HOW TO FAIL AS A LEADER

by Dr. Adalat Khan

Behind the failure of civilizations, governments, organizations and even small teams and groups perhaps the one and only one factor always blamed is Leadership. It is probably due to the fact that people, followers, and even opponents expect a lot from a leader. A leader is thus most of the time rightly or wrongly blamed for the failure and disasters of their organizations and assigned missions. Leaders are sometimes to be blamed because they make disastrous mistakes which bring them down. As such every leader must avoid certain key leadership mistakes. A lot has been written about how to become a good leader, however there are a few information resources on how to avoid leadership mistakes. The list of leadership mistakes can be very long but the following are the top 10 leadership mistakes derived from leadership research which are worth avoiding.

TOP 10 LEADERSHIP MISTAKES WORTH AVOIDING:

1. POWER HUNGRY:

Excessive control vested in a leader alone makes others powerless and key decisions which are to be made by the down layer gets delayed or are never made. Moreover a leader who is power hungry and wishes to retain all control in his/her hands will never be liked as people will feel disempowered and may even revolt against them. A leader must therefore share power with able adjutants and empower others.

2. OVER INDULGENCE IN PLEASURE:

Hieronymus Bosch painted a famous master piece of art entitled The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things in 1485. The painting is presented in a series of circular images. Four small circles, detailing "Death", "Judgement", "Hell", and "Glory", surround a larger circle in which the seven deadly sins are depicted: wrath at the bottom, then proceeding clockwise, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, extravagance (later, lust), and pride. So extravagance or over indulgence in personal pleasure and succumbing to lust is one of the deadly sins which can bring down a leader. Whether it is a political or a corporate leader indulging in undue pleasure can be a one way ticket to disgrace and downfall. History is replete of myriad of examples where kings and rulers instead of running the day to day affairs of their people spent more time playing with their many concubines and mistresses and lost whatever they inherited or possessed.

3. DECLINE IN CHARACTER:

Moral derailment and decline leading to a poor character is also a deadly mistake which can destroy a leader. Corruption, laziness, cronyism etc. are some of the symbols of moral decline which proves deadly to a leader´s career. Korn-Ferry International, an executive search company, performed a survey on what organizations want from their leaders. The respondents said they wanted people who were both ethical and who convey a strong vision of the future. In any organization, a leader's actions set the pace.

4. SURROUNDED BY FLATTERERS:

A person who tells you the truth is your best friend rather than the one who tells you lies and flatter you. Many a leaders destroyed themselves and their organizations because the people surrounding them were telling them what these leaders wanted to hear rather what ought to be told. This made them out of touch with reality and committed ruinous blunders. Whether it was the attack and defeat of John F. Kennedy in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, or president Bush´s attack on Iraq on false grounds one can not but blame both of them by surrounding themselves with people who withheld truth from them and rather told them what they wished to hear, ultimately bringing shame and disgrace and destruction to themselves and others. The Bush mistakes will ultimately also prove a victory for democrats in the coming US polls.

5. ARROGANCE:

Perhaps the most fatal of all mistakes for a leader is arrogance. My mother always says that when " ants get wings they die". So when God wants to destroy someone He first makes that person arrogant. Blind overconfidence in one´s capabilities, dismissing good ideas from others, and too much pride in oneself are some of the hallmarks of an arrogant leader. Arrogant leaders dig their own graves as they tune out even some of the most beneficial ideas which others bring up to them. On the other hand humility is a good trait which helps leaders succeed in their given tasks. Kouzes and Posner, leadership experts, maintain that even exemplary leaders gain the support of all of the individuals involved in a task; they state, "Titles are granted, but it´s your behavior that wins you respect."



6. REFUSAL TO CHANGE:

Change is a very popular word and there are books, seminars, articles, and journals which teach people how to change. Rightly so, change is a fact of life as every seconds of our life is experiencing change. A good leader must change and remain in control of the changing environments. Not only must leaders change but facilitate changes in their people too. Sadly some leaders opt for death than to change and it so happens that not only they die alone but kill their nations, corporations, and organizations.

7. BLAMING OTHERS BUT ONESELF:

Many a mediocre leaders are adept in the blame game. They blame others, environment, even God for their mistakes. A great leader shoulders the responsibility and accepts his/her mistakes. In fact when it is the mistakes even of their followers good leaders take it on themselves. Simply saying "sorry my mistake" is much better than blaming others as people do not like an arrogant leader. A leader who takes the blame in fact earns the respect of his/her people. The Ex US president Henry Truman used to keep The sign "The Buck Stops Here" on his desk in his White House office

8. INDECISION:

One of the biggest leadership diseases is indecision. Sometimes a leader has to make tough, unpopular, and painful decisions but they must be made as they are needed. Indecision can cripple a leader as the fear can overwhelm them into inaction and thus miss many opportunities. Not only will it affect the success you have as a leader, but it will negatively affect almost every facet of your people and organization. The main job of a leader is to make good decisions and if they lack this trait they do not deserve to be the leader of their people. If you are indecisive you will soon lose the respect of everyone around you and the organization as a whole will also lose a lot.

9. TAKING UNDUE CREDIT:

Great leaders always give credit to others when it is due as they believe that rewarding at least verbally the contribution of others will encourage them to do more for the cause. However one of the most despicable mistakes committed by some leaders is that they take all the credit themselves even if they do not deserve it. This alienates and discourages others who ultimately withhold credit due to the leader. Please note that your role as a leader is not to do everything yourself rather facilitate others to achieve organizational goals and give them credit when they do that.

10. UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR:

The ethical behaviour of a leader is that behaviour which aligns with legal, moral, societal, spiritual and human values. All actions which go against these values will be regarded as unethical. In the corporate as well as political spheres there is a renewed quest for dominating others even through unethical means. In the corporate world, in order to achieve greater competitiveness and market share businesses use all sorts of unethical strategies to win and defeat their competitors. These approaches not only prove disastrous for the leaders but the fire engulf and destroy their organizations too. Recent corporate scandals such as Enron and WorldCom are symptoms of unethical behavior which proved devastating not only for the leaders but for the whole organizations too.

Nothing is more disastrous than the mistakes made by a leader as leadership mistakes at times drown companies, countries, and even great civilizations. There are many mistakes which account for the debacle of a leader and the organizations they lead. It will take volume to write them all. However research in the leadership fields have singled out the top 10 deadliest mistakes as outlined here which are worth avoiding by all leaders. If you do not wish to fail as a leader you must particularly avoid these common leadership mistakes.

tunku : pak lah should read this.