To lead or not to lead: that is the (courageous) question
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-01-2020-0007 |
| Pages | 55-58 |
| Date | 28 February 2020 |
| Published date | 28 February 2020 |
| Author | Javier Bajer |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
To lead or not to lead: that is the
(courageous) question
Javier Bajer
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to challenge the constructs regularly used by organisations
aroundthe world for the development of leadership.
Design/methodology/approach –This is an opinion piece based on directobservation of hundreds of
organisationsover the years.
Findings –The regular approaches used for the development of leadership skills in organisations
have consistently failed to deliver against its promise. Moreover, it is often the case that
organisations pursue new ‘‘solutions’’ to bridge the leadership gap, often to discover that their new
approach not only failed to develop the skills needed but also had the side effect of distracting vast
amounts of attention. This paper describes what, if not the various taxonomies that describe, ‘‘good
leadership’’ looks like really and how it delivers sustainable and effective leadership
transformation.
Originality/value –This piece challenges the status quo, offering a more powerful way of connecting
people with the purpose of theirwork, increasing the impact that individual leadershipcould have in the
creationof value for all stakeholders, including themselves.
Keywords Change, Leadership, Culture, Tired of wasting time
Paper type Viewpoint
Have you ever wondered why, despiteall our efforts to attract, assess, develop and
reward leadership talent, we blame poor leadership for the failure of our
strategies?
I get a sense of de
´ja
`vu:
A business guru, a retired executive, a sports personality, a politician, an orchestradirector or a
catastrophe survivor each come up with a great new idea around leadership and they each write
a book about this great new idea.
Any great new ideas come with some sort of taxonomy: a list of styles, behaviours, traits,
preferences, types, crucibles, qualities, characteristics or attributes. This list cannot be very
short, as its authority could be considered simplistic. Not too long either, as it is important to
avoid giving the impression of being too ‘academic’.
At some point, a manager will have to use these dimensions to assess the performance of
thousands of people. Since subjectivity can be a problem, it is essential that the
dimensions used for these assessments are objectively quantifiable and fair to measure
(such as resilience, intuition, teamwork, client-facing attitude, change-orientation, etc.)
Figure 1.
The best great new ideas have to be simple, but not too simple. To work well, they need to
awaken two feelings at the same time: familiarity (‘it makes sense’) and completeness (‘this
includes all there is to know about Leadership’).
Javier Bajer is a Cultural
Architect based in London,
UK.
Javier Bajer’s teams have
helped create the cultures of
some of the most recognised
brands today. They also
support governments in the
acceleration of changes of
people’s behaviours in cities
and countries.
DOI 10.1108/SHR-01-2020-0007 VOL. 19 NO. 2 2020, pp. 55-58, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 jSTRATEGIC HR REVIEW jPAGE 55
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