Leadership

Passing Leadership Lessons to Future Generations

Some of us don’t even realize how well we are failing

A few days ago Paul Myers MBA tagged me in a post titled, Do We Know How to Lead? In it he asked an over-arching question of:

“What lessons will our generation leave behind, lessons that the next generation can benefit from, or even consider?”

I have to admit that I had a completely disconnected knee-jerk reaction to the question because I have a low tolerance for generational dissing — things along the lines of “Ok, boomer” or “These damn millennials”.

A bit of good natured ribbing is one thing, but when major print (or used to be at least) publications like Forbes and the New York Times seem to corroborate that a war is afoot among generations I bristle at that concept.

The thing is, there will always be a generational divide. That is how the world works. It doesn’t mean that the first group to come into existence is “right” about anything, nor does it mean latter generations are wrong. So, my first, shoot-straight-from-the-hip (without thinking) response to Paul’s question was this:

Each generation has a set of values that they hold so dear that they cannot see that those values aren’t ubiquitous with success. They just happened to help that generation; it doesn’t mean that they will have value for future generations.

However, when I came back and read the article again with a slightly more open-minded lens, I can see that isn’t the focus of Paul’s ruminations at all.

I think that there are two ways to pass on leadership lessons. One is through an overt message of “here is what I learned” that is shared with potential future leaders. The other method is infinitely more effective and powerful than that, and it is what we actually do and say while being leaders.

No matter who you are and what role you play, someone is watching you and evaluating your words and deeds. And often it is our failures that provide the most learning potential, not just for ourselves, but for any others that bear witness.

We unknowingly provide lessons for many others each day. So, when I think about Paul’s article from that perspective, I feel like it resonates in an even more poignant fashion. He posed 5 questions or scenarios in his article that I think provide an excellent barometer to measure leadership effectiveness.

They are:

Do you really know your followers? Conflict: Are you ready for defining moments? How about radical innovation? How to thrive in a crisis? How to prioritize your emotional function?

Real quickly, let’s look at these from the perspective of most business leaders. To be clear, we aren’t talking about the outliers or cutting edge, but the middle of the bell curve. Let’s answer these questions for those hypothetical leaders:

Followers

Do leaders really know and appreciate the concerns and nuances of their followers? I am happy to propose that they do not. Not at all. From my perspective of decades in the public service sector I would say that most leaders do not know their followers at all. They don’t know who they are, and if they do, they don’t then know what they are about.

Combine this with the fact that the landscape of business is changing to a remote basis more than ever, our followers can be on the other side of the world. Think about the impact YouTube videos and social media influencers are having on the world? Think they know their followers?

Conflict

I don’t need to say much here. Middle curve leaders don’t excel at conflict. Many avoid it, and many more leverage for personal gain. Future leaders have a lot of fodder to learn from here.

Innovation

I believe that the term “disruption” will quickly come to be one that defines normal business practice rather than outliers shaking the foundations of tried-and-true institutions. Disruption will be the new bedrock of business.

There are lots of great failures here to learn from (think Blockbuster and J. C. Penney’s) and I think future leaders will quickly master change as the new constant. In this arena I think future leaders are well suited to excel.

Crisis

There is a silver lining to the Coronavirus. It just doesn’t seem very evident from where we are inside the storm right now. The failures of leaders in this crisis have been epic, and there is much to pull from here as well.

The mortgage catastrophe in 2008 was “someone else’s” problem for most of us. Coronavirus has manifest as everyone’s problem. The best preparation for disaster comes in the wake of prior calamity. Now we know how susceptible we are; what worked, what didn’t. Leaders of tomorrow will be much better suited to weather crisis; large or small.

Emotional function

Probably the most helpful evolution here is that we are finally all talking about and recognizing the impact that emotional function has on us in business as well as ordinary life.

Again, many failures to pull from and learn here. Now we are better equipped to recognize that emotional function is the culprit behind things that were previously masked as just “poor leadership”. Now we know that it is poor leadership as a result of mismanagement of emotional function. Defining the actual problem helps us get closer to solution. I think future leaders will be better suited than ever to leverage emotional function for success rather than failure.

So, to answer Paul’s prompt of whether we are equipped to pass on the appropriate lessons for future leaders? Yes, absolutely! We have been failing spectacularly in all these arenas for the last three decades. We can provide no more poignant lessons than that.

The next generation of leaders has been watching us intently and learning greatly; whether they recognize that is the case or not. We should be confident in handing over the keys to the kingdom to those that will eventually take the reins; ready or not.

For, even if we didn’t mean to do so, we have shown them the path to the future.

You are welcome.

Paul prodded a few people with his post. I am hoping they will tag me with any responses as well: George, Bill, Arthur, Julia, Dr Mehmet, Steve, Dr. David, Terry and Joe.

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.