A Failure of Nerve
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Friedman, Edwin H. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. New York: Seabury Books, 2007.
The more my perspective broadened, the more confirmed I became in my view that contemporary leadership dilemmas have less to do with the specificity of given problems, the nature of a particular technique, or the makeup of a given group than with the way everyone is framing the issues.
In any type of institution whatsoever, when a self-directed, imaginative, energetic, or creative member is being consistently frustrated and sabotaged rather than encouraged and supported, what will turn out to be true one hundred percent of the time, regardless of whether the disrupters are supervisors, subordinates, or peers, is that the person at the very top of that institution is a peace-monger. By that I mean a highly anxious risk-avoider, someone who is more concerned with good feelings than with progress, someone whose life revolves around the axis of consensus, a “middler,” someone who is so incapable of taking well-defined stands that his “disability” seems to be genetic, someone who functions as if she had been filleted of her backbone, someone who treats conflict or anxiety like ## mustard gas–one whiff, on goes the emotional gas mask, and he flits. Such leaders are often “nice,” if not charming.
What counts is the leader’s presence and being, not technique and know-how. …
A Brief Lesson In Leadership – Audio TidBits Podcast
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Pitch in and do what needs done.
Leaders are doers. This is a simple principle but a proactive leader has elevated it to an art form. You can count on a proactive leader to do what needs done and to give his 110%. Lazy is not a term anyone uses when talking about a proactive leader.
What you also need to know is that he expects the same from everyone on his team. Put this in context though. Pitching in does not apply to other people’s work. If it needs done and they are not doing it, you can be certain it will get done, even if he needs to do it himself. At the same time, a proactive leader will take whatever action is necessary to assure such negligence does not recur. Doing what needs done starts with doing what you are expected to do.
Having said that, there is always this and that needing done with no one specifically responsible for doing it. On a proactive leader’s team, it does not have to be said that he will and does pitch in. The same level of responsibility and initiative is the order of the day for everyone else. …