Leadership is overrated

Found this interview with my business hero Ricardo Semler.

I particularly like Semler's stance on leadership. The lesson? Forget trying to develop yourself as a great leader. Instead focus on creating a culture where people are free to organise themselves and innovate, then take a step back and let them get on with it. Not really the traditional view of a great leader, but it's the future, baby!

It’s striking that your books never mention the word “leader.”
"Leadership is way overrated. In fact I don’t call the courses I teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology "leadership courses." I think the idea is outdated that leadership is only relegated to a few and that it can be planned, structured and developed.”

What’s wrong with cultivating leaders?
"The whole idea of leaders implies that only a few are capable of pointing us in the right direction. I’m more interested in the structures or the architecture of organizations that enable the company to survive in the future, independent of the leaders.
"An important facet of leadership is succession. Succession of managers is often arranged in a dramatic and hectic way. Take Louis Gerstner, who was taken on as an outsider at IBM, where there are thousands of people with management or business-economics degrees. Was there truly no one in the company capable of taking the lead? That’s pretty weak."

But an outsider could have a more objective view of the company?
"Maybe. But in saying that you’re actually implying that a company can’t innovate or change without hiring outsiders. That’s a scary thought. I would consider it disappointing if an organization can’t produce any leadership talent capable of looking at the company objectively. Take [former General Electric CEO] Jack Welch. When someone puts such a strong mark on a company, as Welch did, it’s often difficult for his successor. Many strong leaders have left weak organizations in their wake. There’s a good reason why many companies—including General Electric—need major reorganizations right after those strong leaders leave."

Link found via Alex Kjerulf.

Comments

[Alex Farran]

It's a very different style of leadership, but maybe not so new. This verse of the Tao Te Ching makes me smile:

A leader is best
When people barely know that he exists,
Not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
Worst when they despise him.
'Fail to honor people,
They fail to honor you;'
But of a good leader, who talks little,
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
They will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'

[Tom Nixon]

Spot on! :)

The frustrating thing is that it seems to be the exception in business rather than the norm. I believe the tide is turning though.