On Leading with Greatness

Let’s just get this out of the way: Bosses are never leaders. As for leaders, they’re never bosses.

So, it’s that simple. Bosses aren’t leaders. But how do you tell the difference between a mere boss and a true leader? Sometimes it’s just obvious. You simply know. But if you’re not sure, one easy test is to determine which direction they’re running. One will be running away and one running toward.

Leadership is practically in my blood. From a young age, I have been thrust into leadership positions, and I had to rely on my wits to succeed. Nonetheless, I always was a pretty good gut leader.

Leadership is a skill, and like any other skill you can be born into it, but it must also be learned. The thing with learning new skills, though, is that while someone can guide you through the process, they cannot teach you the actual skill. That only comes through application and practice.

Are you awake? How can you be sure?

Someone once observed, “It’s only when you wake up that you notice you were sleeping.” It’s a thinker, a puzzle, a paradox. Consider how often you operate on autopilot, un-present and unaware of your unawareness. It takes an act of consciousness—triggered from the outside or from within—to realize we’ve been sleepwalking.

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What a spectacle! A 70-something-year-old white man commanding the stage as he bellows into a microphone. He holds this packed stadium in thrall to his every utterance. The crowd is in raptures. His crowd. They’ve heard all he has to say before, and they want to hear it all again. They cheer, they chant, and they yell his words back in sync to him.

This is not some tawdry political rally, though, and the man on stage is no bumptious demagogue. He is Bruce Springsteen—“The Boss”—performing at a recent concert I attended. And I can tell you that his reputation as a fantastic showman is solid.

Have you ever felt like you’re faking your way through work and life? This happens to most if not all of us—the phenomenon we call “imposter syndrome.”

As a leadership coach and as a fellow human being rumbling along this rugged road of existence, I’ve encountered this syndrome more times than I care to ponder. You know it well. It’s that insidious nagging voice that tells you, "You don't belong here," despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Last year I delved into the corporate culture of crisis, shedding light on its high costs and offering some strategies to break free from the grip of this mindset. If you missed that, you can catch up with the article here.

Now let’s dig a little more deeply into crisis culture, starting with the word itself.

It’s time I expand my reach to a much bigger crowd, one teaming with mindless ambition, baseless pride, and bottomless avarice. That’s right, this one isn’t for the rare servant leader. It’s for superabundant self-serving bosses! You know who you are—the top dogs, the fat cats, the kingfishes.

So let’s pluck some of that low-hanging fruit and help you head honcho-types out there to up your nasty bossing game.

Confucius offers this insight on gaining wisdom:

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the bitterest.

Have you ever tried to transform the very soul of an organization—its culture? Quite the task, right? To thoroughly transform a culture for the better, you need to look to and master the Rule of Thirds Strategy.

Let’s sketch a scene. Imagine holding a classic rocks glass—one of those short tumblers used for whiskey. Its thick walls and solid base give it an appealing heft in your hand. Now picture a fancy swizzle stick leaning tall against the rim. Go ahead and grab that stick and give it a good whirl, really swizzle the hell out of that glass.

Oh, and one tiny detail, the glass in your hand, the one you’re vigorously swizzling, is filled with semi-liquified crap.

Feeling queasy? Sorry about that, but it could be a side effect of today’s focus—the art and value of progressive s**t-stirring!