A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, How to Lead When Your Boss Can't (or Won't) (p. 12). HarperCollins Leadership.
Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
And John gives examples of bad bosses. One of them is, “insecure leaders”.
He says, “Insecure leaders think everything
is about them, and as a result, every action, every piece of information, every
decision is put through their filter of self-centeredness. When someone on
their team performs exceptionally well, they fear being outshone, and they
often try to keep her from rising up. When someone on their team does poorly,
they react in anger because it makes them look bad.
“More than anything else, insecure
leaders desire the status quo—for everyone but themselves. They are like the
company president who is reported to have sent a memo to the personnel manager
with the following message: ‘Search the organization for alert, aggressive
young leaders capable of stepping into my shoes. And when you find them—fire
them!’
John goes on, “One friend I talked to while writing
this book said that he once worked for a leader who had one basic leadership
principle: keep everyone off balance. If someone working for him started
feeling a little too secure, he would ‘shake him up.’”
He then says, “In an organization,
security flows downward. When leaders are insecure, they often project that
insecurity down to the people below them. If you work for an insecure person,
not only will you have to work to deflect that individual’s insecurity from
yourself, but you will also have to work harder to ‘break the chain’ and create
security for the people who work for you. If you don’t, the people under your
care will suffer.”
After giving more examples of bad
bosses, John says, “If the leader you have to follow isn’t a good leader, it
doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed. But to be frank, it will be more
difficult. So, what can you do? You can always quit. But what if you love the
organization you work for? What if you believe in the vision and want to
advance it? What if you enjoy the other people you work with and want to help
them? That makes quitting a difficult choice. And if you do quit, what if you
find yourself in the same kind of situation in a new organization? What if you
leave this job to escape a bad boss, and you find yourself working for—another
bad boss?
“The good news is you do not have to
be held hostage by your circumstances or position. You can learn to make the
best of a difficult situation. And you can take the high road while doing it.
You don’t have to become the CEO of the organization or the head of the
department to lead effectively. You can make a positive impact through your
leadership where you are, even if you report to someone who is one of the
bad-boss types I described. How? By leading yourself well. By finding ways to
work with your boss. By developing your influence wherever you are. By avoiding
the most common landmines that come from working with a bad boss. And by
growing and proving your value every day.”
You still can make a difference, can’t
you?
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