Dark Side of Good Leaders!

So, let’s have a look at them. While this list is not exhaustive, but I have found them quite common in good leaders.

• Feedback – Blind Spots not desired
• Yes Man – Don’t want to listen ‘No’
• Biasness – Conscious Bias despite know it’s wrong
• Status Quo – Think they do everything perfectly
• Exploit People – No gratitude and use of Diplomacy

Feedback

They don’t take feedback very often from anyone especially from people below the rank. They think what they are doing is perfectly alright. Feedback here I mean for self-improvement not related to work. Everybody has blind spots in life, and they are no exception. Unfortunately, they don’t consider the importance of feedback nor people around them could give it without being asked to as they might be offended. Furthermore, nobody tells them to take feedback for their self-improvement since they have achieved a lot in their life and got higher status and positions.

One thing I learnt that every human need feedback all the time to improve further irrespective of their age, position, status. They may have Coach / Mentor for themselves but it’s a different relationship. Taking feedback from people who you dominate is altogether has significant impact. Yes, you need to build a rapport and trust to do that.

Yes Man

Well, well, well! They love Yes man. They need people around them so second their decisions and not to challenge them. Yes, they are brilliant, but they don’t take diverse opinions from others. Even though they take, but final say will remain with them. This has a double sword impact – First, the leader is getting used to it so long that it is very difficult for them to get back to neutral environment. They don’t like person who can ask questions. Further, people under the leader should not be able to come as a leader as they think their guru is someone who will always be right.

As leader, we should assess this situation and take measures so we will give other opportunities to grow and make ourselves realize that we are not everything in this world!

Biasness

One of the heck for a leader to come out of it. Biasness is practical and we all are biased. We cannot ignore that fact. There are conscious and unconscious biasness. However, we learn how not to be biased and this is a continuous journey. One cannot be ignorant of the fact that we forget to remain unbiased. What I observed that Good Leaders find it very difficult to cope up with it. They want to cover their biasness through different means.

Biasness has different types and the most common one is cast which is quite common. They like people from their own breed, love them to promote and feeling happy to see them growing. As a leader, one should realize that how damaging it is for them. It impacts their credibility and further destroys the merit. People talk about their biasness and take them to task.

Status Quo

Challenging status quo is always debatable since ages. Stereotype people are the outcome of fixed mindset. Further, good leader doesn’t like if someone challenging the status quo and do better that them.

If they follow a route, they want everybody to follow it because it’s difficult for him to accept the fact that someone is better than them and they could do things differently. This ultimately damages talent and deprive with the value additions one can bring. Thigs are moving at a fast pace in this word and time is not static. As leader, we should see things from fresh perspective and give others equal playing field so there will be continuous improvement.

Exploit People

Last but not the least is to exploit people for their own ego and self-interest. I personally observed that they do play diplomacy and use people for their own benefit. They lack gratitude and it’s a selfish behavior. They forget what someone did for them, and they believe on transactional relationships rather long-lasting a loving relation. They will meet with a cynical smile when meet with old colleagues and use diplomacy at its best. This makes them obvious and resulting a permanent damage to their personality.

As a leader, we should not exploit anyone to our own benefit and continue to express gratitude in carrying a long-term relation.

In the end, it is to remind that Real Leaders don’t take things personally, not become personalize to anyone and think beyond themselves. They see things in bigger picture and handle the situation calmly with maturity.

This article is a part of the book “Leadership Catalyst: Crafting Your Team Leaders” by Mr. Mustafa Kamal. 

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