The thought might be a bit extreme but is worthwhile considering: what if the leadership development programs were actually designed to filter out of the career progression those who really believe in them?
Following up on our review of Jeffrey Pfeffer‘s book ‘Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time‘ (see our post ‘Why the Leadership Industry Is Failing‘, the author notes that in a typical career, “The critical time comes around twenty years [in the career], when, if successful, people have reached very senior hierarchical levels where everyone around them is smart and accomplished.”
He continues “At that point, the differentiating factor is the ability to navigate increasingly politically charged environments that are peopled by those who mostly do not fulfill the leadership industry’s prescriptions“. This inconsistency between the actual behavior of successful leaders and what is being taught in the programs is actually quite striking also from my own experience.
Hence it is almost a natural deduction that if we were to apply what is being taught in leadership development courses, we condemn ourselves to career failure. Of course reality is not as black and many leadership course instructors and developers have good intent. However the thought is worth considering. A certain degree of unconventionality is required in all cases.
How ‘unconventional’ are you in the way you lead?
