Why So Many Empty Suits?

It's easy to be a good leader when things are going well - when the economy is growing, business is booming, employees are happy, customers are delighted and profit margins are healthy.

But when things are not going well, when the world is crumbling around us - that's when we start to see true leadership capabilities emerge. We see some leaders rise to the occasion, we see others shrink and shrivel.

The coronavirus pandemic has provided some painful enlightenment for many of us as we observe our political and business leaders react to the challenge. The vast majority of emails, texts and other commentary I've received indicates that most of us are quite disheartened by the pervasive lack of truly effective leadership.

"Why is there no one in a position of power or influence that I feel I can truly trust and count on to know what they are doing?" is how one person said it. "Why are there so many empty suits?" asked another.

But this actually isn't a new revelation. The quality and competency of leadership in general appears to have been declining for some time. For more than 50 years the Gallup organization has been conducting employee engagement surveys and when asked about the competency of leaders they work with, there has been a 5-decade trend downward.

From an email I recently received about a month before the pandemic:

"I've been out of college for 7 years now, and things are going pretty well for me. I've had three direct supervisors as I've moved up the corporate ladder into different departments. Here's the thing: most of my bosses, and most of THEIR bosses, really suck as leaders. They don't know the business, don't know their people, don't know what it really takes to get things done around here. As I move into leadership roles I'm determined to NEVER be like them. But they're in charge now. Is this the way it's going to be for the rest of my career?"

Maybe it just reflects the type of people who typically read my books, blog posts and other commentary, but I receive a LOT of comments and questions like these. So I've spent a fair amount of time thinking and talking to others about this. And below are the five reasons why I believe we have been saddled with so many "empty suit" leaders.

1. Confidence does not equal competence. But we are drawn to confident people; the woman or man who projects self-assurance and (apparent) willingness to be held accountable for results, the person who says "I want to lead." On the other hand, many highly competent people are hesitant, humble - because they are so bright, so knowledgeable, so capable. They can see the complexities and difficulties quite clearly, and this can make them appear to be less assertive than the hyper-confident driver who doesn't know what he doesn't know. There is real power in unreasonable confidence, but it usually takes a fairly dim bulb to shine that brightly.

2. We are (almost) all suckers for charming self-promoters. Most of us feel uncomfortable tooting our own horn. And we find it off-putting when someone gets too abrasively braggadocios. But when we meet a charmer, someone with an easy smile and a quick self-deprecating joke, who feigns interest in us, agreement with us, who appears to really like us - we can easily get sucked in to their self-hype. Even when we know that such a charming person is over-selling their capabilities or accomplishments, we buy more of the bullshit than we should. Highly competent and effective people are not always charmers. Some of them are, but generally it is the incompetent charmers who seem to gravitate to leadership roles in business and government.

3. Business and government are not pure meritocracies. Politicians and business leaders would of course disagree, but you know it's true. Functional competence and capability along with diligence will get you to a solid middle management or government role. But to ascend to senior leadership roles usually requires something else - connections, self-promotion, cash, credentials, favors, lies, even dirty tricks - or some combination of these. Do you doubt me? Look at today's senior leaders in government and business. Do they truly represent our best and brightest? Yes of course there are exceptions, but do you ever stop and contemplate why so many of them are less than the honest, competent, capable leaders we really want? In business and government, the cream rarely rises to the top.

4. Truly great leadership is actually really hard. And most people don't do hard. The amount of time, energy, engagement and commitment required to be a deeply effective leader - it's just beyond the capacity or desire for most people. And it's easy to get away with not doing the hard work because average leaders rarely get (and don't really want) constructive feedback. Employees may wish you would talk less and listen more, but they will never tell you that (and active listening is MUCH harder than talking). Employees may wish you were more approachable, but they won't say it to your face. They may not believe your optimistic projections, they may catch your inconsistencies or lies, they may disagree with your business decisions - but will rarely let you know. And even if your company launches a confidential employee survey, most will be very, very careful about what they say, suspecting that it isn't really all that "confidential." It is really, really hard to create an environment of authentic two-way leadership communication. So most don't even try.

5. We underestimate how far bad leaders will go to maintain their power. We're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. If a leader feels that his or her power is threatened, there aren't many limits to what some will do to retain their position. Lie, cheat, steal - just for starters. We have high expectations for our leaders, hoping that they will somehow reflect the values and ethics of the best of us. But the harsh truth is that most of them do not.

Hey, if you've made it his this far, I'm sorry to be such a "Danny Downer." And I do want you to know there is hope. One of the reasons that so many people are so dissatisfied with their leaders is because the expectations of leadership have been rising. Younger employees want more from their leaders. They want them to be more approachable, ethical, values-driven, fair and competent. Yes... competent. They highly value a leader who truly KNOWS the business and wants to help others succeed in the business.

These higher expectations give me great hope for the future, because I think they are pushing all of us to get better, faster.

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And now for a shameless plug.

My new book "Workplace Poker" was recently published by HarperCollins.

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