Leadership: It Ain't Rocket Science: A Critical Analysis

Having read hundreds of books about leadership, I have grown tired of trite sayings attempting to define it on a bumper sticker: “You manage things but lead people.” Okay, so what? To lead means to take somebody somewhere. Okay, this is obvious. What else is obvious? It is obvious that the leader cannot exist without the followers. The opposite is not necessarily true. The followers can benefit from a leader’s direction and wisdom, but they do not need him or her to exist. Understanding this relationship between leader and follower places the role of the leader in the proper perspective. 

Although leadership books and popular slogans such as, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” or, “half-full is better than half-empty,” can aid thinking, when reality contradicts theory, you should go with reality. Reality in leadership is often what your gut tells you and not what you wish for, nor what some mathematical equation or scientific principle suggests. The logic of leadership is grounded in empirical evidence of right or wrong behavior, and, yes, the leader must face a level of personal risk. A leader who is so passionate about an idea that it brings him to tears may momentarily touch some hearts, but he will rarely win the minds of his team without demonstrating the will to inconvenience himself for his cause. Moreover, successful leadership requires a holistic approach supported by innovative ideas. But the ability to know how to think rather than what to think may be the leader’s greatest asset. Learning how to think involves a conscious element of skepticism. It requires awareness of biases related to previous experiences, strong personal views, or current ambitions. 

The leader’s first responsibility when attempting to express a vision, solve a problem, reach a consensus, and lead the team toward the goal is therefore to define reality; to think critically, encourage response, and avoid getting trapped in meaningless sayings. The fact that your followers do not accept an atmosphere of strict obedience should be celebrated. If you can draw strength from their resourcefulness, you will welcome doubt without viewing it as an assault on your person. In fact, a healthy dose of talk and debate can have the effect of bringing down barriers, not raising them. 

At its core leadership is about understanding human nature. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945 CE), in Mein Kampf, spoke about the “small measure of thinking power the broad masses possess,” thereby reminding us that understanding human nature is also an essential key to controlling it. Cringe if you will at my use of a quote from he who is perhaps the most despised man in modern history. But being clever, even insightful, is not synonymous with having an admirable character. Hitler was right. Had the masses utilized their thinking power properly, there is a good chance that the Holocaust would not have happened. He also said, “I found it difficult to understand how men who always had reasonable ideas when they spoke as individuals with one another suddenly lost this reasonableness the moment they acted in the mass.” It is called groupthink in modern lingo, and tends to occur within a group of people who are trying to reach a consensus without applying critical thought and analysis. Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945 CE), Hitler’s minister of propaganda, understood that any mantra repeated often enough is apt to become viewed as true. Thus without a proper understanding of human nature, ranting about how there is no “I” in team and together everybody achieves more could have dangerous consequences. The dissenters, those who question your ideas, may be your most valuable employees because they counteract this groupthink mentality and help you achieve a more balanced perspective. 

Let me admit at the outset that unlike many leadership studies this book takes an analytical rather than motivational tack that is meant to stir at least some controversy, and the purpose of which is to incite the reader to be honest with himself or herself when attempting to establish a leadership approach that works with his or her team. When you understand human nature and your mind is free of clutter, you can ask the right questions that will inevitably guide you to the right answers. You can then speak the truth with conviction and inspire others to follow. But remember that any search for truth requires skepticism. This book is therefore equally much about provoking the follower to think about how to recognize and sabotage, if he or she chooses, manipulative leadership behavior aimed, as Hitler suggested, at the “small measure of thinking power the broad masses possess.” 

As evidenced by the immensely large number of leadership books on the market, one tends to think that leadership is a profound subject that needs this much coverage in order that one can make sense of it. But many modern ideas about leadership are nothing but hybrids of older ideas, and rarely is an idea truly new. The purpose of this book is to conduct a critical analysis of leadership principles while simultaneously remind the reader of the obvious. This book is thus not so much about leadership per se, as it is about how to think about leadership by learning to ask the appropriate questions and learning to find the appropriate answers. My hope is that the examples I offer will resonate with the reader, providing him or her with deeper insights into the trends that shape the growing number of leadership books on the market. You can choose to grow your bad habits or your good habits for future generation leaders to study. Neither way necessarily requires more effort than the other, but it does require the wisdom to know the difference. You will not always get it precisely right; however, you should also not be too far wrong. After all, leadership ain’t rocket science!

 

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