Leading by Harrowism, Heroism and Strategic Management
Leadership weaknesses can be masked as strengths.
Harrowism, for example, is leadership that essentially flirts with potential disaster.
Under this style of leadership, many people who are managed can be left with the feeling that they are dancing on the edge of a precipice.
And that they are the ones who bear most of the risk.
Harrowism is largely preventable.
Essentially, it prioritizes the leader’s needs for the adrenaline rush that Harrowism often provides.
Sometimes leaders in these situations never learned that there are, in fact, much better ways to lead.
What are the consequences for the people affected by a leader who indulges in this style of leadership?
They are potentially disastrous.
We have witnessed this style of flirting with the edge of the cliff in recent years on the US and world political and financial stages.
When it comes to horror, a quote from Karl Wallenda, founder of the daredevil high-wire act The Great Wallendas, may put it best:
“Being on the tightrope is living, everything else is just waiting.”
Wallenda, by the way, was killed in a tightrope stunt that did not go as planned, even though his career had been long and illustrious, up to that point.
Unlike horrorism, heroism is leadership that involves “saving the day.”
Sometimes heroism is really necessary.
Emergencies and unexpected circumstances can happen, no matter how well an organization tries to plan for them.
Sometimes, however, the need for heroism can be prevented.
It can be the result of poor planning or execution.
It can be the consequence of not paying attention to significant details that signaled a problem before, or how it was starting to happen.
There are also leaders who love the role of hero so much that they create the need to do so, intentionally or unknowingly.
Such leaders can gather people around them who need (and even would like) to be rescued on a regular basis.
Or they can keep subordinates in the dark, leaving them unable to effectively solve problems on their own.
Here’s one way to describe the fact that heroism isn’t always what it seems:
“He aspires to be a hero rather than just pretending to be.”
Baltasar Gracian
The most effective leadership style?
Strategic management.
Leaders who practice this type of leadership create customer-centric organizations, employees, and work systems that produce results in the best possible way.
They see trouble ahead, and even before that, they anticipate (and prepare for) the fact that it might happen.
They have thought and prepared for most contingencies.
The people who work in these organizations work as a well-functioning team.
Employees know how to fully perform their duties. And they can support each other, as needed.
Tracking data to monitor and manage your work and organization is simple yet effective. It enables them to anticipate, manage and correct unusual circumstances quickly and efficiently.
Less effective leaders know how to lead through drama and adrenaline, through fierce and often destructive competition.
They get by through pushes, pulls, and even organizational threats.
But creating a system that works predictably, profitably, and positively?
That is a much more difficult leadership game to create and play.