• Services
  • Career Development Program
  • MBA
  • MBA for executives
  • Corporate training
  • Calendar
• Resources
  • Skills development
  • Team leadership
  • Intrapersonal growth
  • Interpersonal relationships
  • Trends & Analyses
  • GHP blog
• About GHP
  • Our distinctives
  • Our philosophy
  • Our clients
  • Contact us

Team Leadership:

Leadership Failure part 1 of 2

"When the leader views himself as more important than the people that helped make him successful, the end of the ability to influence in a healthy manner begins to disappear."

by Bill Lewis and Brit Boone
Mr. Lewis is founder and president of Extension Management, an international change management consulting firm. Mr. Boone is the president of GHP.

A quick visit to a bookstore or an internet retail site will produce many options for leadership books. These offerings include a range of how-to books, self-help books, and biographies of how some have led in their life and career. However, one thing that is difficult to find is helpful material on how to avoid losing leadership influence. Every leader has the potential of diminishing and even dismissing their leadership effectiveness. The wise leader will be aware of the potential pitfall of losing leadership influence and seek to avoid it.

As management and development coaches, one of the issues we see and need to address often is excessive ego. It is not uncommon for these influential people to have started from humble beginnings. Today, these men and women are reaching upper levels in government, business, religious organizations, and public as well as private companies. For these same leaders, their sphere of influence includes their work, social life, and of at least equal importance, their families. With the increase in their ability to create change, the leader's healthy confidence is subject to becoming a large ego that may further swell into excessive pride.

A primary reason for becoming overly proud or arrogant is forgetfulness. After individuals have climbed the ladder of success, many forget how they arrived at their current level. Earlier in their career they relied on others to teach and coach them, assist them in their development, provide wise counsel, etc. This forgetful leader no longer listens to subordinates, stakeholders, family members, coaches or anyone else with opposing views. While this leader may allow others an opportunity to express their viewpoint, this formality may be used as an opportunity to reply with their own idea--the better idea. This idea should, the leader may imply or state outright, replace the previously held position of the subordinate.

Forgetfulness of the importance of the team that one is seeking to lead brings about a potentially terminal disease that will ruin the leader's career, relationships, and family. This disease is egotism--an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Becoming a core value either intentionally or by default, the one seeking to lead others begins to view himself as being better, more important, and of greater intrinsic value than others including the people that make up their team. When the leader views himself as more important than the people that helped make him successful, the end of the ability to influence in a healthy manner begins to disappear.

There are seven steps that lead to the fall into egotism. Each of the steps is subtle and has different degrees of consequences. From steps two to seven, the consequences may range from making one less effective to career ruin. The steps to the destruction of leadership are:

1. Self-confidence--in a reasonable amount, this is a healthy key to good leadership. The leader must be able to discern, generally through wise counsel combined with clear insight, the direction the team is to move. It is the leader's task to be moving personally and taking the team with her in the right direction. She must be confident that the direction she leads is correct.

2. Self-promotion--this is the action of someone who desires to be a leader but may not understand the process of acquiring healthy leadership. This person tells all of the good things he has done, can do, or would have done different than someone else. Far from being an endearing action, self-promotion may sound like “look at me” and “listen to me”. These statements are common among children and individuals who have self as one of their chief core values.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ page 1 2

© Copyright – Bill Lewis and Brit Boone – 2006