April 9, 2012
teams

The Mysterium Tremendum Leader

They are the weak, the bullies, the ruthless

They become and personify the finger that points at a scapegoat, gleefully abdicating any responsibility for erroneous outcomes or missed targets.

They ascend to positions of power through matador like precision. Their sword is not metal, rather a behavioural style that aims to demean, command or enforce.

Collectively there are hundreds of thousands of them occupying roles in organizations across all sectors and geographies. They too are implicated in the woeful levels of employee disengagement.

This cohort should be renamed the Mysterium Tremendum Leader; a leader, I propose, that uses their positional power to invoke fear and trembling in its team members. A leader who looks up to Weber, Fayol and Taylor as the triad of perfected management definition.

These leaders have no place in the organization of 2012 and beyond.

These Mysterium Tremendum leaders, if they are unwilling to reflect on how destructive their leadership style is and who are unable to shift to the TEAM model or the Collaboration Cycle or new Leadership Tenets must be weeded out and replaced.

They are not the leaders of today or tomorrow that organizations need in order to build a connected, collaborative and engaged workforce.

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