Happy Anniversary to Cowardly Leadership!
Sixty-five posts ago, with It’s What You Do After You Get There, Cowardly Leadership-Up Close and Personal was launched. The week before Christmas may, or may not, have been the best timing, but it is when the opportunity and subjects were available.
Subject Matter
As I’ve written about over the past year, I have worked directly for two cowardly leaders in my career. These are people who are in positions of power and authority, but are not Leaders and therefore are always referred to as lower case leaders.
Cowardly leaders are in positions of authority in all walks of life. Since my background has been primarily in local government, I have focused my personal observations to those that, also, work in local government. Local government is where we all receive and experience the greatest effect in our daily lives. Local government manages our schools, picks up our garbage, provides (or doesn’t provide) parks and greenspace.
However, regardless of what you do or where you work, you have doubtless had your own experiences with cowardly leadership. As always, you are welcomed and encouraged to share those with me, and I am happy to in turn share with the readership. We are all in this together.
During this past year, I also witnessed first-hand examples of cowardly leadership at the elected level of local government. Those that ran, then abdicated their authority. Those that do what politicians do- promise one thing, then do the opposite. Elected officials that refused to hold employees accountable, and those that ran for the glory and prestige, rather than the privilege and responsibility. In this political climate, privilege and responsibility may be a lost cause, and cowardly leadership may become the norm rather than the exception.
That’s up to you.
A Season of Thanks
For those of you who started reading these in the very beginning and are still reading them- thank you. Gluttons for punishment, you are!
For those that joined later and have stuck around, thank you as well.
For anyone who has forwarded these to friends and colleagues and said, “This is something you may like,” that is the best endorsement any writer could get. Thank you and I hope you will continue spreading the word.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to each of you. We will take a break the last week of December and be back in January.
With apologies to Meet the Press: If there is cowardly leadership to write about, there will be Cowardly Leadership-Up Close and Personal.
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