Leadership BS (Bullshit) - Fixing workplaces and careers one truth at a time - Jeffrey Pfeffer
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The leadership industry has failed over ist roughly
forty-year history to in any major, meaningful, measurable way improve the
human condition
First, you need to take care of yourself. […] The
pursuit of individual self-interest just might be, as virtually all economics wiring
and theory since the time of Adam Smith teaches, good not just for you but also
generally beneficial for the social systems including the work organizations in
which you live.
Absolutely no evidence that these conditions [that
workplaces are toxic environments that are bad for the people working in them
with negative consequences for employers] are substantially different in other
countries or that things are getting better over time.
”failing upwards”: the political dynamics and
particularly the requirement for managing his relationships with his bosses by
doing whatever they wanted and flattering them endlessly.
One critical time for derailment is when, in their
first jobs postgraduation, people move from positions where they can succeed
mostly on the basis of their individual performance and into more
interdependent roles where political skills become more important. [...] At that
point, the differentiating factor is the ability to navigate increasingly
politically charged environments that are peopled by those who mostly do not
fulfill the leadership industry’s prescriptions.
The problem is that for a social group to function as
an adaptive unit, its members must do things for each other. Yet, these
group-advantageous behaviours seldom
maximize relative fitness [for a given individual] within the social
group. [...] Leaders frequenty focus on their own careers and what's good for them
[New CFO twitters on Day1:] Task#1: Undermine the CEO, consolidate power.
Many of the people offering leadership advice have a)
either never held a leadership position, or b) if they have, were notoriously
unsuccessful in it, or c) often promulgated leadership prescriptions almost
inconsistent with their own behavior.
To the extent there are evaluative measures […] the
resources expended or consumed on leadership training and development, not
whether anything happened as a consequence.
Evaluation sheets: Feedback of participants: “Happy
Sheets”. Participants’ self-reported satisfaction. “Smiley-face” indicators of
success. => Very small and statistically insignificant relationship between
student evaluations and learning. => and contraproductive: Likely to change
the behaviors of presenters in ways that make learning and personal growth less
likely. => Whether they are having a good time and are feeling good. =>
failure to measure results. => Simply stated, measuring entertainment value
produces great entertainment, not change
What’s more, doing
the opposite of what the leadership industry advocates is sometimes a much
better, more reliable path to individual success.
Not only do individuals perceive themselves to be
above average for most positive attributes and believe that the qualities in
which they excel are the most important, but individuals will also selectively
remember their successes and forget their failures or shortcomings.
Her peer was not interested in “repairing a
relationship” or behaving with trust and authenticity; he was interested in
taking over her team for his own advantage.
People not only have problems in their current
positions, but they also lose out on attractive job opportunities by believing
in the prescriptions so frequently roffered for how leaders should behave. [...]
People suffer career troubles because they believed what they were told in the
books, blogs, and talks.
Go home and throw
out the numerous leadership books – or better yet, give them to career
competitors.
Most leadership roles are ambiguous – there is
uncertainty about what the leader should do, uncertainty about who would be
best in that position, and frequently even a lack of clarity about how people
are performing in their leadership roles.
Once people form an impression, they ignore discrepant
information and seek out and overvalue confirming evidence. If you project
confidence and claim competence with enough conviction to be credible,
observers will tend to assimilate any information about you in ways consistent
with the idea that you know what you are doing and are deserving of a position
of leadership.
In order for you to
be selected for a leadership role, it is necessary, that those doing the
selecting notice you. => Exposure
effect => It helps to be known, to have a brand, to, simply put, stand out
=> Engaging in behaviors that draw
attention to an individuals positive qualities, past accomplishments, future
plans, and also deservingness of jobs, money, or promotions. =>
Overconfident individuals achieve higher status, respect, and influence
in groups.
