Year: 2017

  I am spreading the gospel of Cowardly Leadership at the Maryland Parks and Recreation Association's annual conference this week.   Therefore, Cowardly Leadership is on hiatus. Look for more examples of cowardly leaders, and their actions, on April 11th. Until then, enjoy The Masters!

Spring is here....finally!!! The Greatest Hits Side B Last week I reviewed some of the most read Cowardly Leadership-Up Close and Personal posts.  Today let's look at some more of the "Greatest Hits." All Leadership Isn't Good Leadership- It took me a long time to realize and understand that a lot of people aren't comfortable in a leadership role, since I always have been.  It took a while, but I eventually learned that there are people in positions of leadership- both elected and appointed- that do not want to be there.  They have authority, but they are not leaders.  In kindergarten, we learned that she is in that position because she deserves to be in that position, otherwise, she wouldn't be in that position. Thankfully, most of us have learned since kindergarten.…

I've mentioned facade leadership at different times throughout these blogs.  I feel confident that others have used that term, although I've never seen it before.  To me, it means pretending to take a tough stance.  Acting as if you are a leader without really being one.  Rallying the citizens and media to issues and debates with fanfare and acclaim, that in reality have little effect or improvement to and for those same citizens. There is an old expression:  "It's like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."  An elected or appointed official can create almost any "issue" of their choosing.  The County Commissioner can ask for public input, create blue ribbon committees, hire a consulting firm, and institute polling- all to determine whether to paint the courthouse blue or green.  Any…

Let's take a stroll back to yesteryear and re-visit some of those golden oldies- the very Greatest Hits of Cowardly Leadership- Up Close and Personal. It's What You Do After You Get There-  IF you boil almost any job down to it's very fundamentals, no one is really qualified for a new job the first day you walk in the door.  You were probably imminently qualified for the previous job you had, but not so much this new one.  Not on the first day. The same goes for elected leaders at the local level.  If you've never held office before, then you aren't qualified to lead a government, especially in the beginning.  We get that.  So all that matters is, "It's What You Do After You Get There."  Do you live…

I've been doing this for a few months, and wanted to detour and ask a question: What's Next? What do you think should come next in the Cowardly Leadership-Up Close and Personal series of leadership blogs? What are themes, or pet peeves, or examples you've seen, that would be good subjects for Cowardly Leadership?  Are there people in positions of leadership who don't lead that would be of interest to share with other readers? If you've been reading these blogs, you know that I quote a lot of people who have good thoughts on leadership.  I'm happy to do so, in fact, it's imperative that I do so.  First, any writer knows to recognize the source.  Second, the more smart people I use as examples, the more credibility these have.  Much of…

    A good friend of mine said this the other day: "The Status Quo is Stupid Here" Cowardly Leaders too often gravitate toward the safe ground.  They operate and supervise from a position of fear.  Safe ground + fear = maintaining Status Quo. David Brooks,  columnist for The New York Times, wrote the following recently:  "We have a word for people who are dominated by fear.  We call them cowards." Great leaders are strategic thinkers, and great leadership is dynamic in nature.  No serious, significant improvement can be made in any governmental organization by maintaining a safe, status quo environment, such as when: The staff organization remains stagnant Current staff are not held accountable Standards are not improved or increased- what has been, is good enough Internal review is ignored, i.e., the possibility…

    A good friend of mine said this the other day: "The Status Quo is Stupid Here" Cowardly Leaders too often gravitate toward the safe ground.  They operate and supervise from a position of fear.  Safe ground + fear = maintaining Status Quo. David Brooks,  columnist for The New York Times, wrote the following recently:  "We have a word for people who are dominated by fear.  We call them cowards." Great leaders are strategic thinkers, and great leadership is dynamic in nature.  No serious, significant improvement can be made in any governmental organization by maintaining a safe, status quo environment, such as when: The staff organization remains stagnant Current staff are not held accountable Standards are not improved or increased- what has been, is good enough Internal review is ignored, i.e., the possibility…

This is #3 in the "C" series of posts on the qualities that make up real, authentic Leadership.  The first is the quality of being Capable.  Almost everyone has capability to be really good at something. Then comes Credible.  You may be capable, but it doesn't mean you have credibility; however, you can't be credible unless you are first capable. Next in line is Confident and Comfortable. Confidence is Sexy https://youtu.be/bZ5spLy22mg Real confidence, quiet confidence, is the confidence that exudes from someone who obviously knows what he is talking about.  And sometimes not even talking about, but just quietly doing. Confidence in this realm is really self-confidence.  The ability to believe in yourself and have knowledge that you will accomplish what it is you are attempting.  This is the point at which…

  Expert: "Someone who carries a briefcase and lives more than 50 miles away." We have all heard the joke above.  The one describing people who are hired from the outside to assist a local government.  Unfortunately, the problem with the joke is that it trivializes someone that is brought in to solve a very important problem.  It trivializes an actual expert. The flip side of that coin is what happens when the expert doesn't live 50 miles away.  What happens when the expert is local?  Too often, there are two sets of criteria. Ignoring the Obvious What makes local governmental officials conclude that only when they hire someone from the "outside", i.e. from 50 miles away (with a briefcase) do they get an expert?  I don't know, but I've seen it…

Integrity The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It's a pretty simple definition yet powerful in just what it says.  Starting off with "being honest." I've been lied to in the workplace and I've been lied to in an advisory role with people I considered colleagues.  I've been ordered to lie by a cowardly leader (HERE -I refused by the way).  There isn't much I can think of that eliminates the integrity of an individual in the workplace and in their elected position more quickly than lying.  It's impossible to be honest, have strong moral principles- to have integrity- and lie.  But politicians and people in positions of power do it all the time. Courage Courage and integrity are interwoven.  It is practically impossible to be courageous and not have integrity, and equally,…