Question posed yesterday: What do actors and leaders have in common?
I don't think that acting and leadership have a single thing in common. Actors spend their lives being other people. Leaders spend their lives fine-tuning themselves.
Leadership is not something you DO. Acting IS something you do. Management is something you do. Politics is something you do. Blogging is something you do and you do NOT have to be a leader to do any of them.
Leadership is NOT something you do. It is something that you "BE."
Management school is not leadership school. Acting school is not leadership school. These schools may sharpen your skill set but they do not make you a leader. Can leaders be great actors? Of course. But that doesn't automatically mean that actors can be leaders.
We all have to stop thinking that Leadership is something we can attain in a week-long course or by reading a book. That's a load of crap. Without addressing context (deep-seated opinions, beliefs, values - the way you view the world) in a course, you are not going to become a leader.
John Maxwell's "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" is fundamentally wrong. His book teaches some new-age North American leadership culture as though if you simply do all of the 21 things in his book, you too will be a leader. That's pure bunk. Leadership can be learned but not by simply following 21 "laws." Maxwell has made a huge promise that if you follow the "laws" (and don't question them - remember they're irrefutable) in his book, you can become a leader. That is simply not true.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: We have muddied the waters in recent years by equating leadership with holding a top position in an organization. Leadership is not a position. Leadership is not something you do.
Leadership is a state of being, a state of mind, an Attitude. It is not the accomplishment of a series of tasks. It is not a passing grade at some course. It is not a title. It is not something you achieve. It is a way you exist. It is how you carry yourself. It is how you choose to walk the Earth.
Don't compare actors and leaders. It's like saying leadership is just acting. What an insult to genuine leaders. Leadership is a life-long pursuit - a work in progress. Everything else is a title.
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1 comment:
Just a thought Kevin... Is motivational training something one does as opposed to being a leader? Does one hone being inspiring or do they borrow and rehash the wisdom of others? Do leaders do as well as be?
I don't think you meant to disparage the efforts of managers and other doers. We need doers as much as we need leaders.
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