Chapter 11 Reading: Good Leadership Requires Executives to Put Themselves Last
November 5, 2009
The primary theme of this article seems simple enough—to be a good leader, you have to put aside self-interest and do what is best for the company. Of course, as simple as this may seem, getting leaders to actually buy into this idea is a whole other ball of wax. We live in a world where executives make huge salaries and are offered option packages which, as previously discussed in some of the articles we have read, only encourage executives to take steps to maximize their return on these options.
That being said, I think most people in leadership roles genuinely want to do a good job and to be considered good leaders. But, we are all human, and thus, by nature there is a certain level of self interest involved in any leadership decisions we make. Generally speaking, the success of the leader will be tied to the success of the organization and thus doing what is best for the organization will ultimately be what is best for you, as the leader. But, as Michael Leven’s experiences indicate, sometimes, what is best for the organization can throw a real roadblock in your career path. And that can be a scary proposition, especially with the economy in the state it is today.
