Tag Archives: leadership

The Delusional Manager

“In the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people… they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.” – Ken Blanchard

boss-vs-leader

There’s a great scene in Forrest Gump where the Army Drill Instructor asks Gump what his responsibility is, and Gump replies, “To do whatever you tell me to drill sergeant.”  Of course the DI thinks Gump is a genius.

Unfortunately that’s often the perspective today’s boss has too.  They think they can make anyone do most anything they want by ordering.  They’re not only wrong, it’s a dangerous misapprehension. There’s a term for this kind of management, KITA, which stands for Kick In The A… never mind, you get the idea.

Only the very deluded think they can drive their team to greater success by snapping the whip and making all the decisions.  The landscape is dotted with people who thought they were leaders, and turned out to be bosses.  Usually they thought they were the only ones with all the ideas.  They thought they were expert leaders, when really they were strong bosses.

If you’ve ever felt demeaned, chances are you’re working with a manager, not a leader.  Sometimes they want to dominate you, but more often they just want you to do what they think is right.  Life seems very simple to these people.  They’re the Lone Ranger and you’re Tonto.

I know it’s not fun for the employee, and imagine it’s not fun for the boss either.  Ordering people around doesn’t really work and is followed by frustration.  In real life you need to be more like John Wooden and less like a boss.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

“Emotional roller coasters tend to emphasize the lows, tend to be more affected by the low, by the dip in an emotional roller coaster than when you are at the peak.” – Rush Limbaugh

Roller Coaster

Roller coasters always clank and make a lot of noise as they haul you, and everyone else in the cars, up to the top for the first dip.  Funny how, with a roller coaster, it’s the dip everyone looks forward to, and they relax as they build for a drop again.  Unfortunately, we don’t see that happen with ratings with the same delight.

All it takes is for a little drop to cause gray panic, and I don’t mean screaming in delight either.

Which is too bad, because those ups and downs that come with a roller coaster are are part of life too.  Up is never straight up, it’s always up and down over time, but up overall.  When you look at your ratings over a longer period of time, like Nielsen suggests, you can tell if it’s a trend or fluctuation.  Reacting in the short term produces the reality of self-fulfilling prophecy – that most radio stations die from the inside, not the outside.

I guess the moral of the story is this: If you want to crash your station in the quickest, most efficient way, focus on the fluctuations, especially the down ones like Rush says.  Rattle your troops, shake the unshakable, confuse the future, and paint yourself into a “reactionary” corner.  If you want to continue to grow, have a little maturity and understand the ups and downs of Nielsen and life, and be the one that stays on focus.

Create Your Own Fate

“History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.”

John F. Kennedy

Edward John Smith was born in Great Britain, went to school, fought in war, and became a Captain. He married, had a daughter.  The family lived in an imposing red brick, twin-gabled house, named “Woodhead,” on Winn Road, Highfield, Southampton.  He was doing well.

You may have never heard of Smith, but some of you, especially those of you who are in leadership roles, are heading toward his fate.  You’re letting life happen around you with an unclear future that you think you’re protected from.  As Kennedy said, “To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.”

It’s not the future you’re expecting, but you may be in the same boat, with the same result, as Edward John Smith, Captain of RMS Titanic.

There’s something happening here, but what it is ain’t exactly clear

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” – General Eric Shinseki, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff.

My-Name-Is-Irrelevant-300x198

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an advance copy of the future? It would come out early for those that registered. Or, how about an App or something that could show what’s a trend, and what’s a fad.

Too bad, but oh well. Guess we’ll have to do it on our own, learning, watching, growing and acting. It’s difficult but there are optics that can give you a better idea, not of the future, but where we’re going.

What seems clear to me is that the most popular option is to do nothing. We’re too busy working on today, or don’t have perfect clarity, or are confused by the future, or maybe you just don’t care. These people are the born followers, the people who just can’t go to the head of the line and say, “Let’s go!”

So fear and eventual irrelevance are in their future. When when you don’t spend any time thinking about or planning for the future you’ve given up.

If you’re one of those people pardon my directness, but get out of the way. Make room for those of us who want to lead, or even follow.  Stand aside, and let those who can craft the future.

Who do you work for?

I had a remarkable experience recently.

I had the privilege of celebrating a unique milestone with an amazing TEAM of people who are extremely devoted to their mission.  It was also the very first time in my 38 years of doing this radio thing where I experienced station leadership (notice I didn’t use the word ‘management’) creating an event where they could publicly acknowledge every single individual’s contribution and value to the team, from the higher profile air talent to the people who load the truck, stuff the envelopes and fix the air conditioning.

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