By Dr. Helmut Schuster and Dr. David Oxley
What do you want to achieve in your career? “I’m seeking a leadership position?” What’s your goal for the next year? “I really want to get to Managing Director. That’s the gold standard at my firm.”
These are common answers in career development discussions. But do they indicate we may have created career ladders that confuse recognition with leadership?
A Realist Perspective on Career Ladders
Our research reinforces how individuals, particularly in their early careers, pursue career progression as a competition. Indeed, we have pointed to how our brains help us reduce complex systems to more easily mastered games.
As a byproduct, quite naturally, many people conflate personal success with winning in the career game. If it’s suggested the most desirable and well-paid positions are leadership positions, well we set out for our ‘players’ what ‘winning’ looks like.
Contrast with Idealized Leadership
We contrast this with our idealized and somewhat romanticized pictures of leadership. From Plato suggesting that the best leaders are wise, virtuous, ruling not for personal gain but for the benefit of all to Aristotle emphasizing the ethical aspects of leadership.
Max Weber argued that charismatic leaders possess extraordinary personal qualities that inspire followers. Kurt Lewin categorized different leadership styles – autocratic, democratic and laissez faire. James MacGregor Burns delineated the difference between transactional and transformation leadership.
These are aspirational, hero models, of leadership. They are pervasive and often the answer to the question ‘what is leadership.’ However, we suggest they are at best elusive and at worst misappropriated.
Leadership Bestowed, Learned, or Called
Our goal here is to raise a critical question. How should we view and frame the challenge of business leadership in 2025? How conscious are we of the legacy impact of systems and hierarchies built on Tayloristic and 1980s aggressive performance management philosophies?
There seems to be a disconnect between the idealized language we use for organizations’ leaders, versus the reality of their motivations and selection. Systems that offer leadership as a reward, that create an environment of competition, seem to create perverse incentives. The result is a mismatch of personal ambition fulfillment with deciding who should help us navigate complex leadership crucibles. The outcome can end up being dystopian.
Consider for example the performance and legacy of Sam Bankman-Fried of SBF, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss of the UK Conservative party, Dick Fuld of Lehman, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, Philip Green of Arcadia, and Adam Neumann of WeWork.
Then contrast those with the extraordinarily different impact and legacy of Alan Bates, the Post Office hero. Greta Thunberg and Feargal Sharkey the environmental campaigners and Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrows fight to tackle motor neuron disease.
All are generically leaders, but where some grasped leadership to fulfill a personal ambition, others were compelled to tackle a consequential challenge.
Leadership as a Verb not a Noun
The dynamic of working with people who share a purpose is distinct and radically different to our legacy corporate concepts of Vice Presidents and Managing Directors. Perhaps it sounds idealistic, but it really isn’t. It is what makes start-up businesses often so much more effective than long-standing multi-national businesses. Think about your own preferences, would you rather work for something that you believe passionately in, something you feel energized by, or wake up to a sinking, depressing feeling each day? If you have a strong conviction that something needs to change, that a cause is worth fighting for, or that humanity can be improved by launching a new product… people will willingly, whole heartedly, and passionately join you.
Introducing Adult Level Leadership
Adult Level Leadership (ALL) is a concept built on this shared purpose foundation. A combination of personal and organizational leadership principles. It references Thomas A. Harris work. We hold a strong belief that there is damage to both individuals and organizations in the unconscious leadership career models. They position individuals to chase positions that may cause them personal damage, while proving sub-optimal outcomes for organizations.
Here are six simple principles we recommend every CEO, leader or individual think about:
- Causes and Purposes first – the fundamental difference in approach starts with the challenge, problem, mission. It is far more effective to rally around solving a problem than following the directions of an imposed leader.
- Genuine listening/hearing – never take more than your proportionate speaking time and stand in the speaker’s shoes. And, just as importantly, engage with what you are hearing.
- EQ amplifies IQ – work on your IQ-EQ-Drive balance. EQ can be developed, allow others to coach you. Give at least one person the permission to be 100% truthful to you – no gloss! Be truthful to yourself. It’s great to have a high IQ but think of a high EQ as a multiplier.
- Guided autonomy creates winning teams. Allow people space but provide clearly understood context. This is the secret sauce to releasing discretionary effort.
- Don’t judge people (including yourself) as good or bad – evaluate the possibilities ideas can create, appreciate the differences of input. Good and bad are only a function of the system around them. The system might be the problem not the ideas.
- It’s all about choices and judgement – Never allow victim mentality to prevail for you personally, your team or an organization. Life is about choices; we just need to make sure most choices are conscious choices, and we understand the intended and the unintended consequences.
Ultimately, this is a cautionary tale about being careful what you wish for. From an organization perspective, if you place too great an emphasis on short term performance as a proxy for leadership selection, well, that is what you will get. From a personal standpoint, if you get carried away chasing leadership as a reward, you may find yourself the source of much unhappiness.
The solution: focus on the problem or purpose. The most powerful forms of leadership are movements where like-minded people rally to solve a consequential problem.
Dr. Helmut Schuster
