The Leadership Gap

Chapter 1 of the Obolensky text begins with a reflective exercise. Create a reflection blog that responds to the questions asked in this exercise.

Additionally, while we live in a world with more information about leadership and leadership practices why is it that we have an apparent gap in the quality of our leaders and how do you think we can close this gap?

Obolensky (2014) poses three questions for us to consider.  A) Has your attitude to leaders changed in your life, and if how so? B) If we take as a starting point the attitude toward those in authority/leaders as held by our elders through generation until today, is there a changing trend?  If so, what is it? C) Why do you think this has occurred. 

From a personal standpoint, my attitude has changed greatly as I have progressed and experienced leaders through various stages of life.  To start, I have a better appreciation of how those in leadership positions must handle and process all the information that comes to them, then decide – based upon their specific responsibilities, industry, work environment, co-worker personalities, and other factors – how best to act upon it, if at all, and then communicate to those in their work environment.  Poor information management can be as debilitating as poor decision making. 

Regarding information, the amount of information that is available to the general public compared to earlier generations compiled with the rise of what I would term “the pundit class” – meaning those who’s occupation is act as commentator – is more prevalent now than ever.  The effect is that public decision-making is under greater scrutiny now than in previous generations.  While a benefit may allow for the public to be better informed of important decisions and policies, some may contend that today’s citizens might be more cynical or distrustful of authority/leaders as in times past.

Punditry and commentary in the public arena traditionally has provided additional context and background to current events or to specialized topics.  However, this specialized area of journalism has grown into its own industry that goes across various subjects - news, sports, health, etc. 

However, it seems that some in current punditry tend to generate commentary that itself is designed to become news, therefore generating attention that would not otherwise be there.  We’re familiar with pundits or editorialist that employ such practices, but what becomes unclear is their true motivation in inducing such commentary.  What can get lost is the actual discussion or central observation that maybe helpful to the public.

While all of these ideas may be true to a certain degree, poor leadership/authority actions over time have also contributed to a certain level of cynicism and mistrust of those in charge.  While not all decisions work out and are inevitable, what become corrosive is when leadership acts in bad faith to deny responsibility to fix the problem or compound the problem by denying a problem even exists.  This gets back to basic management principles, which we will explore throughout this course. 

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex adaptive leadership. (2nd edition.). London, UK: Gower/Ashgate