No Time for Losers?

A friend sent me this Dilbert cartoon last week. At first glance, it appears to depict an insensitive (if not abusive), cynical and close minded boss (read "leader"). The more I looked at it however, the more it struck me as not a bad example of true leadership.

Before anyone wastes their time "flaming" me in this blog, let me state a disclaimer: No employee deserves to be called a "loser." Leadership is not an excuse to be abusive.

With that out of the way let me explain what I see in this vignette by way of true leadership:

1. The leader refused to accommodate to what he considered to be a waste of his time. (it is done in a rather cruel way and we are not given anything worthy that this leader might do with his time).
   
2. The focus isn’t about accommodating the “needs” of others. It is focused on what the leader needs. You can’t lead effectively unless you are squarely focused on YOUR OWN needs. This is the only accurate data you have for feedback. (and the most accurate data you have within this dataset is the information coming from your body) Everything else is guesswork. I don’t advocate for a lack of awareness of the needs of others but I do observe that it presents a focus that pulls the leader out of touch with self and forces them to operate according to their internal “guesswork” of what the other person really needs.
   
3. The leader refused to get caught up in symptoms. (Ok I know this is a stretch but I wat to make the point jus the same.) The needs expressed by others are often not a real needs. They are often symptoms of a deeper need. The leader will not see the “need behind the need” unless he/she is squarely in touch with his/her own needs. Lack of awareness of one’s own needs blinds one to the true needs of others and forces the leader to “chase after phantoms” – symptoms that keep shifting and become like a shell game, never allowing the leader to truly be successful. The leader’s usual response to this is to try harder, to be a better guesser, to be more sensitive. This only feeds the cycle, wastes more energy and further demoralizes the leader. The leader finds himself/herself on a "leadership treadmill" with no way to gain significant ground.
   
4. The actions/decisions of this leader are not reactive to external data. He is internally driven by his own authority. A leader who is focused is likely to be accused of being closed minded.
   
5. This leader cannot be held hostage by having to accommodate the immaturity of others.

Make no mistake about it. Leadership involves perversity!