BY MARK SANBORN We live in an age that seeks quick fixes and easy answers. Sometimes leaders abdicate their thinking to others and accept "prevailing wisdom," which is often an oxymoron.
I grew up, like most, accepting many things at face value. It wasn't until I started giving important issues like leadership a second and third thought that I realized I'd been believing what turned out to be some serious leadership myths. Here are seven leadership lies and why they simply aren't true: 1. "All managers are leaders." Truth: some managers can lead and others don't or cannot. Management is a subset of leadership, not its equivalent. Managers are good at setting up, monitoring and maintaining systems and processes. They hire people. But if they can't bring out better performance in people and take the organization beyond where it is, they aren't leading. Leadership always involves change, improvement and growth. 2. "Some are born leaders." Truth: even someone with a predisposition to lead must learn the skills of leadership. A young person who is 6'6" might have the predisposition to play basketball, but he or she still needs to learn the skills before they can play successfully. Leadership might be more latent in some than others -- and you can't always tell -- so focus on what is developing someone's behaviors, not their biological background.
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