Radical advice on leadership: Cut out the military metaphors, treat people with real respect, and admit when you don’t know what you’re doing.
Doubt & Leadership
by John Lienhard
6 thoughts on “Radical leadership advice”
Comments are closed.
Radical advice on leadership: Cut out the military metaphors, treat people with real respect, and admit when you don’t know what you’re doing.
Doubt & Leadership
by John Lienhard
Comments are closed.
If you are actually in the military, by all means feel free to use military metaphors. Otherwise, realize you may sound silly.
I suspect people who actually fight wars don’t use warlike language as often as executives do.
I found big companies way more stubborn than the military, which is quite something, with the additional cover your back stance.
In both case it is a duty to be intelligent, for your country’s propsperity or for your fellow soldiers.
I think it would be hilarious if nonmilitary people used more REAL military jargon. I think our political ‘discourse’ would be greatly improved by the addition of such phrases as “goat rope” and “self-licking ice cream cone”.
Couldn’t agree more on the “admit when you don’t know” thing, though. That’s a key part of our interview process for research staff — do they admit ignorance when appropriate, or do they attempt to BS?
Dave: I love “self-licking ice cream cone”. Now I have a name for it!
HMFIC is a term I’d like to hear more often.
I like Jesus’ idea of leadership:
…Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2020&version=NIV