A Crisis in Leadership

In A Crisis in Leadership, we consider the new world leaders must navigate and why I still believe in the power of leadership.I share some of my personal story and the stories of others who have faced defining moments in their leadership careers. I offer practical tips and insights into leadership strategies that successful leaders and the research supports.  

Leading any organization can be challenging, and oftentimes leaders make decisions based on intuition or information they “knew” to be true in the moment. And sometimes they make decisions based on a good idea not fully formed or thought-through due to circumstances well beyond what might have been expected. I believe we need to stop some of the judgmental madness and think before we leap to judgment about the quality of those decisions – let alone the intention of the leader. And that is why I wrote this book – to stop the madness, or at the very least to help other leaders see – the madness is more about those who create and traffic in it than it is about them.

This book is written to share lessons learned over forty years serving in both the public and private sectors and to help new and veteran leaders navigate the challenges of leading in the twenty-first century. 

Today, we find ourselves in a confounding contradiction of practice – it is less forgiving of leaders while demanding leaders be more forgiving, a society that is more judgmental while demanding leaders establish judgment free zones and create cultures that demand empathy without understanding. I will share a few personal experiences to illustrate the new reality and I will share some compelling stories of others who disrupted the status quo. And throughout this book I offer practical applications for weathering a crisis in leadership – because if you really lead others through difficult and challenging times – you will face a moment that feels like the beginning of the end – a crisis in leadership.

It feels like we live in an era when anyone with a platform, feels empowered to call themselves a leader through their ability to criticize, second guess, and demonize any decision and the person accountable for it without real understanding, experience or perspective. They offer their “leadership” skill via a bully pulpit.

Traditional media driven by click rates have become more sensational, creating headlines that scream “fire in a crowded theater” and then offer stories which rarely match the glare of the headline. Self-anointed voices of the internet pounce. Anonymous current and former employees weigh in after the fact. Friends and colleagues “ghost” leaders in crisis fearing they will get swept up in the firestorm that surrounds an embattled leader. Today, it seems everyone believes they could have done it better, whether or not they have the skill, tools, or experience to tackle the task.

Cynicism and snark are valued by many over honest effort that falls short.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that there are some who will use a momentary lapse in judgment or understanding to tear down an organization or a person who might otherwise have an unblemished, longstanding record of service and support. Critics today weigh in instantly on decisions after the fact - never mind they have no real understanding of the issues at play in many of the real decisions of the day nor have never led an organization making this type of decision before.

We seem to be blessed with a new breed of critic today – the newly elected leader, the activist board member or new age journalist (read anyone with a keyboard and a platform) who has no real experience that might provide worthy, honest insight or credibility into the decision. They simply have a “mandate,” an opinion, and a platform which gives them voice, not to mention, because they are not in the arena - the time to offer their version of the “truth.” 

And their “truth” or critique – while sometimes well-intentioned - can honestly just be wrong. They may not have all of the facts and the benefit of the deliberations leading to the decision. Or they can simply be misinformed. Their version of the truth can be designed to advance an alternative narrative or to take advantage of the moment or emotion around the incident. Yet, an emotion-driven perspective from someone with voice rather than responsibility often competes for airspace and credibility in an unfiltered and unbridled environment. Today, there are more and more leadership critics posting comments posing as truth offered publicly to make others look small or to cause damage through misinformation and inuendo. People are being led to connect dots through social and other media to create a narrative that serves an audience rather than the leadership, the truth or an organization. 

Sadly, this is all too frequently coupled with a growing trend in society, the need to appear to be in the know, to be more relevant than the current position or situation allows a critic to be. This troubling new ethos empowers some users of traditional and non-traditional media to publicly humiliate others – to make leaders look bad, small, or insignificant in order for the commentator or author to grow in his or her own social status as measured by clicks, forwards, and likes. 

I believe we may have lost something if we fail to recognize that good and great leaders make honest mistakes, they often initially place trust in folks who prove to be untrustworthy, they sometimes misread challenging landscapes or fail to recognize the impact of technologies or events – and in our rush to judgment we fail to afford them at least a sense of grace and forgiveness.