Comments on: Eight Things Leaders Never Do

By: The Owner's Manual

The Owner's Manual — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:34:12 +0000

#138 Best of Me Symphony

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By: V.VIJAYAMOHAN

V.VIJAYAMOHAN — Sun, 14 May 2006 11:15:14 +0000

The beauty of the list is that you call it “Eight Things Leaders Never do”, but, the list also very clearly states (or implies)the “Eight Things Leaders invariably do”. I do like the list.
But, the problem with leadership is that the leaders always tend to polarise the world between their followers and others (non-followers). If they don’t do it – their followers invariably do it! So, we also need to examine – what is wrong with leadership?? You and I know that many problems of the world are – are always – becuase of LEADERS and LEADERSHIP. Leadership literature is not rich in this aspect today.

By: Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou — Sat, 13 May 2006 19:21:11 +0000

9. Leaders never space out their lists for increased readability.

By: J. Timothy King

J. Timothy King — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 02:28:39 +0000

Ba-dum bum.

Seriously, though, even though these are well known enough to be cliches, they are frequently neglected. Unfortunately, trite means obvious, and obvious means overlooked.

-TimK

By: Lindsay L

Lindsay L — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:27:58 +0000

9. Leaders always spout cliche phrases.

By: J. Timothy King

J. Timothy King — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:40:13 +0000

Hi, Paul and Rob. Thanks for writing. I agree that a leader sticks up for his constituents. This topic wants its own post. Briefly, I still think I should not say, “It can’t be done.” For example, if someone came to me with an idea for a perpetual-motion machine, I would look at what needs to happen to do it. Because of the nature of the universe, these things would not happen. Some of them have nothing to do with science. How do you get funding for the project? If a PHB wanted a perpetual-motion machine on his desk the next morning, I also would not say, “It can’t be done.” but I would also refuse to commit to that goal. That’s just professionalism. Because before I can commit to any goal, I need to talk to my team and find out whether we can deliver. That’s leadership.

What do you think? Does that make sense?

-TimK

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:47:11 +0000

Paul – There’s a big difference between something that can’t be done, *ever*, and something that can’t be done *yet*. A leader who sees the small steps that lead to the big breakthroughs will get closer to the ultimate goal than one who just sees it as one huge leap at once.

By: Paul Brown

Paul Brown — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:45:57 +0000

Reasonable, if a little trite, advice, but I must take issue with point 1; a leader has a responsibility to recognise when something genuinely cannot be done. Anyone who claims “anything can be done” please have an antigravtiy drive and a perpetual motion machine on my desk by tomorrow morning. A true leader knows the capabilities and limitations of their team and defends them to others against unreasonable or unacheivable demands. A leader who claims that anything can be done is setting up their team for a fall.

By: Interesting Links on Leadership, Software - blog.dominik.net

Interesting Links on Leadership, Software - blog.dominik.net — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 06:15:35 +0000

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By: J. Timothy King

J. Timothy King — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 15:02:46 +0000

Thanks for writing, John. By “argue,” I mean “fight.” I’m sorry for the ambiguity, and I’ll fix this.

-TimK