Leadership

Most employees want to be lead-they want a leader that inspires and motivates them-that sets an example for them. Unfortunately, over the last several years we have seen many leaders who failed regarding their responsibilities-examples include leaders at Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, and Arthur Anderson. Effective leadership is critically important if organizations are to succeed in the 21st century. However, many business writers are saying that we are not developing the next generation of leaders. I think in some organizations this is true.

One of the tasks of a good leader is to train and mentor his/her replacement. If this is not being done, then that leader is failing in a critical area of his responsibilities. Sometimes a leader will not hire someone because he believes that particular candidate is smarter and more capable than he is. This happens all the time-but think about it-the leader should be hiring someone as good or better than him. It is his responsibility to the future success of the company. However, sometimes ego and pride get in the way. The leader feels threatened by this strong candidate-yet in reality hiring this candidate will help the current leader and the company.