Viv picks out some nice ideas from Phelim McDermott on the subject of leadership.
“We love the security of the illusion that someone is in control. Even more than the discomfort of a potentially more creative process. That’s how we want our leaders: ”Reassuringly blameable.”
Of course carrying that blameability accounts for a lot of the crankier behaviour we see in managers.
I don’t like to get too caught up in competing definitions of leadership, but I think Phelim’s is pretty thought provoking:
Well I think I would say it’s to model being comfortable with being uncomfortable. To be comfortable not knowing.
I think leadership is often mixed up with a kind of vehement conviction and I think this provides a good pushback to that.