Issue No. 160 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a book with an important niche chapter to help leaders deflate their egos. Speaking of books, according to G. Gordan of the American Library Association, “Setting aside just 15 minutes a day will enable you to read up to two dozen books in a year. Keep it up and you will have read 1,000 books in your lifetime. That’s the equivalent of going through college five times.” And this reminder, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.
Exhausting vs. Equipping
“Ego is a megaphone that is always obnoxious,” warns Roger Parrott. His new book, The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders, is filled with poignant insights like that one. His second chapter, “Deflate Your Ego to Expand Your Influence,” is remarkably fresh and convicting.
When is the last time (or the first time), you’ve voluntarily read a chapter about keeping your ego in check? Parrott, the president of Belhaven College, Jackson, Miss., since 1995, must struggle—like all college presidents, mega-church pastors, CEOs and senior leaders—to downplay his own role and showcase the roles of others.
The author offers “a portrait of the showmen” with the compilation of 14 traits, along with brief commentaries, he’s observed in ego-driven leaders. They include:
1. Live Flamboyantly
2. Inflate Vision
3. Act Invincible
4. Ignore Critics
5. Crave Adrenaline
6. Exaggerate Actions
7. Become Sensitive
8. Attract Groupies
9. Demand Appreciation
10. Require Empathy
11. Listen Poorly
12. Enjoy Competition
13. Control Obsessively
14. Ignore Boundaries
Commenting on the trait of leaders who exaggerate actions, he notes: “These leaders move in wide, sweeping motions that take up space wherever they might be. They don’t do anything simply, but every action is so exaggerated that the staff around them is exhausted, rather that equipped, by their leadership.”
After reading these 14 traits to my wife, Joanne, I gave her my brilliant idea: create an online “Ego Assessment for Leaders” and encourage my clients and other CEOs to do a 360 survey with their board members, their direct reports and their own self-assessments. Joanne’s response: “Yeah, John. After you are willing to do that!”
Parrott has 13 more chapters including: “Planning Will Drain the Life From Your Ministry” and “Preempting the Stickiest Challenge of Long-Term Leadership.” The latter focuses on conflicts of interest—a rare and practical look at this leadership stumbling block. This college president’s style reminds me a bit of USC President Steven Sample’s book, The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership. (Click here for my review from March 24, 2008.)
You’ll get your money’s worth from this book in savvy corner office wisdom. Like this from chapter three, “Applause Lasts for a Moment, but Leadership is for a Lifetime.” He writes, “…bad news must be announced, or the gossip and speculation will run far ahead of the facts.”
Instead of letting bad news leak out, Parrott is pro-active. “I don’t bring my entire employee base together lightly, because I figure it costs us about $10,000 an hour in wages when we gather, but the cost of not meeting during a time of bad news is much higher. Without the full story, coworkers become fearful, assumptions run rampant, and energy is drained by the uncertainty. Leaders may have learned to live comfortably with a high level of ambiguity, but others have not.”
To order this book from Amazon, click on this title: The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders, by Roger Parrott. And special thanks to Bob Andringa, former president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, for mentioning this book.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Which “ego trait” from the list of 14 bugs you the most about ego-driven leaders?
2) Which “ego trait” might eventually be your stumbling block? Which one would your family, friends and colleagues warn you about?
Niche Chapter Mentoring - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit
One of the big ideas in the Book Bucket, Chapter 5, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to mentor your team members with niche books and to leverage their strengths with thoughtfully selected chapters.
The “ego chapter” in Roger Parrott’s book (above) is a perfect example of how to use books as team-building tools. “Hank, do I have your permission to be frank with you? I know you want to be God-honoring. That doesn’t happen automatically. So I’m wondering if you’ve ever looked in the mirror—or asked a trusted friend to give you some authentic feedback on keeping your ego in check? You might benefit from reading this chapter, ‘Deflate Your Ego to Expand Your Influence.’”
On the Buckets website, you can download the list of my Top-100 books on leadership and management. I update this list every January.
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