What You Can Learn From a Terrible Leader

It is from our mistakes that we learn the most, writes author Dan White. So what can the worst leadership mistakes of all time teach us? More than you might think. Here are 3 things you can learn from a terrible leader. Terrible leaders are all around us. They are the business leaders who have been ruining corporations and betraying the trust of shareholders, from Enron to Lehman Brothers, bringing western capitalism to its knees. They are the political leaders who were oppressing populations in the Middle East and North Africa for decades, as well as British politicians who werent able to tell the difference between a salary and an expense claim. And, perhaps most frightening of all, they are the mass of people who go to the office, check their personality, common sense and basic humanity at the door, and then get to work Of course, life is complicated, situations are sometimes confusing, pressured and ambiguous, and nobodys perfect. But really, when did it become a lright for a CEO to leave their job prematurely and in disgrace for doing a terrible job yet with more money than most people earn in a lifetime? I may be a little old-fashioned in this, but I think our leaders should be the best of us. Or, at least, a little bit like us. Or, at the very least not ripping us off and making our lives worse. Often it is from our mistakes that we learn the most so why not look at the worst leadership mistakes of all time and learn from those? Here are three lessons we can learn from some terrible leaders of today: Lesson 1: Its About The Organization Not You Many leaders fall into a cyclical trap where they perceive their goal to be the enhancement of their career, their success, or their personal power. This is not what great leadership is about. For instance, Colman Mockler was the CEO of Gillette when the company invented its blockbuster product the only razor blade anyone would ever want to use again. He lived in an ordinary house near the head office in Boston where employees would regularly see him sitting out on his porch and say hi. He believed what Gillette did was special and he fought long and hard to prevent the company being acquired in a proxy battle with the Coniston Group so that expensive, but ground breaking research could be continued on Gillettes Sensor range. He never got caught up in the hype and he saw the leaders role for what it truly is. Contrast this with the behavior of Joe Gregory, the one-time number 2 at Lehman Brothers. He would come to the office from his out-of-town estate by helicopter and return by sea-plane! Or consider former BP Chief executive Tony Hayward off yachting while the Gulf of Mexico burned; he even complained he wanted his life back. Gregory and Hayward both lost their focus somewhere along the line, where Mockler kept his. Leadership is not about your personal glory and fame, it is about the service you provide to the organization you lead. Before you read this I bet youd never heard of

Colman Mockler, but consider the relative staying power of Lehman Brothers versus the Gillette razor... Lesson 2: Put Pride Where It Belongs What You Do, Not Are We should take pride in what we and our organizations do for the people we serve, our customers and our people. Too many leaders attach too much pride in the wrong place, i.e. relative market share vs. competitors, becoming number 1, being the biggest or being the most dominant. This becomes a reflection of their own dominant personalities and is a risky way to do business. Dick Fuld, also of ex-Lehman fame is a case in point. A ferocious, combative character he was determined to make Lehmans a global success at any cost, despite his reputation for risk management. He said that Lehman was built to triumph in adversity and believed that it was us against the world. This pride led to Lehmans great fall. But pride can be good, when it is in a job well done. Instead of aiming to be biggest had Lehmans sought to be the investors choice I wonder if they might still be arou nd. The critical point here is to place the pride in the thing you do, not the thing you are. Becoming number one wont happen unless you are doing everything your customers need better than anyone else. Leaders who focus on and become obsessed by the former run the risk of forgetting the latter. Let Dick Fuld be a warning to you all... Lesson 3: Staff Perform, Not Because You're A Hero (Or A Villain) Too many leaders arrive at work each day with the misplaced belief that their people will perform to a high standard for one of two reasons: 1. You inspire them personally to great heights and they want to do their best for you (hero leadership) 2. You are an intimidating prospect to deal with should anything go wrong, so everyone will try double hard to prevent that from happening in order to keep you happy (villain leadership) Lord Alan Sugar, Britains answer to Americas Donald Trump, is a great example of the more intimidating style of leader. This is probably mostly for the cameras - Lord Sugar is the British star of The Apprentice and Im not in a position to comment on his manner in his real world business dealings. But when wannabe leaders on The Apprentice err in their judgment you can be certain they will receive a none-too-delicate dose of vitriol. One wonders if their performance is more about avoiding Sugars wrath or about genuinely coming up with innovative solutions to the task that is set... But it doesnt really matter whether you set out to be villainous or heroic in your leadership style. Neither of these approaches is sustainable, because sustainable performance - the high performance that just keeps on going and keeps on trying to solve the biggest problems that we face today - thats not because of you. It comes from the intrinsic moti vation of your people themselves and you cant force that upon anyone. Terrible leaders of today and yesterday often point most clearly to what not to do. When we do the opposite of Terrible we might achieve greatness. But critically, when we perceive that there are options, there are choices about what we can and should do, that is when we open the door to truly great leadership...

Based on The Terrible Leader by Dan White, released this month by Marshall Cavendish. To hear more of these ideas, you can listen to the podcast with Dan: Leadership Lessons from Genghis Khan. About PEX Network Dan White is a leadership and management development expert and author of a new book "The Terrible Leader". He has designed and run courses and programs attended by thousands of leaders from across Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, India, China and more. He was a Learning & Organization Development Director at GSK before setting up his own consulting practice and writing books. He has himself been a leader in a large leadership development consultancy. He has worked in a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, finance, IT, publishing, broadcasting, law, oil and gas, engineering, charitable, and public sector. He lives in London with his wife and daughter. Credit Dan White Photo: Elle Fallon Photography. I invite you to join as a member of the PEX Network Group http://tinyurl.com/3hwakem, you will have access to Key Leaders Globally, Events, Webinars, Presentations, Articles, Case Studies, Blog Discussions, White Papers, and Tools and Templates. To access this free content please take 2 minutes for a 1 time FREE registration at http://tiny.cc/tpkd0 PEX Network, a division of IQPC, facilitates access to a wealth of relevant content for Process Excellence, Lean, and Six Sigma practitioners. Further enhanced with an online community of your peers, we will provide you with the tools and resources to help you perform more effective and efficiently, while enhancing the quality operations within your organization. As our industry becomes more and more dependent on the Web for information, PEXNetwork.com has been developed to provide Six Sigma professionals with instant access to information. Leveraging our strength and foundation in education, IQPC and the Process Excellence Network are uniquely positioned to provide a comprehensive library of webcasts gathered from our events, as well as exclusive content from leaders in the industry.