Difficulties
being a leader
Amongst
the dangers that threaten the leader and which can determine a negative
influence, we can point out the following:
Self-important:
all leaders should have a high level of self-confidence, but without
being arrogant.
The leader
usually moves in high powered circles, he brushes with influential
people, his demands are carried out without objections, nobody questions
his decisions, his presence instils respects in his subordinates,
surrounding him are people that constantly flatter him.
All of
these factors can make the leader, little by little, end up feeling
self-important, believe that he is superior, infallible, in possession
of the truth.
If this
happens, he will not listen to other opinions, he will believe that
he doesn’t need to ask for advice, he will start turning into
an authoritarian person that demands everything through orders.
The leader
will become distant, arrogant, overwhelming and the organization will
start to loose their respect
All of
this will deteriorate the work environment: a self-important leader
is not able to motivate. His pride will make him commit mistakes that
he doesn’t recognize and mistakes which will affect the rest
of the team.
The following
paradox happens a lot:
Leaders
that stand out more than others, have more reasons to be self-important,
however they usually aren’t. It is usually those that hardly
have any merits that are usually self-important.
To avoid
becoming self-important, it is necessary to cultivate virtue from
humility. It is also fundamental to be surrounded by people with personality,
people that know how to defend their ideas and can oppose the leader
when necessary.
To loose
contact with reality:
the leader dedicates increasingly more time to strategic topics and
starts being concerned with day to day activities, maintaining contact
with reality, with work as a base.
Loosing
contact with the business base (the clients, salespeople, suppliers,
etc) the leader starts to loose fundamental information that he needs
in order to understand the business, to anticipate changes, to see
where the competitors are going.
The information
that the leader receives from his staff is of worse quality, every
hierarchal step puts up a filter (the staff start hiding information
that they believe will annoy the boss).
Normally,
the information that someone higher up in the company gives the leader
is not of as great quality as someone lower down.
To remain
obsolete: there
are leaders that don’t evolutionize, they usually always act
in the same way, the way that always worked for them in the past.
They don’t seem to realize that in a world of constant change,
like the world we live in, it is more complex, and what worked in
a determined moment may not be useful a few years.
Complacency:
the leader can start to feel satisfied with achievements reached and
this can make him lower his guard, to consider trying to maintain
the current level of the company, which in a competitive world, like
the one we live in, is a tremendously dangerous, which can be the
start of the end.
Loss of
motivation: a
leader that spends many years at the front of the company can end
up loosing his illusion for the project.
When an
activity becomes a routine, it looses its initial attractiveness,
its sense of “adventure” which really encouraged the leader
in the beginning and that made him see his job as an authentic challenge.
When this
illusion disappears, the leader dedicates less time to his job and
his performance suffers immediately.
