Link: How and Why to Be a Leader (Not a Wannabe)

Umair Haque (Twitter link) at the Harvard Business Review blog:

Wannabes are something like metric-maximizing robots. Given a set of numbers they must "hit," they beaver away trying to hit them. The leader knows their job is very different: not merely to maximize existing metrics, which are often part of the problem (hi, GDP, shareholder value), but to reimagine them. The leader's job is, fundamentally, not merely to "hit a target" — but to redesign the playing field. It's architecture, not mere archery. If you're hitting a target, you're not a leader. You're just another performer, in an increasingly meaningless game.

This is the best writing I have read all year on the differences between what leadership and management truly are. I highly recommend reading this short article.

We need a new generation of leaders. And we need it now.

Enough said!

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