Arm Chair Leadership
You can criticize the leader for being too soft, too harsh, or out of touch with reality. The trouble with this criticism is that often it is coming from those who aren’t responsible for the results.
When the apple cart has tipped over it is easy to suggest it was loaded wrong, managed by the wrong people, or trying to go too fast. Chances are good that those observations aren’t coming from the people responsible for the carts arrival.
Leadership has a lot of challenges, one is to obtain results and another is setting a good example. It might be suggested then that understanding what is necessary to obtain results and how to set the proper example comes not only from experience, but also from being responsible.
On the other hand, the experience of the critic often comes from the reckless behavior of perfecting the irresponsible critique. While the critique may build a following this following is not built by a leader.
Leaders know the difference.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
