As John Maxwell says, “Only a leader can make a leader.” The problem is leadership is no longer taught.
In the corporate world, many are hired or promoted to positions of leadership with absolutely no leadership training, coaching or mentoring. As I’ve always said, “you can’t give what you don’t have”. Thus these “leaders” fail to mentor those who work for them because they don’t have the knowledge and experience. They also don’t know that they’re supposed to mentor either because they never had a mentor.
Corporate leadership programs are usually run by a training department within HR. They don’t teach or mentor leadership either. And any content that’s labeled “leadership” is usually some bastardized form of management mixed with DEI. They usually outsource the leadership to an external company that’s the lowest bidder for that year. Changing consultants and program content frequently, thus never providing a consistent product.
For youth, leadership is not taught in high school or college (unless you have a really good sports coach). Business schools teach “management”, not leadership. The Boy Scouts used to be a solid organization where boys would learn and actively develop leadership skills, but the Boy Scouts of 30-40 years ago no longer exists.
Look at the President of the United States. We’ve not had a decent POTUS since Ronald Reagan. The sorry narcissistic batch that has followed have not been inspiring. Where are the Ron Reagans that talk of the “shining light on the hill”, the John Kennedys that said, “Ask not what your country can do for you”, the Teddy Roosevelts that talk about the Man in the Arena? I look at the current slate of candidates on both sides (even the ones running shadow campaigns) and say, “we’ve got over 330 million people in this county, and this is the best we can do?”
Am sorry to comment with such a rambling, depressing, dim picture of the current state of leadership, but this is just the tip of the iceberg of the crisis we’re facing.
As John Maxwell says, “Only a leader can make a leader.” The problem is leadership is no longer taught.
In the corporate world, many are hired or promoted to positions of leadership with absolutely no leadership training, coaching or mentoring. As I’ve always said, “you can’t give what you don’t have”. Thus these “leaders” fail to mentor those who work for them because they don’t have the knowledge and experience. They also don’t know that they’re supposed to mentor either because they never had a mentor.
Corporate leadership programs are usually run by a training department within HR. They don’t teach or mentor leadership either. And any content that’s labeled “leadership” is usually some bastardized form of management mixed with DEI. They usually outsource the leadership to an external company that’s the lowest bidder for that year. Changing consultants and program content frequently, thus never providing a consistent product.
For youth, leadership is not taught in high school or college (unless you have a really good sports coach). Business schools teach “management”, not leadership. The Boy Scouts used to be a solid organization where boys would learn and actively develop leadership skills, but the Boy Scouts of 30-40 years ago no longer exists.
Look at the President of the United States. We’ve not had a decent POTUS since Ronald Reagan. The sorry narcissistic batch that has followed have not been inspiring. Where are the Ron Reagans that talk of the “shining light on the hill”, the John Kennedys that said, “Ask not what your country can do for you”, the Teddy Roosevelts that talk about the Man in the Arena? I look at the current slate of candidates on both sides (even the ones running shadow campaigns) and say, “we’ve got over 330 million people in this county, and this is the best we can do?”
Am sorry to comment with such a rambling, depressing, dim picture of the current state of leadership, but this is just the tip of the iceberg of the crisis we’re facing.