Bad bosses do it alone. Good leaders don’t.

I’ve always held that a job that makes you cry is a job you need to leave. But many of the people who shared their experiences at The Marketing Society’s epic #BadBosses event (part of their 2017 Brave Leadership initiative) had been there, done that and come out on top of the appallingly bad bosses they had worked for.

Their stories made for a highly charged evening at which people shared uncomfortable truths and invaluable tips.

The uncomfortable truth that leadership coach Steve Redcliffe shared was that we are all bad leaders.  Why?  We spend years perfecting our craft and learning to manage, but we are not taught to lead.

He also showed us how it’s easy to be caught in the wrong ‘leadership quadrant’.  Our perceptions of what good leadership is (oh how influenced we all are by Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg!) is of a maverick but brilliant genius leading the way over the hill, waving a banner we mere mortals are only too pleased to follow.  When we’re in high-energy mode we presume everything we say is resonating with our ‘followers’. Sadly, that’s not necessarily the case, according to Radcliffe.  If your staff have their own intelligent agendas they will just feel that you are trying to railroad them. 

The tip he shared was that there is another way; the quiet leader approach where you are calm and reflective and recognise it’s not all about you.  What it is about is building some big relationships so that you can deliver as a team.  Which reminded me of the Level 5 leaders in Jim Collins’ book ‘Good to Great’ who combine fierce resolve with humility and are not rampant egotists.  Meanwhile, Radcliffe shared the other side of the quadrant, where bad leaders sit – either the extrovert loud bully, or the introvert boss that simply refuses to engage with problems, or even with their team.  Whilst you’d think it’s the former that is most likely to reduce people to tears, the switch between the two states can be more damaging.  As a psychologist in the audience pointed out – inconsistency is the thing that people find hardest to cope with.  Luckily, as Redcliffe explained, resilience is a muscle we can grow. But the biggest tip was this.  The best leaders have a very strong support group.  You don’t have to do it alone. 

This review is by Fran Brosan of Omobono Digital.

Image: Tono Balaguer | www.picfair.com