Year: 2017

A good Tuesday to everyone, and hopefully you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and took time to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we can do what we do. What I've Learned So Far Moving is a pain no matter how many times you do it, but this latest one was the largest and most complicated by far.  Couple that with part of a load in and load out being in a monsoon- where nothing goes well- and it was the most stressful yet.  Therefore, the blog today is a little late and a little less lesson-oriented.  I'm still looking for my keyboard, printer, socks, alarm clock... Four Things I've Learned, or Re-Learned  Leadership can and does happen in all formats and within all scenarios.  It…

Five Ways To Deal With Cowardly Leadership - Part II Last week I wrote about how you the citizen and voter and employee can affect change in dealing with Cowardly Leaders.  I outlined the first three of five ways that all of us can deal with and influence Cowardly Leadership.  If you missed it, read it here. Now, let's look at the final two methods. Fourth- Research and Communicate Become involved.  Go to the School Board Meeting at times when there is nothing on the agenda that concerns you.  Go to the City Council meeting to see how the meetings are conducted.  Find out who really is making the decisions- is it the chief elected official?  The hired staff person?  Other elected officials?  Important people in the audience?  Find out. Talk…

Embed from Getty Images Five Ways to Deal With Cowardly Leadership Last week I outlined four of the most egregious traits that Cowardly Leaders possess.  Turning over their authority and power to others.  Being yes men regardless of the topic.  Becoming self appointed experts. I witnessed that first hand recently in an election where a council member with no municipal experience whatsoever-none-self proclaimed he was the expert in hiring procedures.  Confidence is believing you're good.  Cockiness is believing you're better than anyone else.  Hubristic arrogance is believing it with no experience to back it up. How Can We Deal With Cowardly Leadership? The $64,000 question- sometimes a lot more than that, in fact- is what to do about it.  What do you do, and more to the point, what can you do?…

Four Traits Cowardly Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Many are elected officials in cities and counties and school boards across the U.S. A good percentage are politically appointed and have as their primary duty the responsibility of saying “yes” whenever asked by the person who placed them there. Regardless of the position, cowardly leaders have certain attributes in common. If you witness any of these four traits in your local leaders that cowardly leaders possess, you can be pretty confident that they are a Cowardly Leader. I.  Façade Leadership A common tactic from cowardly leaders is to celebrate false issue victories. They elevate, or create, issues that have little importance and minor impact to their community or jurisdiction, and then celebrate those “wins” as if they were important…

I wrote about the "good enough for government work" attitude here.  I never want to live in a city that strives to be no worse than anywhere else.  I'm betting that you don't, either. Mediocre Leaders Joseph Grenny, writing in the Harvard Business Review,  says:  "(Executives) have no moral authority to ask other managers to hold people accountable if you're not doing so yourself...Unfortunately, if you're hoping for a silver bullet to address a mediocre performer, I have little to offer.  Chronic mediocrity is a symptom of ineffective leadership, not anemic personnel." Local elected officials, in order to have any degree of credibility, AND, in order to affect real change in an organization, must do the following: Hold themselves accountable and to the highest reasonable standard; Hold their employees accountable and to…

Unlikable? I know, right?  That's like saying cowards run from danger, or teenagers hate waking up early, or "yes men" keep their jobs by being, well, yes men. But there is a little more to the story.  We all have worked with incompetent people who nevertheless kept their jobs.  We have wondered from time to time how they were still employed. But then we would go to lunch with them and have a great time.  We would stop at their desk because that's where people hung out.  No matter what we might ask him or her to do, they would promise it and were "glad to help" (even though secretly we knew that the help would be late in coming if it actually came at all).   They have great…

In honor and celebration of the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942- 75 years ago- today's Cowardly Leadership will focus on Courageous Leadership instead.  Sometimes, comparing, contrasting, and juxtaposition are just as relevant and informative as sticking to the message. The Doolittle Raid If you aren't a World War II historian, then take a few minutes and watch the clip from the movie Pearl Harbor.  You know, that love triangle story that had some shooting in it.  The one where Alec Baldwin plays Lt Col James Doolittle who led the raid on Tokyo four months after Pearl Harbor. https://youtu.be/924lASpybZ4 The Real Story The movie is true as far as it goes.  We had Army Air Force B-25 Bombers on board a U.S. Navy Carrier loaded to bomb Tokyo.  It was a one-way mission…

I remember from my younger days going to church that one of the lessons was that no one is immune from sin, and everyone who goes to church is a sinner.  You don't go to church to prove that you aren't, you go to church to be a better person and to try and sin less. So it is with Cowardly Leaders.  I am a Cowardly Leader.  You are a Cowardly Leader. Everyone is a Cowardly Leader The point of writing a blog on Cowardly Leadership-Up Close and Personal isn't to say that I have never been a coward in a leadership role.  I have.  I have wondered what to do and have been timid in making a decision, afraid that it wouldn't be the right one. There have been times when I have failed…

First, I want to thank all the great people in Maryland at the MPRA Conference last week-the Cowardly Leadership session was standing room only, and despite the technical glitches was a fun session, at least for me.  I had a great time and hope to see you all again soon! Now, for one of the biggest challenges: Working for a Cowardly Leader So what do you do? You work for a Cowardly Leader.  He is a political appointee whose biggest trait and talent is saying "yes" to the boss.  Not only does he not believe in speaking truth to power, he doesn't believe in you speaking truth to power, either.  In other words, whatever you do, do NOT speak out regarding issues that need addressing.  Do NOT recommend anything that is not already…

Insecurity...and Leadership? One of the challenges of using Cowardly Leadership as the title of these blogs is that, by definition, it is in itself an oxymoron.  Yet, we all know people who meet the definition, so it nevertheless "fits."  In the same way, a logical, rational person agrees that insecurity and leadership are also very much oppositional concepts.  I mean, how can someone be, really, an insecure leader?   As I write about personal examples I have seen,  and research traits of cowardly leaders, a few commonalities become clear.  I've written about many of these, and I encourage you to look through the archives and read (or re-read) to have an idea of some of what Cowardly Leaders do:  abdication of power, the "know-it-all" mentality, hubris and infallibility, and others.  Those who…