When Leaders Aren’t True Leaders

Cheryl offers: Sometimes I can’t believe what I read when I pick up the newspaper.  It’s generally the reason I don’t look at it very often. When I do, it’s usually to check out the weather on the back page of the Metro section.  However, what was on the front page today got my attention. It seems the two top elected officials in Flower Mound, that would be two people in highly visible leadership roles, have been accused of sexual harassment. The chief of police filed the complaint after witnessing the incident in which a police officer was evidently pinched on the behind by the…drum roll, please…two women. Yes, indeed. The male police officer confirmed he was pinched as they stood on either side of him and there’s a video to confirm it. Leaders have a responsibility, both legally and morally, to abide by the law and that seems to be especially true of elected officials. To me, it’s even more important for women to take the obligations and responsibilities of being a leader seriously. We have worked hard to progress to the current state and incidents like this hurt us all. They dent our credibility, insult our intelligence and hard work, and minimize our hard won accomplishments.    Bette Price tells us “True leaders are keenly aware of the power of their position, yet are quick to point out that without genuinely valuing their people, their position of power is limited” in her book, True Leaders. Who better to have proven this to be true than these two leaders who forgot the power of their position, dismissed the trust of the people they represent, and placed themselves in compromised power positions? One has decided not to run for re-election and that might just be the best decision she’s made lately.

Ron Ashkenas on “rapid disruption’s next victim”

Here is an excerpt from article written by Ron Ashkenas for the Harvard Business blog. To read the complete article, check out other articles and resources, and/or sign up for a free subscription to Harvard Business Daily Alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.

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Over the last two decades a number of new technologies have become so ubiquitous that we now take them for granted and don’t realize how much they have changed our lives and our world. Consider, for example, the Internet and our ability to search for information easily and quickly; the use of GPS for personal navigation; and handheld devices that can store music and video.

What’s common with all of these technologies is that they have created “solutions” that are fast, inexpensive, and relatively simple to use — while quickly outmoding and disrupting long-standing industries that provided “old” and suddenly less competitive solutions. And it’s happened in the blink of an eye. Witness the struggles of postal services, newspapers, publishing companies, broadcast networks, retail video outlets, music producers, and many more.

One of the next candidates for rapid disruption is the airline industry. Everyone knows that airlines are under siege these days — from fluctuating fuel prices, security concerns, and an economic downturn that has reduced business travel. But what we (and industry executives) may not realize is that the biggest threat to the airlines is a disruptive set of solutions that will dramatically reduce the need for air travel altogether.

The “solutions” I’m referring to are virtual meetings — including teleconferences; web-based meetings attended on personal computers and handheld devices; and videoconferences. The problem that these solutions solve is how to get people together in real time in a way that they can interact naturally, build relationships, solve problems, and share information — without having to travel.

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Ron Ashkenas is a managing partner of Robert H. Schaffer & Associates and a co-author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organization. His latest book is Simply Effective.

The Professional’s Code — A Challenge from Atul Gawande

In The Checklist Manifesto:  How To Get Things Right, Atul Gawande delineates a code for professionals.  He calls these the “expectations,” and he lists four:

1) An expectation of selflessness
2)  An expectation of skill
3)  An expectation of trustworthiness
4)  An expectation of discipline

The list is quite impressive.  In it, he makes the case that all professionals are expected to:  act selflessly, for the good of others; develop a great and deep level of skill; become utterly reliable, a person who can be taken at his/her word; and a person who keeps getting better, with a personal discipline that aims toward constant improvement.

These expectations are legitimate for every professional, in every profession.

Quite a life challenge, but fully valid.  I think this is a code worthy of adoption by us all.