What if some of the best leadership lessons come from people you’d never put on a company values poster?

On this episode of The Worst Advice I Ever Got, brought to you by Smith + Howard, Sean and JB sit down with leadership consultant, speaker and author Steve Williams. After more than 45 years in the electronics industry, six books and over 200 articles on leadership, quality and management, Steve has spent a lot of time studying what actually makes people follow someone.

His latest book takes that research into some uncomfortable territory. Steve looks at figures like Blackbeard, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Al Capone and asks a question most leadership programs avoid: if these people built loyalty, negotiated effectively, created powerful brands and influenced others, are we really better off pretending they have nothing to teach us?

To be clear, nobody here is endorsing piracy, organized crime or invading a neighboring department. The point is to separate the behavior from the lesson and look honestly at why certain leadership tactics worked.

The conversation gets into trust, challenging the status quo, the danger of insecure leaders, why groupthink makes teams weaker and the four questions Steve uses to expose bad business processes. It’s leadership advice from some very questionable sources, which makes it a pretty natural fit for this show.