I have a very special relationship in my life. A few years ago I began meeting regularly with Dr. George Manners, the former head of the Executive MBA program at Kennesaw State University. He has become a coach, mentor, confidant, and dear, dear friend.
Our conversations center around personal development, books we are reading, family, faith, and leadership in general.
Today, we discussed the alarming shortage of good leaders in all sectors in our world today. In spite of more leadership content (books, podcasts, conferences, etc..) available than probably at anytime in human history, a scarcity exists. The question is why?
The following are three inter-connected reasons why there are so few good leaders anymore:
Chaos
Chaos is a constant.
George made an interesting observation – The uninitiated thinks leadership can be boiled down to a simply following a list of actions or principles. “Do these things and success is sure to follow” they hear.
Candidly, one of the people they hear it from is me.
But simple, helpful lists do not factor in the frequency of variables which come your way. Some of these variables are technical, commercial, economic, political, personnel, financial, health issues, and many, many more.
There are too many variables at one time for many leaders to face. And when they come, it exposes the following:
Character
Chaos does not create character, it exposes it. When pressure comes, you see many leaders cut corners, lose their temper, neglect disciplines in their life, rush projects, and lose self-control.
Chaos and poor character is a bad combination. But it gets worse.
Culture
This is the final piece. My favorite definition of culture is from Seth Godin who says, “This is what we say and this is what we do.” When a leader does not embody your culture and hold others accountable to it, you have a poorly performing organization.
So when chaos strikes, your character is exposed, and as a leader you may no longer be disciplined enough to build a healthy and winning culture.
Conclusion
So I asked the question earlier, why are there so few good leaders currently?
It is because people with poor character are leading poor cultures and are simply ill-equipped to handle the constant of organizational chaos.
How Do You Spot A Great Leader?
When you look through the lens of navigating chaos, how do you spot a great leader?
Per Dr. Manners, you know you have a great leader when they come through crisis with the following three things still intact:
- You come through crisis with your INTEGRITY intact.
- You come through crisis with your OPTIMISM intact.
- You come through crisis with your BELIEF IN THE GOODNESS OF PEOPLE intact.
So when looking for people to navigate your organization through chaos situations, look for people who have previously led through turbulent times and come through it with their integrity, optimism, and belief in the goodness of people intact.
If we can find or develop enough of these individuals, we may solve our leadership shortage crisis.
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