[October 01, 2014] Senior leaders have been known to make grand errors in judgment and to have failed to foresee catastrophic events that happen in the future. Such superb abilities are indeed rare when we look to people, as imperfect as humans are, to lead us. We will forgive our leaders for their poor predictions of the future, in particular when they are “black swan”1 events. Conversely, people are much less forgiving for leaders who make errors in judgment and even more so when they are given the information needed to make good judgments and still fail. The question I’m often asked is, “What are the most immature senior leader traits?”
As children we act like children; self-centered, quick to emotion, egotistical, here-and-now focused, etc. We love them dearly, but as adults we also recognize their immature emotional state and lack of sound reasoning. That is why we spend years training them; we slowly and methodically hone their social skills in the hope that they will be able to live on their own and be productive members of society. Some of those childish acts are not lost and as immature adults we can rely on them in times of stress. What are those traits that are particularly bothersome for senior leaders?
It turns out that the very thing that has been identified as the most immature senior leader traits are those very acts of a child that we failed to overcome. There are at least three traits from childhood that often work against us to make an unsuccessful leader. First, there is “giving excuses for failure.” Second, there is “blaming others for failures.” Third, we “rationalize failure.” We all did this as a child. We all did this as a junior leader. But doing so as a senior leader hurts both our credibility and our integrity. Its seriousness is compounded by our level of responsibilities.
Giving excuses, blaming others for our failures, and rationalizing failure are precarious senior leader traits. Regardless whether it was someone else’s fault that works for us or an accident that could not be foreseen, to shift the blame away from the leader is immature. The reason is simple. Senior leaders hold the ultimate responsibility of what happens or does not happen. They take into account the actions of others and factor them into what they do. The greatest of leaders do not rationalize, blame others, or make excuses for failure.
When these three traits manifest themselves in a senior leader, anyone can see it. When people lose confidence in leaders, things go bad rapidly. When leading in the most difficult of circumstances (like in combat or a black swan event), showing any of these three immature traits will quickly destroy that leader’s ability to lead. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that leaders practice taking full responsibility upon themselves under all conditions. Only then, when we cast off our childish traits, can leadership flourish.
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[1] A Black Swan event is a metaphor that describes an occurance that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. See link to Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory