Performance Pointers for Companies

Is 'leadership' really a critical factor for corporate success?

Recently, a fellow consultant posted an interesting question on LinkedIn:

WHY is leadership important?

We hear lots on what leadership is, lots on how to develop leaders and leadership development, not so much on why leadership is important today.

It has been interesting to ponder this. Some people have said to me it is important as without it we would flounder, however with leaders developing at all levels in an organization things look a little different. Have we finally realized that people really ARE more important than hard, capital, financial assets and we lead people not things? Any thoughts on this?

Not surprisingly, most of the answers agreed that leadership is VERY important - except me, that is. Perhaps because I had just finished reading a book, that really made me look at, and think of, many so-called common truths in a very different light.

One of the most common experiences among first-time managers is the sinking feeling of never going to be any good at this thing called management. If only they’d told you ahead of time what it would be like, you may very well have declined the honour ... How can anything be so frustrating, and how can anyone get anything done if you’re in meetings with your people all the time? The answer is simple; not easy, just simple. You’re no longer supposed to get things done (yourself). Let me qualify that statement: The things you’re supposed to get done are very, very different from what you used to do, before you became a manager.

Career Pointers for People

How Internal PR May Save Your Job

When working with career transition clients - line managers, project managers, team leads, even senior management - one topic inevitably comes up in the first few weeks: why did you get laid off? The emphasis here is on you. After all, unless the company went entirely out of business, or the entire department was shut down, other employees were kept on, so what did you do (or not do) to find yourself out of a job? And to be sure, plummeting market conditions may well have been the trigger to spark a round of lay-offs… But why you? It’s not a superfluous question at all, nor is it designed to allow the client to wallow in self-pity for a few extra weeks ... No, to be clear, my intent is not to lay blame, or to make my client feel horrible.

The point I try to make: did anyone in charge know exactly what you were doing, and how much value you brought to the company? And if the answer is “No”, then my next question is: why not?