be in the place of most potential and that generally is not in working for a poor leader. They don't grow nor add value so they go somewhere else.

They get burned out much more quickly. I think the modern term of quiet quitting applies here. They may not walk away (especially in an unsure economy) but you won't get their best (as we discussed a minute ago).

Those that are willing to keep working hard end up spinning their wheels. If the leader doesn't have a consistent vision and is too easily influenced, those they lead end up chasing the proverbial rabbit down the hole.

They will feel out of balance and too often get treated like disposable resources so it doesn't really matter if they have work life balance or not (at least to the "leader").

Now let's talk about some of the impacts on the leader themselves

Many of them suffer from a lack of focus (unless it's one of the lower priorities like $$$). This makes it way to easy to get distracted by the latest and greatest (trends, books, theories, perceived opportunities, shareholder demands, etc.). If they don't have a true north start, then who knows where they will go?

This makes it way to easy to focus on short term gains at the expense of the long-term. This could be the demands of shareholders a downturn in business or thinking the grass may be greener elsewhere. This can quickly lead to taking the easiest path instead of the more difficult but more rewarding (or even right) one.

Both of these items can lead to a focus on solving the wrong problem. In fact, in many cases these kinds of leaders don't even identify the right problem to solve. They find the easiest, the most obvious or the one someone else points out. If they do identify the root cause problem, a focus on temporary fixes is not uncommon.

One of the worst things I have seen leaders with a combination of these challenges do is to treat people as disposable resources. Whether it be unrealistic demands of time or mental energy or anything else that implies that the job, organization or the leader's ideas are more important than anything else in life, it's not healthy. I'm not saying that hard work is bad but let's put it in perspective.

If these leaders are rewarded for the wrong results or behaviors then they do that with those they lead. Rewarding those that go along with every crazy idea while punishing those that dare to speak out against them is not uncommon. If the leader is out of balance either with priorities or time, then they start to expect that of those they lead.

As for the organization

Organizations with this kind of leadership tend to bleed. They bleed talent. While it may not drain them completely, they will certainly lose those that have a tremendous amount of value to add because they have proper perspective and balance. Those individuals want to be around and thrive with true leaders. They will give their best. And if you read Multipliers by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown, you will see that the best leaders actually get more out of those they lead.

A lot of these organizations also end up with a leadership carousel. Leaders come and go. Unfortunately for the organizations the best leaders tend to leave before the worst ones.

Another of the side effects is failure to meet their potential. This actually applies to the org, the leader and those they lead. Without true leadership, you may not even know what your potential really is, let alone meet it.

And then probably the ultimate impact of poor leadership is failed businesses. Maybe not shutdown (although that definitely happens), but failed projects, initiatives,

Wrap Up

I understand this is a pretty bleak picture and I don't want to be overly negative. I have seen examples of tremendous leadership at all levels. From my first mentor that gave a young kid with zero business experience a chance to become a VP or one of my more recent leaders that set the example by taking a leave of absence to reset her priorities. It's definitely out there.

For you right now, start paying attention. Look for those around you that demonstrate good leadership and those that are maybe facing some of the challenges discussed today. And maybe even more important, look within yourself and be honest about any of these challenges you are facing.  Listen to our episode on Knowing Yourself. It should be published within a couple of weeks after the initial launch of the podcast. In that episode I'll talk in depth about knowing yourself and give you some tips and tools to help you understand yourself. Knowing isn't really half the battle but if you combine it with the wisdom to know what to do with the knowledge and the tenacity to do it, well that is something.

Finally, get the right kind of help. Maybe that's this podcast. Maybe you need to read. Maybe you want some personal coaching (especially if you don't believe you will get it from your current organization). That's where I would love to be a partner in your leadership journey. If you see any of this in yourself as someone in a leadership position or if you are an aspiring leader that would like to get started on your development journey, reach out through our website.