“While delivering organisation change or improvement, one cannot be sure if the challenge is narcissistic and deluded leaders or the sheep that follow in abundance”
👏 Happy Friday!
On this day, September 23rd, 2012, it was reported that authorities in Iran had blocked access to the Google e-mail service Gmail, while the Google search engine was only working with limited functionality. Why do leaders decide what is good for the people, especially when it provides advantages for them?
✅ All too often, we see an environment or a leader who puts their needs above the needs of their organisation, citizens and employees surrounded by yes men and woman. The sheep that follow in abundance.
👉 I started my career in aerospace and I am still transfixed by watching modern aircraft with twin jet engines. There is no more beautiful sight or feeling of pride seeing, in my case, a Global Express rolling out of a finishing hangar fitted inside to the customer’s specification and livery. Equally, there is nothing worse than when one crashes, and lives are lost. The world’s most deadly airline accident was when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport. The captain of the KLM B747 started to take off in heavy fog without clearance from the tower and crashed into a Pan Am B747 still on the runway. We will never know why the co-pilot or flight engineer did not intervene and stop the captain either verbally or physically.
As with all major incidents, there are mitigating circumstances and multiple failings on many levels. However, a key cause of the crash was the inability and unwillingness of the captain’s subordinates to effectively challenge his actions to check if the Pan Am B747 was off the runway, and they had actually received clearance to take off. We have all probably been in this position in our careers, watching leaders or employees do something wrong, usually for selfish reasons. These leaders are often in a position of authority, or the employees are bullies.
Martin Luther King, Jr. told us, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” At the end of every working day, when you are a change professional, you have to ask yourself one key question, “Did I improve the change success statistic and challenge negative behaviour, or did I capitulate to narcissistic leaders and the sheep that follow them in abundance?”
Have a fantastic weekend with the ones you love, enjoy some fresh air, exercise, eat, drink and be happy!
Further Reading: Change Management Leadership – Leadership of Change Volume 4
See: Section 3.3 Intervene - Sustain Phase
Peter consults, speaks, and writes on the Leadership of Change®.
For further information please visit our websites:
Peter F Gallagher is a Change Management Global Thought Leader, Guru, Expert, International Speaker, Author and Leadership Alignment Coach.
Listed #1 by leadersHum Top 40 Change Management Gurus You Should Follow in 2022 (Mar 2022).
Ranked #1 Change Management Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (2022-2021-2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Business Strategy Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (Dec 2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Leadership Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Leadership (Aug 2020) by Thinkers360.
Business Book Ranking
Change Management Behaviour - Leadership of Change® Volume 6, listed among the 50 Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2022.
Change Management Adoption - Leadership of Change® Volume 5, listed among year-to-date’s (Jul 2021) most popular books on business and technology from Thinkers360 member thought leaders.
Change Management Handbook - Leadership of Change® Volume 3, listed among the 50 Business and Technology Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2021.
Change Management Pocket Guide - Leadership of Change® Volume 2, ranked within the top 50 Business and Technology Books (Jan 2020) from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders.