In the first post in this series Casey Ross’ comment “I’ve been around too many visionary “leaders” who could inspire the heck out of you but could never get one thing accomplished.” got me to thinking.

There may be something else going on along with the “play it safe” mentality engendered by the bean counters (some, not all).

Call it the ‘armchair leader’, who, much like the Monday morning quarterback or armchair philosopher, is a person who knows all about leadership without actually doing it.

These are the people who read leadership books, attend leadership classes and can discuss leadership philosophy and approaches intelligently and convincingly. They can create enormously compelling visions, produce the collateral information to implement them and even inspire those around them—but nothing happens.

As Casey says, they just can’t DO it. Something is missing.

I believe that ‘something’ starts in doing, in stepping forward and saying, “I’ve got an idea.”

Or not saying anything and just taking the initiative to do/fix/create/whatever without a lot of thought about visions and inspiration, but with so much enthusiasm and willingness to listen and include others that they jump on the wagon because it’s where the action is and looks like so much fun.

How many armchair leaders do you know?

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Yesterday KG said, “Good managers have processes and techniques that they implement to get people to work. Leaders inspire.

“I replied “inspiring means taking chances and requires a culture that doesn’t just tolerate stumbles and failures, but actually encourages them. Without that safety people won’t take chances with a vision but will stick to the status quo.”

What makes that culture so hard to come by?

At least part of the answer is found in comments by Tony Palazzo in a post from Steve Roesler.

Palazzo thinks that “leadership is demonstrated when someone stands up and says, “We can do this better. Here’s how. Let’s go!”

That’s called vision—outside the status quo. In an attempt to draw in a huge potential audience, new online casinos tend to follow a particular trend or sometimes set themselves apart from their already established competitors https://www.topnewcasinos.co.uk/.

Palazzo continues, “The gods of Finance are setting the rules for how business will be done. Shareholder value is now the end product. Standing up and taking the lead in your area of discipline is a risk that is not only not rewarded, it may get you into trouble if the “Finance Guy” doesn’t like it–or doesn’t understand it.”

I’ve always told my clients that corporate success is like a 3-legged stool—customers, equity-holders, employees—and that if one leg grows too long from over-indulgence the stool will tip over.

Great philosophy, but the reality today in most public companies is that Wall Street and quarterly results are what really matters.

And that reality is driving a risk-adverse, color-inside-the-lines mentality in which vision and leadership have no place. Worse is the vicious circle that forms—the person brought in to lead has a vision, but the vision isn’t fast enough so the person is dumped and another brought in and each successive round plays it safer and safer.

Please join me tomorrow for the final part of Leader + manager = leadager.

How can more companies be encouraged to take the risks that lead to innovation?

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I asked Emanio CEO KG Charles-Harris what he thought of ‘leadager’ as a new word that meant both leader and manager.

KG: I believe the terms are so different that it’s difficult to put them together.

me: Yes, but I’m referring to the best. I think that if you lead without managing you end up with chaos.

If you manage without leading you codify the status quo.

KG: I agree. But management is a discipline, whereas leadership is more difficult to quantify and teach.

me: True, you DO leadership, public opinion recognizes you as a leader and the leadership industry gives you the language to talk about what you did.

KG: I’m not sure what the leadership industry is. Much of it is smoke and mirrors, but not all. I think leadership is best described as influence directed to accomplish goals, either explicitly or implicitly so. Good managers have processes and techniques that he implements to get people to work. Leaders inspire.

me: Yes, but I still think that great managers inspire and great leaders manage—emphasis on great.

KG: Leadership is not necessarily good. Hitler was a good leader but a terrible manager. He had very good managers under him, though.

me: True, and I should have said “should” instead of presenting it as a given. In today’s world, especially in business, many of those in positions of power are afraid to have people in place that might challenge them or show them up. As a result, each level of management often gets weaker as it goes down the ladder.

Fostering leadership is yet more difficult, since inspiring means taking chances and requires a culture that doesn’t just tolerate stumbles and failures, but actually encourages them. Without that safety people won’t take chances with a vision but will stick to the status quo.

Be sure to join me tomorrow for part 2.

Do you think that managers should have vision and leaders should have management skills?

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Poking through 12+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

Mea culpa has never been anyone’s favorite thing, but in the eight years since I wrote this post hearing it has become even more unlikely — unless, of course, the speaker has already been outed for whatever and mea culpa is their default fallback position/excuse.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

In the popular vernacular, the expression “mea culpa” is an admission of having made a mistake by one’s own fault (one that could have been avoided if the person had been more diligent).

Mea culpa are two of the most powerful words any manager can say—as long as they are authentic.

Creating a culture where mea culpa is not just tolerated, but applauded is the mark of the best ‘leadagers’ (Leader + Manager discussion).

The words offer no value if they are uttered insincerely or as a means to an end.

Publicly taking responsibility for an error, let alone a real screw-up, is the mark of a good leader, a great manager and a true mensch.

How often have you said ‘mea culpa’ and meant it?

Image credit: Markus Tacker

In the popular vernacular, the expression “mea culpa” is an admission of having made a mistake by one’s own fault (one that could have been avoided if the person had been more diligent).

Mea culpa are two of the most powerful words any manager can say—as long as they are authentic.

Creating a culture where mea culpa is not just tolerated, but applauded is the mark of the best ‘leadagers’ (Leader + Manager discussion).

They offer no value if they are uttered insincerely or as a means to an end.

Publicly taking responsibility for an error, let alone a real screw-up, is the mark of a good leader, a great manager and a true mensch.

How often have you said ‘mea culpa’ and meant it?

Flickr image credit: ZedBee | Zoë Power