I believe you can learn from good leadership as often as you can learn from bad ones. Many attribute cookie-cutter traits to good leadership such as dominance, social boldness, self-assurance, or tough-mindedness. However, extroverted executives are not always the best leaders and throwing elbows doesn’t always equate to professional progression. Leadershipstyles aside, we are used to taking our learning cues from the “greats” but there is much to belearnt from the bad bosses.
Knowing what not to do is just as valuable in the corporate arena and presents numerous opportunities for you to hone your own leadership skills. Here are the top five tell tale signs of bad leadership and what we can learn from them.
Know It All
Weak leaders think they have all the answers. Have you ever been in a conversation and you can feel the other person is just waiting for their turn to speak? A know-it-all will position their expertise as the one-source of truth. They often don’t ask for feedback, second opinions or help. They have big egos and are usually defensive if their work is challenged by others. More importantly, they worry more about being right rather than achieving the right outcomes. Good leaders know how to listen and take feedback. They create teams with diverse skill sets and strengths and they understand that you can never know everything – so personal learning should never stop.
PROTECTING THE STATUS QUO
Leaders who follow a “don’t rock the boat” approach have no place in modern day business. This type of leadership will only lead to static output, missed opportunities and disengaged teams.
They are unable to make the tough calls, they shy away from constructive confrontation and they smother out new growth or innovation. By protecting the status quo they become blind to threatening situations or dismissive of new solutions.
There is no greater kiss-of-death than narrow-mindedness. Great leaders encourage diversity of thought and they take healthy risks. They are tuned into the changing dynamics in markets and industries and are open to transform. More importantly, they manage “above and beyond” rather than routine.
BROKEN COMPASS
When you see a team running off in different directions or have murky perspectives on strategy, you know you have a boss that does not provide adequate direction. Generally, this is a red flag of a bad boss who is an ineffective communicator and has poor people management skills.
Good leaders provide a clear vision of the company and explanation of how each role contributes to strategic priorities. Teams are more motivated when they know their job plays a significant role in the overarching priorities of the business.
FEAR OF SPEAKING UP
A sure sign of a terrible leader is someone who manages by fear because they create teams that never speak-up. They motivate by force and they threaten, embarrass or intimidate. Managers who follow a public execution style of discipline, who have a zero tolerance policy for mistakes will smother out any creativity, knowledge sharing or learning on a team. Good leaders manage by motivation and enthusiasm. They look at mistakes or failures as learning opportunities and they provide constructive, not destructive, criticism.
PERFECTING BUREAUCRACY
We have all met this type of leader at one point in our career. They are quick to say no. They burden situations with endless red tape or layers of approvals. They use regulation to push away a problem. The generally serve as a bottleneck or gatekeeper. They lead from the side lines and rarely get their hands dirty on their behalf. More importantly, they hesitate. Great leaders empower teams, build cross-functional teams and suggest solutions rather than blockers.
“MANAGERS WHO FOLLOW A PUBLIC EXECUTION STYLE OF DISCIPLINE, WHO HAVE A ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY FOR MISTAKES WILL SMOTHER OUT ANY CREATIVITY,KNOWLEDGE SHARING OR LEARNING ON A TEAM. GOOD LEADERS MANAGE BY MOTIVATION AND ENTHUSIASM. THEY LOOK AT MISTAKES OR FAILURES AS LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES AND THEY PROVIDE CONSTRUCTIVE, NOT DESTRUCTIVE, CRITICISM.”
3 GREAT WAYS TO STAY RELEVANT IN YOUR JOB-MUJASSUM BUTT
I’m going to keep it real and simple……here is my 3 ways in which you can stay relevant. Try not to be too shocked by some of the points I’m about to raise. This article is not for the faint-hearted!
- .MY FIRST SHOCKER FOR THE SYSTEM: Do not enhance your degree or take on postgraduate de- grees or some other specialised degree
Though it might be a bit hard to swallow this con- cept, believe it or not you have already received the golden pass that you can follow a system and get grades. So well done. Most universities today teach you subjects that are already out of date in this infor- mation age. So thinking your company will promote you because you have a second degree or that you’ll network better due to the status of your university is slightly naïve to say the least.
Instead start networking. Use social media and approach with direct face to face contact. The ‘infor- mation age’ is upon you. You can learn and become an- ything with just a little interest, homework and dedi- cation. Prove that you can think on your feet and solve scenarios presented to you, have a diverse researched and considered view of the world.
- DO NOT FOLLOW THE “PROVEN STRATEGY” TO SUCCESS FROM PEOPLE WITHIN YOUR IN- DUSTRY
Venture out of your known function, sector or in- dustry to learn new ways of doing business, new ways of looking at solutions, new ways of management. Feel free to look at what people are doing successfully in your industry but find innovation around these ideas. For example, our Unicorn ‘Souq/Amazon’ could have been content that distributing product is not prof- itable with all the big players in the UAE market but today they do.
In hindsight everything is possible. But when Souq started they had to consider if approximately 8 ma- jor family groups provide nearly 80% of all products consumed than why even bother as clearly all these groups must have deeper pockets and faster route to market with probably better strategists directing their shareholders.
Analyse strategies, people, industries, products, governments whatever you like and see how they may apply to your area. Especially if people say it doesn’t apply to your industry.
- DO NOT THINK IN A LINEAR OR BOX FASH- ION. PERIOD!
If linear is your company preferred set ethos then by all means comply. But if you would like to see your- self progress then you should seek to continue to think creatively mostly after work hours.
Be prepared for moving up in the ‘food chain’. Job positions switch and change all the time. The boss you have today may not be the boss you have tomorrow. So, build your character and rapport so those around you can respect your adaptability.
The term “Past results predict the future” has become a cliché. There are too many cases around us proving this theory wrong. For example, in 1980, McKinsey was commissioned by AT&T to forecast cell phone penetration in the US by the year 2000. McK- insey got it all wrong when they told AT&T that cell phones would be a niche market in the year 2000 with only 900,000 subscribers and hence, concluded that there was no market for mobile phones. The firm’s estimations were off by 108 million. Their prediction persuaded AT&T to pull out of the mobile phone mar- ket, a decision which ended up costing AT&T billions of dollars.
There are so many unpredictable factors that will consistently impact our markets from AI to political, and other economic factors. But one fact remains true… AI does not have the ability to replace human creativity and empathy. So seek knowledge, build networks, and argue your found ideas within your network taking feedback to continually innovate until they make sense. Stop hiding your views as innovation of anything will never come from sharing your concept with yourself. At some point you must test the idea.
If you’re linear then you have already lost your job. It’s just a matter of time before this creates an even more depressing scenario where you become too de- pendent on the company when all you had to do was take accountability.
That faith in yourself is all you need.
