We don’t need another hero
Massey University lecturer Dr Suze Wilson believes society has unrealistic expectations of what makes a great leader.
Her new book, Thinking Differently About Leadership, questions the modern obsession with charismatic, larger-than-life transformational leaders.
She said instead of expecting great leaders to come in wreaking large-scale change, sometimes it should be acknowledged that efficient leadership could be more modest.
The presidential campaign of Donald Trump was a example of that, Wilson said.
‘‘Trump trades on the generally-accepted notion that leaders should be bold and transformational.’’
But she said that while unrealistic ideals could cause problems for a business, they could be detrimental to would-be leaders, too.
‘‘There’s a huge expectation that a leader should be a big, charismatic, exciting person who knows the answer to everything. But my argument is those expectations are unrealistic and unhelpful. Most managers can’t live up to those expectations and end up feeling like a bit of a failure.’’
Wilson said businesses needed to realise that keeping things stable and maintaining key relationships was as important as sweeping innovation, and consider the context that a leader and team were working within.
‘‘What problems do they need to grapple with, what key values are important? What’s the purpose of leadership in that context? Is it big, bold visionary change or sustaining something that is already pretty good but under pressure from external sources?’’
Changing expectations of what made a good leader might also allow more women to step up, she said.
‘‘If you are working quietly with your team, you don’t get recognised as an efficient leader but that is something women often do incredibly well.’’
Wilson said people who were presented with a new manager who wanted to bring in sweeping change should not be afraid to challenge that.
A good example of great leadership was Te Puea Marae, the Auckland marae offering shelter to homeless families, she said.
‘‘This is a wonderful example of leadership. There isn’t a leader on a pedestal trying to say, ‘I know best’. They are a group of people who have seen a need and organised themselves to do something about it. It’s about the collective achieving meaningful results.’’
"Trump trades on the generally-accepted notion that leaders should be bold and transformational." Suze Wilson