What happens when your employees, your customers, your clients, your stakeholders have no confidence in your leadership or in your ability to lead?
What happens when leaders fail to lead? Now, it is quickly becoming the norm to remove those that are failing not only themselves but also the people they are directly responsible for. Those key stakeholders that are critical to the existence of the position of leadership they have been charged with filling, maintaining, and grow.
On Monday, November 9, 2015, the University of Missouri president vacated his position of authority and leadership after failing to properly address, handle, and get out in front of the controversy over “race relations at the school’s main campus”.
The ability to address the good, bad, and ugly is what every leader must do as a leader. While everyone, loves addressing the good, it is the bad and ugly that must be addressed. It is what leaders wanted to do and what they are expected to do. There is no shirking the responsibility of deal with ALL issues whether they go against what they believe or not. By dealing with a bad issue is no way means a leader has failed. It is when that leader fails to address the bad issues that he has failed as a leader.
In most cases, such as the case of the University of Missouri President, his followers and primary stakeholders (the Students) have lost confidence in his leadership and in his ability to do the right thing. The right thing in this case, was getting out in front of the matter at hand.
Now while it may be too late for the U of Missouri President, but it might not be too late for you. If you are not getting out in front of problems, you are most certainly heading in the direction of the dinosaurs, University Presidents that believe the only way to deal with real issues is to deal with them by sticking your head in the ground, and hoping it all goes away.
Real Leaders don’t have time for that kind of nonsense.
Real Leaders KNOW the only way to save time, energy, and manpower is to face the issues head on as quickly, as concisely, and out in front as much as possible.
However, if that is the only way you know how to do business then please don’t even consider yourself a leader. Heck, don’t even call yourself a manager. Call for someone to come pick you up because you are done here.
How do you tackle the hard and soft issues?
reference: http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/us/missouri-football-players-protest-president-resigns/index.html