The Art of Leadership

Business team standing against window with leader in front

Are Leaders born or made?

I was the executive officer for an air defense (military) battery.  The battery Commanding Officer was not someone I would walk across the street to follow.  At the same time, there was a three star general that I would have followed to hell and back.  A one star general I worked for was a dumb as a stump.  Rank and hierarchy have nothing to do with leadership.  Leaders are MADE not born.

Later I learned about the treachery of corporate politics as worthless individuals spent all their time trying to screw the rest of us.  Welcome to the real world of scum.

What Makes a Leader?

When I earned m MBA I was taught about management.  I did not have a single course on leadership. It is no wonder that managers do not know how to inspire and cause true followership.  There are lots of websites, books, pods, etc. about leadership traits and case studies of best/worst leadership.  We will not got there with this piece but take another tack.

Even after training, i.e. military, first responder, law enforcement and more are some leaders great, some good and some horrible?

Psychiatrists, sociologists and others will argue it is personality.  BS, it is all about whether the individual gives a crap about people.

To serve them or to have them serve him/her?

So think about it if your offered a leadership position.  Are you prepared?  Is it something you even want to do or are would you be in it for the power and money?

If the later, you will not be a leader you will be a detriment to your team, organization and society in general.  Just stay the individual contributor and there is nothing wrong with that.

If your up to the task, make people first, power and prestige last.  Good luck with your career and life choices.

What Makes you think you will be a good leader?

For More Information

Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our blog, Crippling Green.

For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

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