Managing Leadership^®

In the old days, before the spread of sovereignty and rise of organizations, the idea of individual leadership was a more-or-less unsurprising – if nevertheless pernicious – acknowledgment of the facts on the ground. It was the natural right of specific persons, typically as a result of royal birth or privilege. The only meritocratic element about it was that the ones who were remembered, studied, and copied were those select few viewed as having been successful – a notion, in the context of those times, that in retrospect is even more pernicious.

But if the facts on the ground have changed, why is leadership still viewed as so elusive an individual accomplishment, if not just as meticulously reserved as ever for a select few?

To begin with, the modern leadership movement seems to comprehend, at one level or another, the difficulty this question poses for them. But their various efforts to respond, unfortunately, only add to the general confusion surrounding the topic, making their unstated premise hard to pin down.

On the one hand, the movement’s gurus celebrate leadership as, essentially, a rare personality type comprised of virtually super-human traits ranging from penetratingly bold vision through courageous decisiveness to heroic focus and drive. On the other hand, aware that this depiction neither corresponds particularly well with contemporary social and political ideals – nor, it must be added, promises much of a market for their advice – they have come to promote the alternative idea that it arises from particular behaviors, habits, or characteristics which can be developed, thus transforming those who master whatever the critical threshold of them happens to be into leaders.

Both of these contentions are arguable in their own right, and will be addressed later. They are mentioned here for the role they play in the premise advanced for the most widespread concept of individual leadership in the modern age: it is still selective, but based on ability rather than birth. First, if it is a rare personality type, it is nevertheless acknowledged as legitimate in whoever possesses it, whatever their previous status in society. Second, if it is something that can be learned, it nevertheless is uncommon, and thus worthy of the elevated status, rights, and exceptional freedom of movement accorded to it, not to mention the important feature of binding the rest of us to followership of it.

That leads us to another aspect of the premise for modern ideas of individual leadership – but we’ll look at that tomorrow. Please do stop in.

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Today’s tips: Speaking of mixed messages, it is important to be sure of what you want. Think of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” from “The Wizard of Oz.” We all are moved by the emotional content of Dorothy’s shapeless dreams, but we know that the results can be surprisingly unwelcome, and she doesn’t really take control of her own fate – and enlist others to her aid – until she becomes more specific. See Seth Godin for why.

On the other hand, if you find yourself gripped with a specific and overweening desire for unanswerable power and prestige, you will want to see Michael Wade for seven reasons why you might want to tone it down a bit. Number 4 deserves particularly careful consideration. Number 5 contains an insight that forms the very basis of effective management. But those are just my favorites – which are yours?

You may want to visit “wordnik,” a new online dictionary with much more, from a thesaurus feature to etymology. Take a look – it may replace your current sources for this sort of thing, as it has mine. Hat tip to Eclecticity.

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