The economic downturn seems to be over, and money is flowing again in leadership development, but leaders are losing their faith in leadership development programs. Why are companies willing to spend money on something that is perceived as rather disappointing? These programs introduce and promote leadership in a highly simplified form. It is very decontextualised and depersonalized leadership, that is in no way similar to the reality of leading people and organizations.
Many leaders today are taught the wrong approach
Today there is an inappropriate focus on coercion, instead of representing the group that they are trying to lead. That is not right, because this approach suggests that leadership can be learned when you simply master a set of tools and skills. On the other hand, some leadership development programs have shifted the focus from influence and coercion to personality. That is equally detached from context. Leadership is presented as something that can work for anyone anywhere, but that is not true. Leadership is, in fact, a highly contextual discipline.
Why are those approaches so popular? According to a paper by professors at INSEAD called Can Business Schools Humanize Leadership?, clients of the leadership development industry like the lofty but empty rhetoric of those programs. It distracts them from the conflicts and problems they face on a daily basis in the real world.
Wisdom from the past is different
In the paper the authors argue that it is time to return to the concept of leadership that is more about those who are led than about the leaders themselves. Foundational writings on the topic of leadership portray it as an effort that is made for a group of people. The leader represents the people beneath him. Today it is more about influencing people than representing them, or about a narcissistic preoccupation with personal goals.
-jk-