Читать книгу Seven Disciplines of A Leader - Wolf Jeff - Страница 11

The Gallup Business Journal had it right in its March 25, 2014, article, “Why Great Managers Are So Rare.” According to authors Randall Beck and Jim Harter, “Companies place the wrong leadership candidates in the job 82 percent of the time.”

Think about that number for a moment: 82 percent? Is it any wonder that so many companies fall by the wayside? As Beck and Harter put it, “Bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year, and having too many of them can bring down a company. The only defense against this problem is a good offense, because when companies get these decisions wrong, nothing fixes it. Businesses that get it right, however, and hire managers based on talent, will thrive and gain a significant competitive advantage.”

The lack of effective leadership is further evidenced by the staggering number of employees who aren't working to their full potential. In another Gallup Business Journal article, “How to Tackle U.S. Employees' Stagnating Engagement,” dated June 11, 2013, authors Susan Sorenson and Keri Garman claim that only 30 percent of American workers “…were engaged, or involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their workplace.”

They go on to say, “An alarming 70 percent of American workers are not showing up to work committed to delivering their best performance, and this has serious implications for the bottom line of individual companies and the U.S. economy as a whole.”

Mike Myatt, author of the book Leadership Matters…The CEO Survival Manual (Outskirts Press, 2007), writing in Forbes says, “Why do businesses fail? If you're willing to strip away all the excuses, explanations, rationalizations, and justifications for business failures, and be really honest in your analysis, you'll find only one plausible reason – poor leadership. I've often said real leaders refuse to take the credit for success, but they will always accept responsibility for failures. Harsh? Yes; but it goes with the territory.”

Steve Tobak of Fox Business News puts it this way in an article he wrote for foxbusiness.com on January 20, 2013, “Why Good Companies Fail”: “When you cut through all the BS [of a failing business] it always comes down to one thing. People. If you observe the people in charge, ask some good questions, and poke around a bit, you can usually figure out what's really going on. And what's really going wrong.”

Steve continues: “At the core of every company in trouble is usually a management team that's not as competent as it needs to be, more complacent than it should be, and more dysfunctional than it can get away with.”

In such an environment is there any basis for questioning the need for more capable leaders, or as I like to say, highly effective leaders?