Ask yourself if you lead or are led by any of these behaviors and consider if you are working as Darth Vader or can lead as Ben Kenobi…
#5 : Being a Knower and Being Right! Some (traditional) Leaders mostly feel they have to know all the answers and lead from a position of “Being Right”. The counter to this is accepting being a Learner and “Getting it Right..”
#10 : Leading for Compliance and Control. This is classic old school thinking. Lead the troops and keep them in control. Cultivating Commitment and Shared Purpose is NOT what old school management did too much of, but is probably the only way to lead the millennial tribe coming into power.
#8 Using Power over others. A classic Darth Vader move. It’s all about his power. What does Ben Kenobi or any good Jedi do? Use the power of the opponent or the power of your people to achieve outcomes.
#14 Collecting Gold Stars / Prizes / Bounty: Leaders will seek recognition and generally collect the prizes in most traditional hierarchies. As hard to do as anything in leadership is to give the credit before taking it.
#15 : Avoiding Vulnerability : Vader and Vulnerability in one sentence? Not likely. Leadership is really not used to exposing themselves in any shape or form. It’s too painful to admit being wrong and not having all the answers. Can it work? I think its the way forward.
So you may or may not have heard of Brene Brown and if not the links below to her Dare to Lead book, Ted Talk on vulnerability and most relevant to this post, the linked in post below that speaks about Armor based leadership.
Also below is a link to a student work page that shows the 16 bullets that compare her Armored Leadership to Daring Leadership.
https://studentsuccess.unc.edu/files/2019/03/BRAVE-Handout.pdf
It’s not fear that gets in the way of daring leadership. It’s our armor.