Comments on: Muted leadership

By: A New Mantra For The Leadership Industry

A New Mantra For The Leadership Industry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:54:02 +0000

[...] a post over at Managing Leadership, Wally Bock left a great comment that’s germane to my recent posts and to the notion that the [...]

By: Leading On The Road To Hell

Leading On The Road To Hell — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:01:55 +0000

[...] the way, I’m not the only one; Jim Stroup noticed the silence, too, only from a different [...]

By: Jim Stroup

Jim Stroup — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:56:00 +0000

I agree with Miki, Wally – a great comment, and a terrific insight about the basic irrelevance of modern leadership theory.

Thanks for stopping by with that!

By: Miki

Miki — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:48:26 +0000

Hey Wally. Thanks for the lead-in for my Saturday post. Great thought, great comment!

By: Wally Bock

Wally Bock — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:51:38 +0000

I think part of the issue, Jim, is that people prefer magical thinking to accountability. There’s a joke about a professor who says that a certain idea is “fine in practice but may not work in theory.”

We didn’t have a problem identifying who was the leader before we had leadership theory. Nobody worried about whether that Caesar fellow was an true or real or authentic leader. They just followed him.

By: Why some good ideas still become management fads | Managing Leadership

Why some good ideas still become management fads | Managing Leadership — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:41:37 +0000

[...] then we just have another form of excess and expensive management, with no one to trim them back. As we have seen with the government handling of the current crisis, not even the naturally restorative forces of [...]

By: Jim Stroup

Jim Stroup — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:55:29 +0000

Miki, John, and Steve,

Thanks for your visits and observations – and for your own work and writing in this area and on management matters generally, which inform that of so many of us.

By: Steve Roeser

Steve Roeser — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Jim, thanks for this one. It’s clear, well-developed, and your link gifts add even more to the topic.

By: John Phillips

John Phillips — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:08:13 +0000

Until real leaders emerge, if that ever happens, “muted” leadership may be best.
Thanks for your continuing insight on this subject.

By: Miki

Miki — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:01:26 +0000

Hi Jim. Leadership achieved cult status under those gurus and coaches. Now, unless we’re very lucky, there will be a global Kool-Aid party for the rest of us. No wonder there’s a deafening silence.

But you can count on those same leaders standing by, wringing their hands and explaining exactly why their ‘vision’ was not at fault.

And it’s working, they’re already landing on their feet at places like the NY Fed.