“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”
- Jim Rohn, Leadership Guru
I am not the smartest guy in the room. I don't claim to be. That sometimes hurts me when it comes to perception and overall value to a conversation in a meeting of 20 or more people. I find that in big meetings like that, people jockey for position by being the most outspoken whether they are saying something meaningful or not.
For those of you that know me, you know that I read a lot of business management books. My wife actually rolls her eyes when a box from Amazon comes in or I make a run to Borders and buy $100 worth of books. She even bought me a Kindle, so now I have another avenue to get business management content. Every leadership or business management book that I reads says that a great leader is authentic.
In my business, most of the leaders that I know are arrogant. I wonder if, in management consulting, arrogance and authenticity are one in the same.
I sincerely hope not.
Mike Lipkin says, "Be real, or be ridiculed." I have to think that a lot of that is true. I wonder if our leaders realize that staff have a perception of them that may be vastly different from what they think of themselves. I wonder how many of them are so caught up in their own egos, that they feed off of the people that cater to them and kiss their ass. Lord knows that there are plenty of people like that. Maybe that's how the whole model works.
In my mind, being authentic is being the same at work as you are with your friends and family. That means being somewhat trustworthy. What I've found is that you can't trust anyone in the consulting business. There is always an alternative agenda and there are only so many people you can trust. To me, that's a sad state of affairs.
For those of you that read this, stay true to your values and don't feel that you have to put on a facade to succeed in your profession. If you feel like you have to put on a facade, it may not be you -- it may be the nature of your profession.
- Jim Rohn, Leadership Guru
I am not the smartest guy in the room. I don't claim to be. That sometimes hurts me when it comes to perception and overall value to a conversation in a meeting of 20 or more people. I find that in big meetings like that, people jockey for position by being the most outspoken whether they are saying something meaningful or not.
For those of you that know me, you know that I read a lot of business management books. My wife actually rolls her eyes when a box from Amazon comes in or I make a run to Borders and buy $100 worth of books. She even bought me a Kindle, so now I have another avenue to get business management content. Every leadership or business management book that I reads says that a great leader is authentic.
In my business, most of the leaders that I know are arrogant. I wonder if, in management consulting, arrogance and authenticity are one in the same.
I sincerely hope not.
Mike Lipkin says, "Be real, or be ridiculed." I have to think that a lot of that is true. I wonder if our leaders realize that staff have a perception of them that may be vastly different from what they think of themselves. I wonder how many of them are so caught up in their own egos, that they feed off of the people that cater to them and kiss their ass. Lord knows that there are plenty of people like that. Maybe that's how the whole model works.
In my mind, being authentic is being the same at work as you are with your friends and family. That means being somewhat trustworthy. What I've found is that you can't trust anyone in the consulting business. There is always an alternative agenda and there are only so many people you can trust. To me, that's a sad state of affairs.
For those of you that read this, stay true to your values and don't feel that you have to put on a facade to succeed in your profession. If you feel like you have to put on a facade, it may not be you -- it may be the nature of your profession.
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