Too much of a good thing

Leaders need to learn to beware of their strengths

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Readers' comments


Arturo Coto

The article seems to assume that anyone with any set of strengths will rise to management and / or leadership, and once they are in those positions the strengths that got them there will hurt them. What I didn't see in the article was an explanation of what strengths are required for the role / job. Sometimes the problem is the promotion of outstanding individual contributors (top sales person) into a management / leadership role because they have "earned it" by their individual performance and they want to feel like they are growing (in a hierarchical manner). However, whomever made the decision to promote that person may have overlooked the strengths required to lead and manage, and therefore was not able to assess whether the person had the right strengths for the job. That's probably when a person "becomes a hammer that sees every problem as a nail."


The final paragraph is one of the most profound and insightful observation about leadership that I read this year. What matters is judgement, and that is an art rather than science.

Umesh Bhagwat

There cannot be a universal theory of leadership! Leadership is essentially about inspiring,motivating,sharing and guidance.


I learned from my father, the less you say, the more you get to hear how little other people know. You can lead quietly, and don't always have to insecurely chatter to prove your merit. Being a good judge is often finding new strengths, in listening and fence sitting, rather than managing and decision making.

"In any organization there ought to be the possibility of discussion… fence sitting is an art, and it’s difficult, and it’s important to do, rather than to go headlong in one direction or the other. It’s just better to have action, isn’t it, than to sit on the fence? Not if you’re not sure which way to go, it isn’t.
— Richard Feynman (p.100, “The Meaning of It All; Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist")


Well said. I work with lawyers, and often observe this phenomenon. It can be difficult to quietly pull accomplished subject matter experts aside and point out that while they might be "right", it's sometimes wiser to just let others (usually junior lawyers in their firms) be wrong. Sometimes being a leader means letting others find their own path, not demanding that they follow yours.


In our own family-controlled business, the key criteria for getting a job were stated simply as Character, Diligence and Brains, in that order. Character and judgment intertwine because they are critically innate and inform each other. No B-school I've ever heard of can help implant them, and most of them windup inverting the order.


not you too Schumpeter!?

"Barack Obama’s talent for lofty rhetoric has distracted him from the nuts and bolts of policymaking."

isn't this the same rag that recently has ingeniously been pilloring the president for "overriding" the Party of No to get things done? and isn't this the same rag where the President was castigated for "inaction" in his first term when he constantly sought cooperation and common ground through negotiation with the Party of No?

Motmaitre in reply to AAQQ

Is it really impossible to read an objective comment without letting your political biases completely overwhelm your comprehension?
First, your comment has nothing to do with the point the article was making. It had nothing to do with Obama's ability to get things done- it was referring to his tendency to delegate details and focus on the big picture.
The fact that he claims he had no clue what was going on in his own administration re the IRS scandal, Benghazi scandal, the AP phone bugging scandal and the Fast & Furious arms sale scandal- if you believe him- certainly supports the notion that he has no clue what's going on at the nuts-and-bolts level of hid administration. And that was the author's only point.


"The word that is too often missing from leadership studies is “judgment”." Absolutely right.

And, what derives judgement is the vision. You can be the biggest nut in the world but if your vision guides you in the strogest sense, you will get a fine judgement what is right and what is wrong.

Most of the corporate types are not the ones who started that company/trade/business, they lack that vision and that is why they resort to avoiding judgements and hide behind tactics like data collection, consensus building and consultants.

John Pang 32

A missing leadership quality in an imperfect world with imperfect leaders is "Less Wrong" - the awareness that human makes mistakes, be flexible to deal with it when making decisions.


The more distant the position from the bottom of the pyramid, the more success will depend on judgement and character. The key skill isn't the ability to be a good worker, but to choose a good worker, not to do the work, but to decide whether or not to start it. Honesty and fairness matter more, and ruthless competitiveness less (you can hire ruthless). The idea that you can choose a superior based on how well they did as a subordinate is deeply flawed. Some high quality subordinates should be given resources, influence, and generous rewards, but not executive authority. Getting a promotion should not be a reward for doing your job well.

Promote managers who show the ability to see both sides of an issue, who have shown the ability to emotionally handle crisis and failure as well as success, and who deserve trust. Dynamic but unstable subordinates should be given enough leash to overperform, but never let them be the ones to hold the leash.


The whole point of "scientific" this, that and the other thing is to pretend that you can escape from the necessity of judgment.
I'd shut down the biz and ed graduate schools tomorrow. I'd make consultants stay and do themselves what they advise others to do.
We're drowning in the bullshit of scientism, when we need a lifetime of experience in exercising our judgment. That exercise is the only way to get it. How else can you smell what most experts are full of?


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