The Absence of leadership is often felt by a company, but not recognized. I was recently talking with a friend in a high up position with a national non-profit and she is stuck in an environment that is demotivating, where everyone is playing in their own sandbox and not interested in helping out the team unless it advances their own career or reputation. We started discussing the absence of leadership and how, often, the players in the system mostly recognize the symptoms of a pained structure, as opposed to the core issue, which is that bad leadership acts like a cancer that slowly deteriorates and eventually destroys the organism.
Not understanding the root of the problem, people set out to put band-aids on all of the wounds, hoping that a bit of neosporin and a bandage will stop the bleeding. This kind of environment is a dangerous one, where often the remedies attempted can sicken the structure, worsen the disease, and kill the body more quickly.
This is where intentional followership is as important as strong leadership. Followers who are intending to be leaders need to step up to the plate and challenge the leadership. Often times the leader is working in a vacuum, not recognizing the illness either and just letting the organism get sicker and sicker. If more people in the system were aware of the “bad leadership effect”, they might be comfortable to step in, step up and be an active part of the solution.
My point here is that having the conversation of what the role of other members is in the company is imperative. If they think that their only job is related to their title, you probably won’t find them stepping up any day soon to challenge the individual ini the leadership role. But if they are frequently challenged to question and to fight the fights they believe are worth fighting, the environment can truly be healthy and strong.
Any creative entity (body, company, film, manuscript) is made up of the what has most strongly been fought for on it’s behalf. If it is only as good as the vision of the leader, it will inevitably be weaker than it could potentially be if everyone in the system was fighting for what was most important to them and challenging the leader to raise his or her own game.
Bea Fields is the President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. and the Founder of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training, a leadership consulting firm currently serving over 800 clients world-wide.
Michael Gerber has focused his career on inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs with his unique solutions to small business growth, effectiveness, and efficiency. He has established his revolutionary perspective as the gold standard for small business development, becoming what Inc. Magazine called “the world’s #1 small business guru†and one of Business Week’s bestselling authors of the past decades. Michael is the author of seven E-Myth books, including The E-Myth Revisited, which has sold more than three million copies worldwide, making it the most successful small business guide ever written. In 1977, he founded E-Myth Worldwide®, a business that has coached, trained, and educated over 60,000 small business clients in 145 countries. Now 70 years young, Michael Gerber lives with his wife, Luz Delia, in Petaluma, California, where they are intentionally and joyously pursuing their shared vision for transforming the world one small business owner at a time through their most recent venture, “In the Dreaming Room.†
Michael Port Called a “marketing guru” by the Wall Street Journal, Michael Port, has lectured, trained, inspired, and provided coaching and consulting services to over 20,000 business owners in the last two years alone. As a speaker, he has headlined events with leaders like Brian Tracy and Tony Robbins. Michael is the author of the national bestselling Book Yourself Solid, The Fastest, Easiest and Most Reliable System For Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even If You Hate Marketing And Selling and the soon to be released Beyond Booked Solid: Now, Build a Bigger, Better Business By Leveraging the Power of People and Processes to Make More Money While Working Less.
Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging . He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur and other media as a recognized expert in blogging and related technologies. Andy has helped businesses all over the world leverage new media to build visibility and increase sales. Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging . He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur and other media as a recognized expert in blogging and related technologies. Andy has helped businesses all over the world leverage new media to build visibility and increase sales.
Dave Buck MCC, MBA is the CEO of CoachVille, the largest and fastest growing business and personal coaching organization in the world. The CoachVille vision is to unleash the greatness in all people everywhere through coaching. He worked with Thomas Leonard to found CoachVille in 2001 and has delivered coach training programs to thousands of coaches.
Kim George is the author of Coaching Into Greatness: 4 Steps to Success in Business and Life, published by Wiley & Sons. The book introduces Kim’s groundbreaking work around the concept of AQ, Abundance IntelligenceT, and how people can eliminate the barriers that keep them from doing what they can do.
Carol Dickson-Carr is a productivity coach for entrepreneurial spirits and helps them make money using their creativity as she does in her own business. She has taught in community and business colleges, at the university level, and in private consultations to provide both academic knowledge and practical strategies for creating a fulfilling life.
As a Business and Life Coach, Roger DeWitt comes to the coaching table with many years of business experience both as an entrepreneur and in organizations and over 20 years of experience as a successful and working actor. Approximately 50% of Roger’s clients are business and community leaders and professionals from a variety of backgrounds and 50% are working performers and creative professionals. His expertise in presentation skills and voice combined with his business savvy make Roger an exceptional marketing, prospecting and sales coach. His mix of talents provides his clients with a very unique edge in all aspects of business and life…from sales to business development to interpersonal communication. He finds that he is particularly adept at helping the “professionally creative” start and run their own thriving business by harnessing the power of their natural creativity and building both personal and business confidence in the process.
My son, Jack, won the N.C. Amateur yesterday, and I want to say “Congratulations Jack. You have worked for a long time to make this happen!” He showed true leadership, and we are all very excited for him.
