Leadership’s Future: Leadership, Context and Culture
by Miki SaxonAlmost every day I read at least one article or blog post to the effect that people should consciously start the day by deciding to lead, whether at the office, at home or in one of their varied activities.
And every time I clench my teeth and mutter to myself about the idiocy of the attitude.
Of course, it’s just my opinion, but here is why I think that way.
First, it is the court of public opinion that designates a person a leader, not the individual’s announcement that she is one, and the designation comes whether the leadership is lauded or lampooned.
In fact, talk of leadership is technically future or past tense—what should be done and what was done as opposed to what is being done in real-time.
Second is context. I have always found that discussions ignoring context seem nonsensical to me.
For example, the multiplicity of articles in the early 2000s that compared a company’s stock price and growth at that time to it’s high before the crash.
Even worse is the comparison of CEOs’ skill during that recession to their predecessors, or their own performance, during the expansion of the nineties.
Moreover, leaders are a product of their culture; drop them into a non-synergistic culture and watch them fail—often spectacularly and often taking the company down with them—think Bob Nardelli’s move from GE to Home Depot.
While culture is a company’s internal context, what is usually referred to as context is the external world situation and both affect leadership outcome.
So I have a suggestion for all those who jump out of bed promising themselves that today they will lead with no consideration of context.
Instead, try jumping out of bed each morning with the promise that you will show initiative within whatever context you face.
Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingorrr/449613774/
