Professional Leadership Warrants Malpractice
by Miki Saxon
I must say that although I write about it and disagree vehemently with it, leadership is a growth industry, even going so far as to offer PhDs in Leadership.
Those of you who also read Leadership Turn know my thoughts on the subject, but the profile has gotten so high that it reminded me of an article I read last year called Leadership Malpractice.
It’s not a media product or authored by some external pundit, but comes from Harvard Public Leadership Lecturer Barbara Kellerman, author of Bad Leadership and Followership.
Kellerman says that since “leadership is increasingly considered a profession,” leaders should be subject to the same punishments as other professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.
Doesn’t that sound like an idea whose time has come? Especially if schools are going to offer advanced degrees in it.
Kellerman points out that business leaders are appointed; “in the first nine months of this year [2008] a record 1,132 CEOs quit or were shown the door.”
They were let go due to poor corporate performance, but even truly rotten performance carried no serious consequences, in fact, “most left with their financial futures handsomely secured.” Sure, a few are behind bars, but when they emerge they will bear no serious financial hardships.
“No insignificant number of top executives have been culpable of negligence, failures that caused injury to others. To take only a few glaring examples, top executives at A.I.G., Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, or for that matter at General Motors, all failed abysmally to protect employees and stockholders alike.”
Leadership has become a profession in and of itself.
“It is taught in professional schools, in schools of government and public administration, and in nearly all business schools. There are countless books on how to exercise good leadership, and countless courses and seminars, both in and out of the academy, in which leadership is taught. It’s time then to apply to leadership the same standard that we apply to other professions. Similarly, when this standard is not met, even minimally, it’s time to hold leaders accountable by suing them for malpractice.”
Once someone is on the ‘leadership track’ they move forward with amazing speed—and less and less scrutiny the higher they go. When they foul up, they are often eased out, rather than being fired—an action that would make the person or board that hired/promoted them look bad.
By the time they’re appointed to the corner office they are practically untouchable; with few exceptions this applies to the entire C suite. Oh, they can be fired, and they often are, but that rarely impacts their career.
There is much talk of accountability, but most is empty.
Perhaps leadership malpractice would finally bring some serious accountability to the guys out front—the same guys whose monster egos and Teflon finishes keep them walking away unscathed while the rest of us are strung up and left to twist in the economic winds.
Image credit: John of Austin on flickr
