dispatches from the new world of work

Whoops! One More Recommendation

A Leader's Legacy book cover A Leader's Legacy by my good friends and colleagues Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner was in my enormous "welcome home pile" last week. As always with this dynamic duo, the research is sound, the ideas first-rate, and the stories (stories—remember?) fabulous. But what leaped out from the Contents page was this chapter title: "Leaders Should Want to Be Liked." Hooray! I have always thought the "You don't have to be liked, but you have to be respected" Macho Crap was just that—Crap! Moreover, dangerous crap. The Big Idea here ... ta-da ... is that we'll work harder for someone we like than someone we don't. Alas, it is indeed a "big idea." (K & P cite some very "tough" bosses in support of this topic.)

Tom Peters posted this on 11/29/07.

Comments

Glad to see this post. I have been privileged to have worked with these gentlemen for years, having met them through tompeters!company many moons ago. I particularly like Jim and Barry's bias toward researching ordinary people who have produced extraordinary results. Their work has given me the opportunity to help so many clients fill their leadership pipeline. Let me plug their 4th! revision of The Leadership Challenge released this fall. A classic that remains relevant through dedication to continuing research.

Posted by Mike Neiss at November 29, 2007 3:52 PM

I have never believed you have to be hard to be a leader. In my career the leaders I have liked most are also the ones who have been the most effective. What sort of society do we live in anyway if to be thought of as effective you have to be disliked? â€“ That is just crazy. As a leader, being liked and being effective at the same time is probably quite difficult â€“ and that explains why there are so few of them!

Posted by Trevor Gay at November 29, 2007 5:55 PM