10 Misleading Leadership Theories

Leadership is not an ethereal concept. It’s not as cinematic as you might think. It is about one simple and profoundly human thing--Influence. In this episode Tim and Junior breakdown 10 misleading leadership theories and how to avoid them. It's a straightforward and practical episode focused on core leadership lessons we can all learn from.

(13:32) Leadership is not about charisma. Just because you have a personal magnetism, dash, and style it doesn't make you a leader. Charisma can be deceptive and superficial. Don't let charisma be the only qualification for leadership.

(15:50) Leadership is not about eloquence. Eloquence, like charisma, can be deceiving. The question is "see what's behind them, what lies underneath those traits, because if what lies beneath is high quality, it's high character, it's good ethics, it's all of those things, then absolutely, add charisma to the pile, add eloquence."

(22:03) Leadership is not about power. Your position, title, and authority cannot be proxy for leadership. "This is a diagnostic question that anyone can ask, and that is when you're looking at leaders, ask the question, "Is there fear around them? Do they produce fear? Do they use fear? Are they cultivating fear?" Fear is symptomatic of poor leadership.

(26:31) Leadership is not about seniority. The passage of time "does not translate into greater experience, knowledge, expertise, competency, all of those things."

(29:57) Leadership is not about scale. You are not by virtue of the fact that you're working on some important scalable issue, then by extension and by affiliation and by association a great leader.

(32:08) Leadership is not about popularity. "The danger, I think, as leaders is when we're aiming at popularity." Oscar Wilde said, "Popularity is the penalty of success." Popularity can insulate you from critique. "You enter an echo chamber."

(35:29) Leadership is not about fame. "You can see how people get to this point of thinking that popularity is synonymous with leadership. "Oh, this person has a massive following, right? They must be able to lead." That's certainly not true."

(37:47) Leadership is not about winning. We do want our leaders to be competent but, "if you're framing leadership is about winning, then that's a zero-sum adversarial frame. You can do better than that."

(39:32) Leadership is about wealth. We cannot judge someones ability to lead simply by the number of zero's in their bank account. Wealth is not a proxy for leadership.

(42:38) Leadership is not about education. Simply having a degree or credential doesn't make one a leader. We do want highly competent people in leadership positions. However, gaining competence alone does not endow you with the ability to lead.

Some people possess all of these things and are not leaders. Others possess none of these things and are. These 10 things only point to the possibility of leadership, but make no promises.

Important Links
Leading with Character and Competence - Book
10 Things Leadership is Not - Download

Psychological Safety Podcast Series
Stage One: Inclusion Safety
Stage Two: Learner Safety
Stage Three: Contributor Safety
Stage Four: Challenger Safety
Overview: What is Psychological Safety
Bonus: What Psychological Safety is Not