Leadership: Lead by Example .... Naaaah

Leadership: Lead by Example .... Naaaah

Leadership status is aspired by many but achieved by few. It is often referred to as the poisoned chalise. What makes a good leader? Is a good leader the best and most capable person on his team? If not should he be the leader? Is being best a necessary criteria for rising to the top??

I was recently at a management course, and the phrase “Leading by example” was heard many times over when the talk would head towards the topic of leadership. The word charisma was used many times along with words like inspiring etc. I think you get the gist. Now management exercise ( and don’t even get me started on management studies i.e. the likes of MBAs etc. ) are such a drag at the best of times but the fact that these people were being paid £500 an hour made me want to kill someone for thinking anyone can be worth that much money! Coming back to the point, what is a good leader like??

Its one of those classic gotcha type of interview question right? And we get all sorts of box standard answers which are not that dissimilar to the one that I listed at the start of this blog. I think the whole management exercise was a fools errand and the best part of the week long course was the free Wifi!!!! However I have to give them this, they did for the first time in a long….. long time made me question myself about what I thought about being a leader.

I am a man with firm opinions and I am not afraid of defending my thoughts. I never feel the need to justify my thoughts as they are my thoughts and I reserve the right to make my own choices. This does of course mean that in management parlance, I am not ‘accommodating’. Ofcourse my career choices have made it easier over the years to avoid any confrontations as being an expert in a field means that people take you on your word. I don’t look forward to being a leader, but then again I very much question the legitimacy of the current definition of leader as inspiring, leading by example kind of person.

If the leader is someone who inspires the team and leads by example, for me he and his team are both approaching the situation in the wrong manner. Why should a leader lead by example?? Or actually why does a team expect the leader to lead by example? I think the origin of this logic lies in the sporting arena, where the phrase captains performance is often used. I personally think if the captain is the best man in the team ( leads by example ) the team is already beyond its peak cause they have identified who is the best man and level of performance will never rise beyond the best mans performance! Infact more often then not it is not the best man in the team that becomes a successful captain.

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