Energy, dominance,
self-confidence, and charisma. More extraverted and have higher self-esteem. Narcissists
are more likely to engage in behaviors that make them more noticeable and
noteworthy. They are more likely to push their own point of view and advocate
in their own interests more aggressively. Helps them to dominate the social
group => Their judgements are rendered with such conviction, other people
tend to believe them and the narcissists become disproportionately more
influential in group situations.
She is relentlessly
upbeat and positive in public. Because being enthusiastic and confident is an
essential quality for entrepreneurs, regardless of what they may be feeling on
the inside. The ability to not succumb to personal feelings or predilections
seems like a crucial trait for high performers in many domains. => The last
thing a leader needs to be at crucial moments is “authentic”, being both in
touch with and exhibiting their true feelings. In fact, being authentic is
pretty much the opposite of what leaders must do. Leaders need to be true to
what the situation and what those around them want and need from them. The
reassurance that things will work out and the confidence that they are on the
right track.
Middle-class families prepare their children for
emotion management. (The emotions they display to others)
Getting along, let alone being successful in
the world, often requires a large amount of inauthenticity and self-regulation.
Leaders need to be and do what their followers and society require, not what
the leader feels like being or doing at the moment.
As you move up the
organizational ladder, you lose the freedom to ac t on your personal beliefs,
feelings, and predilections – your “authentic self” – and you have to direct
your behavior according much more to what you need to do to be successful,
regardless of how you feel at the moment.
We become what we do (People change and grow all the time as a result of
their work experience)
Learning and
adapting to what we do never stops. So what does it mean to be true to
yourself? Is that your high-school self? Your college self? Your postcollege
self? Your role as a friend? A family member? An employee? A leader?
You need to learn how to be successful in the
environments you confront
One of the most important leadership skills is the
ability to put on a show, to act like a leader, to act in a way that inspires
confidence and garners support. Draws on the craft of acting and the science
of psychology. The message: Act powerful and you become powerful. People develop leadership qualities by practicing
them, by acting them out and rehearsing them until they become natural and part
of the individual.
Companies have apparently decided that telling people
the truth about their actual promotion prospects will demotivate them.
Companies will lose those solid performers who make things run but who do not
see much potential for further career growth. Companies that lead people to
believe they have better promotion prospects than they actually do maintain
more positive relationships with their employees. People frequently see
themselves as above average and are prone in many instances to engage in
wishful thinking.
If employees believe that a company is going to fail,
they will leave – and the best ones, who have the greatest chance of finding
other good jobs, will leave first. As talent drains out, the odds of turning
the company around are reduced. Thus, one important task of leaders is to
convince their employees that success is possible. Believing in success, people
will expend more effort and exhibit more confidence, and by so doing, whereby
create success. In many instances, leaders convince customers, investors,
talented employees by presenting the organization as more successful than it
really is. This is why I often say that
the ability to misrepresent reality is a crucial, maybe the most crucial,
leadership skill.
Leaders share little or nothing in common with those
they lead. Growing
frequency of outside succession into leadership, leaders share few experiences
with the people they are leading. Share little common history or experience
with the rank and file.
You may think that your employer owes you something
for your past contributions and good work – but most employers don’t agree.
Companies look after themselves and their own interests to ensure their
survival and prosperity. If you hold the expectation that your hard work and
good efforts are invariably going to be appreciated, acknowledged, and rewarded
by your employer in perpetuity, it’s time to get over yourself.
“What were you thinking? If you need to work to
support yourself, you need to a) always, and I mean always, be looking for new
jobs both within your current employer and one on the outside so you have
options available to you at all times, and b) be constantly working on your
relationships with your new boss.
Self-interest as a
guiding principle: Try doing precisely what companies have told you to
do for decades, and what the fundamental principle of economics has advocated
since the time of Adam Smith. Take care
of yourself and assiduously look out for your own interests in your life inside
work organizations. => And presume that others are acting on the basis of
their self-interest, and you will be better equipped to forecast and understand
their actions.
Sometimes, maybe even often, the choice comes down to
playing the game, whatever that game is, the way others do or losing.
