In the first part we looked at seven truths about leadership. Continuing along the same lines, we now look more closely at some of the myths about good leaders, such as work-life balance.
0. Work-life balance
Through their biographies, great leaders have given the impression that they lived for their work and nothing else. That was the secret of their success, but over time it was also the cause of their decline. Studying figures such as Steve Jobs or Jack Welch, who is considered the best executive of the 20th century, we can see an upward line after a setback: a before and after at the moment they understood that if you enjoy the things outside work, your work in the company takes on far more meaning.
Some people are so devoted to their career or company that they can lose sight of how human beings think. Great leaders try to keep that work-life balance, a balance through which they also learn about other people, gain perspective and draw energy from people outside work.
In the end, success at work isn’t worth it if you have no one to celebrate it with outside work. This is a truth that many executives ignore until they run into a kind of existential decline.
1. The leader has all the answers
A leader doesn’t need to have all the answers. In fact, nobody has all the answers. Leaders also move through swampy, unknown terrain.
2. Leadership happens at the top
Many people mistakenly think that leaders are found only in management positions, when the truth is that there can be excellent leaders at any level of the organisation chart. Many companies bring in leaders from outside because they haven’t managed to recognise the leader they already have somewhere in the company.
3. They are good leaders because they hated having someone above them
Not true. History tells us that the vast majority of leaders are excellent leaders because they were great followers. In fact, many of today’s leaders inherited their way of leading from their mentor. Once again, we stress the importance of having a mentor or a valid role model to follow.
4. Only a lucky few are born with leadership skills
False. If we take ten motivated incompetents and put them under an excellent leader, we might get one, two or perhaps four great leaders out of them. If, on the other hand, we take 20 people with leadership skills and abilities and keep them under a terrible manager, we’ll get zero leaders. “Talent alone is nothing if it isn’t developed, while anyone can come to have talent if they work very hard to acquire it.”
5. Leaders can get everyone to agree with their ideas
Not true. As we explained in the previous article, a leader often makes many unpopular decisions that aren’t understood at first, and as their success grows, so do their enemies, both inside and outside the company. Even so, good leaders are always open to contrary ideas from their team. That’s what a good leader is like.
6. A leader’s mission is to lead
Well… fine… but that’s only half true. A leader’s job isn’t just to lead a flock of sheep. In the end, a good leader is measured by the number of leaders they have created under their command. In other words: “A good leader makes leaders.”
7. Leaders inspire trust
Put that way, it might seem that leaders have a gift, or give off a special light that hypnotises people. Not true. Leaders earn people’s trust. How do they earn it?
First, they show that they are competent and competitive. They don’t make some of the serious leadership mistakes seen in some companies, where the boss takes credit for the team’s achievements but blames the team when something goes wrong. Make a mistake like that and you will have destroyed your team’s trust. And ultimately, a leader is followed blindly when the workers have blind faith in their leader.
8. Anyone can be a leader
Not true, and I know I’m contradicting myself to some extent. It’s true that anyone can learn and develop leadership skills, but it’s also true that if you’re no good as a person, if you lack integrity in your personal life, aren’t honest outside work and aren’t orderly in your daily life, you can forget about being a great leader. In fact, you wouldn’t even make a mediocre one.
In short: “If you’re worthless as a person, you’re worthless as a leader.”
Anyone can be taught to develop leadership skills, but past a certain age there are personality traits we can no longer change. We can hide them (but only for a while).
9. A leader never breaks down
As we explained earlier, this is probably one of the biggest myths that have grown up around leaders. The secret isn’t never falling, because you will certainly fall at some point. The secret lies in getting back up after each fall. The leader has the team’s back, and it’s the team that must show it can also have the leader’s back when the leader is exhausted.
Read: Lessons in smart leadership
Featured image: Underwood & Underwood, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
