5 Silly Leadership Advice Too Abstract to Practice
Leadership advice without actionable guidance.
Self-help books, quotes, newsletters, LinkedIn, smart podcasts.
You are flooded with leadership wisdom. “It should be done like this.”
When you read, watch, or listen to people talking about leadership, don’t you sometimes have a feeling it’s actually pretty silly?
To me, it, indeed, sometimes feels like people talking about leadership never worked with someone. We assume people are like us. They think and have similar rationales.
But, uff. It’s not true. You may find yourself in tricky situations more often than self-help books can help you with.
Let’s flashlight some of the leadership narratives you may have heard of.
1. In leadership, it's not about the destination but the journey. Embrace the path and let growth happen naturally.
You may like the positive sentiment. You probably agree with it or even like it when you see it on LinkedIn.
The question is now, so what?
It offers no practical advice for how to lead a team toward actual goals or what “embracing the path” means in a leadership context.
It’s a word salad.
So, what path do you embrace? Because the one you want is about making strategic decisions that help achieve desired outcomes. You need goals, accountability, and a sense of urgency.
Imagine telling your team: “Enjoy the journey”. Right. Does it mean there are no deadlines and performance quality?
Grow up, leaders. You can do better than this.
2. Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. Let your light inspire others to shine.
Wipe your tears, my friend. This is aspirational but so impractical.
Don’t mind metaphorical language. Yet, metaphors without actions are vague and pointless. What does “your light” represent? Your attitude, hairstyle, behavior?
What should a leader do to inspire others?
Many wisdom pieces lack how:
Communicate better. - Okay, how?
Listen more. - Okay how?
Give constructive feedback. - Okay, how?
Make strategic decisions. - Okay, how?
So, how should you develop future leaders or empower your team? You know it’s not about the light, but hard work and resources.
You have leadership development programs (book one with me!), skills, again accountability, team dynamics, etc.
Good leaders don’t just hope that others will “whine” by watching them. They actively mentor, give criticism, and create learning opportunities.
Plus, you don’t want to encourage everyone to become a leader. Look at your team. Probably not everyone has what it takes to develop interest and skills in leadership.
Shine bright, though!
3. Don’t manage time, manage energy. Great leaders understand it’s not about hours but about vibes.
Good vibes only.
That was a saying on a cup I gave to my friend when she started a new job. I can tell you she needs it a lot since her team is a bit dysfunctional.
Anyway. While mental health is trendy and no leader can set that aside, vibes are again quite silly.
What are vibes? How do you measure them? How do you assess their impact on productivity? Does it mean positive and outgoing people do more work?
I don’t know about that.
Time is a finite resource, and managing it effectively is crucial for productivity, especially in leadership roles involving multitasking, meetings, and cross-functional responsibilities.
You cannot disregard time management in favor of “energy”. In reality, you have deadlines and commitments. Projects need to be completed on time. That is what good leadership is.
You need both - time and energy.
4. A great leader doesn’t give answers, they ask the right questions.
A long sigh. I am getting sleepy here.
It’s a popular mantra. “Leaders ask the right questions.”
How about leaders who should provide guidance? While asking questions encourages critical thinking and problem-solving, sometimes leaders need to give clear answers, make decisions, and provide directions.
Imagine a team looking to their leader for a decision on a tight deadline, only for the leader to respond with, “What do you think we should do?”
Sorry, folks, if you did not sign up for this job.
Questions alone don’t build competence. Yes, questions are powerful. They keep you curious. But questions can also leave your team feeling unsupported. You need to share your expertise and experience with your team. That is how they learn.
Don’t try to coach your team all the time. Be sensitive to the situation and provide solutions and resources.
Questions can slow down the progress. Do the right thing and sometimes don’t ask.
5. Leaders don’t micromanage; they trust and empower their team to deliver.
It sounds too good to be true. Why not leave your team alone? They will manage.
Empower is, yet again, quite some buzzword.
In theory, it is great to trust your team. But you still have to take a look everything is on track. Supervision is useful for sharing knowledge and pushing objectives forward.
In a good working team, empowerment and oversight go hand-in-hand. It is not one or the other. Black and white thinking is creeping on social media and it is wrong.
Leadership is about understanding the dynamics of your team. Simply "trusting and empowering" without understanding their needs can cause problems, especially if the team requires more guidance or feedback.
We should stop acting like micromanagement is a sin. Some teams simply perform better with clear structure, direction, and regular check-ins. Giving them total autonomy without providing a framework can result in confusion, lack of focus, or inconsistency in delivering results.
That is how it is.
Micromanagement is not always bad.
TL;DR
Leadership advice sounds inspiring but often offers little actionable guidance. It would help if you had clear strategies, concrete goals, and accountability.
Translate abstract ideas to your situation, otherwise, they will stay vague metaphors you should rather laugh at than like on LinkedIn.
But let’s go to work now! Ivona
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