Somewhere over the last century we lost the meaning of leadership.
It was buried under the hierarchy of the industrial revolution, twisted by a few wars, contorted by Hollywood, and made a joke by government. Somehow “soft skills” and “leadership” became two separate discussions, one for HR and one for the board room with the big boys and the real business.
Then hierarchies stopped working …
The truth is, they had been silently eroding for decades. Everyone was so busy hiding in corners, trying to maintain cushy benefits packages of days-gone-by in hopes of an early retirement that no one stood up and said what was really happening.
Management took over Leadership.
Management is about maintaining the status quo, keeping everyone and everything under control, achieving logical goals and punishing disobedience … innovation … change of any kind that threatens homeostasis.
The very nature of Leadership requires Soft Skills. People will “buy in” to someone’s leadership and follow someone they know, like and trust. “If no one’s following you, you aren’t leading. You’re just taking a walk.”~Garth McFadden.
There’s a big difference between leading people and babying them though. Leadership skills are hard to learn and use consistently. Great leaders are harder and harder to find because we have so many poor examples in leadership, it’s hard to find someone to model ourselves after.
So … how do we fix this?
Great leaders are not extinct. They do exist. They have powerful command of many soft skills and would be the first to admit there’s many they could improve. Just by admitting this, great leaders display one of many of the Transforming Leadership Skills – Constant Self Improvement (or life long learning).
If you have a team of great leaders who want to be even better, or if you would like to give a boost to a team of leaders at different levels, call the number above or fill out the form below and find out about three different ways your team can experience Transforming Leadership.