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 decision point can be made to be “important” if enough attention is given to it by elected officials. The real question, however, is if the issue is significantly, strategically, really, a step forward, or, is it just facade leadership?
Activity is not accomplishment. Being busy is not the same as being productive.
The Difference
Real leaders know that a five-year old can make decisions when nothing is on the line. Going back to the nautical metaphor- anyone can steer the ship- it takes a leader to chart the course. Vision is critically important, but just as important are the myriad of operational, tactical decisions that must be made to get from step 1 to step 6,329, when the vision begins to take shape. Cowardly Leaders shy away from making the tough decisions. But more significantly, and more importantly, they avoid putting themselves in those situations in the first place. If the ship stays in port, then no decision is necessary regarding direction, destination, speed, and capability of the crew. The Cowardly Leader’s pernicious tendency to spend time re-arranging the deck chairs can, and probably will, look better than what was there before. At least for a while. But then what?
Cowardly Leaders ask poetic questions. True, courageous leaders look for pragmatic answers.
II-25
