Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Friendliness is a Leadership Necessity


We've heard it many times, "It's a dog eat dog world." The trouble is, some leaders actually believe it. They conduct themselves like the alpha dog in a pack, holding sway through intimidation. This instinctive behavior helps insure survival in a dog world, but applied to the human world of organizational dynamics, it can lead to disaster.

Alpha dog leadership can eventually turn out to be destructive to the people, their organization, and the leaders themselves. To use another common metaphor, "That dog won't hunt."

After all, leaders do nothing more important than get results; and the best results are what I've been teaching for more than two decades, "more results faster, continually." An alpha-dog leader might chew up people to get more results and get them faster, but I submit that it takes a far different personality trait to engender the "continually" aspect of the imperative. That trait isn't the despot modeled by so many leaders, it's ... well, friendliness.

See full Article.