So much of how we discuss leadership is complete and utter bullshit

Years back, when trying to write something about the confusion that permeates the modern leadership discussion, I came across this here pull quote:

I don’t 100% agree with that quote, because it’s very rare to hear people ask for McKinsey reports in meetings. Some meetings? Yes. Most of the time in a meeting when a strategy is presented, Brad from Sales is texting his side piece in the corner, two guys are asleep, one is worried about his “honey-do” list, and whoever is still listening is probably going to ask about cost, not about McKinsey. But I digress.

The fact is, though, leadership conceptually is very simple and yet massively complicated, all at once.

Simplicity-side, it should be about:

• Caring
• Listening to others
• Aligning on goals
• Explaining the purpose and need for the work
• Allowing employees to be flexible with life interruptions
• Over-communicating

However, it’s also massively complicated because:

• People derive relevance from it.
• It’s tied to how much money you can make and definitions of “success.”