Can leadership be hazardous to your quality of life? One of this week's readings for High Performance Leadership was Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky's A Survival Guide for Leaders. They conclude:
[Y]ou can lead and stay alive--not just register a pulse, but really be alive. But the classic protective devices of a person in authority tend to insulate them from those qualities that foster an acute experience of living. Cynicism, often dressed up as realism, undermines creativity and daring. Arrogance, often posing as authoritative knowledge, snuffs out curiosity and the eagerness to question. Callousness, sometimes portrayed as the thick skin of experience, shuts out compassion for others.
I've certainly known burned-out leaders who've displayed these qualities--and who sometimes wore them with pride, like campaign ribbons on old soldiers. But I'd go a step further and argue that we don't need to be in formal positions of authority to fall prey to these defensive tactics. Anytime we're in a leadership role, we face the temptation to "dress up" our cynicism, our arrogance, our callousness as something else.
Heifetz and Linsky are issuing a challenge to all of us, whether we're running a company or just getting old(er): Drop the facade and and get back in touch with your creativity, your curiosity, and your compassion.
