Comments on: 7 Reasons Leaders Fail

By: Nelson Leith

Nelson Leith — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:26:57 +0000

"Leaders are promoted by those higher than them" explains it all. The phenomenon of negative selection insures the suppression of talent by those who fear their positions of authority will be usurped.

Leaders fail not because they don't have the right answers, but because those with the right answers are not rising to positions of leadership.

By: Lect. Mohit Puri

Lect. Mohit Puri — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:34:53 +0000

leaders fail because of improper and rude behaviour with the subordinates or followers.

By: olawale

olawale — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:08:03 +0000

personally, with my exprience as a student in an organisation, i tend to believe the main reason many become followers is their ignorance or lack of understanding-that to be a leader is not as difficult as it looks.

By: Richard Shatto

Richard Shatto — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:12:37 +0000

Alexandre,
I appreciate your insight and experience on followership and agree with your perspective. I believe there are far too many that do not understand the salient point you raise, that bosses need us and perhaps more than that, they need to now they can trust us. Of course, the reverse is also true. When we reduce the fear and anxiety from the equation (on both sides), we can all be a lot more productive. I too believe there needs to be more taught at the followership level. Both leaders and followers need to better understand the arch-typical followership roles and the interaction between.
Thank you for a thought provoking article.
Richard

By: devijvers

devijvers — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:37:00 +0000

Yo, management is not equal to leadership.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:55:00 +0000

There is a lot of truth in this article. In the long run, leaders and organizations are successful because of what the individual contributors create, so I disagree somewhat with #5. Also, I don't think that many leaders are held to superhuman standards. Maybe a very few high profile leaders.

I don't think you can say that employees don't need managers as much as managers need employees. Everyone is critical to a successful organization. They all have different jobs to do and they are all important.

By: Alexandre

Alexandre — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:55:00 +0000

Personally I think the point about followership is the more important.

I always say to those who care to listen that… since I started working, 20 years ago age 17, I have never had a bad boss.. and I mean it.

From the very beginning I understood that my boss needed me more than I needed him, since I could do my job without him but he couldn't do his without me, unless he did my work himself/herself as well as his own. I also understood (as pointed out in the article) that my boss would be the conduit for my carrier progression and improvement of my conditions at work.

I put the above points to every boss I have had in a very simple format... I told them (in slight different words) that "I would make sure that no one would pull the carpet from under his/her feet as long as he/she made sure that I had what I needed to do my job well and be reasonably happy". So far it worked every time, but it does take a lot of effort to keep bosses from being tripped or tripping over their own feet.

Today I am myself the boss of a team of highly skilled engineers, each one a lot more intelligent and smarter than me, meaning that I couldn't do their jobs even if I had to save my life and they know that. I apply with my team the same philosophy that I apply with my boss but in reverse and it works most of the time, which is more than can be said for some other approaches to managing followership.

By: Doctor S

Doctor S — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:11:00 +0000

I think I witness these 7 things almost on a weekly basis at my job.

By: mweisburgh

mweisburgh — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:57:00 +0000

This just reminded me of one of the two biggest mistakes of my life. It was just after we were married and moved into our new home, and my wife asked me what I wanted to do that weekend. Well, I was running my own company, and said, "You know, honey, people ask me to make decisions all day long. When I come home, I don't want to make decisions anymore, I just want someone to tell me what do do."

And she's been telling me what to do ever since.

By: Dr Martin Russell

Dr Martin Russell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:52:00 +0000

I identify with the single fundamental reason for it all here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle