For the record, my belief is that leaders who are infatuated with their titles, are more enamoured with the shiny perception of importance that comes with the title, than with executing the work required of the title. Adulation holds more addictive value for them than stewardship. Leaders must pause and ask themselves whether they are chasing applause, or building legacy.
Some red flags that show up when leaders are infatuated with their titles. These flags are reminders that some error in judgment may have occurred when the decision was made to elevate such individuals into leadership roles.
Of course, while some of the behaviours that accompany infatuation, could have been lying dormant at the time of elevation, many are birthed by the newly-minted taste of power and authority. These behaviours should be confronted and corrected before they begin to corrode culture.
One red flag, is that these leaders remind everyone of their managerial titles. Just in case people missed that fact. They like to say, “I am the manager,” as if inviting awe and automatic admiration.
Contrary to their thinking, a managerial title is not a reverential anointing, it is an expectation of high-level administrative competency. In many cases, expectation and competency do not always coexist in all title holders. A good idea, would be to stop announcing titles and start demonstrating competence.
Many title holders overestimate their intellectual capacity. The danger here, is that when the reality of being outshone by others in the room hits, professional jealousy arises and spawns a multitude of irresponsible behaviours. A common misdemeanour, is the misrepresentation of ideas and violation of the intellectual property of others. Otherwise known as “taking credit for someone else’s ideas.”
One red flag that should not be ignored, is the emotional deficiency that accompanies leaders who are infatuated with their titles. They lack the depth that enables an individual to share emotional space with other individuals.
While asking them to share this space with their teams is almost an impossibility, it does not negate the fact that leaders are required to take responsibility for their emotional growth.
I believe that many of the emotionally fragile leaders who I encounter, have not cleared the emotional debris that caused the condition in the first place. They are walking around with unhealed wounds, self-doubt, an undisclosed fear of criticism and other self-inflicted issues. These emotional fissures are never revealed publicly, but are undetected drivers of leaders who show up in public, with mask-wearing personas.
The leadership blindness that emerges, means that these leaders, not having conducted critical analysis on themselves, are the last to understand their own behaviours. The mandate here, is to curtail the creeping nature of this self-deception.
Infatuated leaders are obsessed with brand aggrandisement. There is a blindness that obscures altruism and promotes brand power over brand purpose. They must be seen, heard and venerated by others.
With this perspective driving their thoughts, words and behaviours, there’s often lingering suspicion that their empathetic overtures always seem to have a hidden payoff for them.
So, what are the outcomes of all of these behavioural downsides? Deficit thinking on the part of the leader. After all, with so much obsession with fluff, how can substance emerge?
The challenge here, is for title-loving leaders to stop regarding their titles as trophies. Often, this shift happens when leaders begin to reflect on their legacy and realize that the impact of being an “authentic” example to others, is a more powerful emblem than personal aggrandisement.
When leadership competency becomes a non-negotiable mandate for a business, the charge is made on leaders to move away from an obsession with personal prestige. Leaders are challenged to move from one question to another. From “How does my leadership title elevate me?” to “What does my leadership role demand of me?”
During moments of existential enquiry, leaders must pause and ask themselves whether they are chasing applause or building legacy. They must move away from the need to be celebrated and embrace the mission to be useful. An act that will require submission to vulnerability.
The development of leadership excellence must never be left to chance. For a business, doing so would mean playing roulette with its survival, wouldn’t it?
