When I was a little kid, a few students in my cohort were selected for a “leadership camp”. I never knew what went on there. How did they practice leadership without any followers at the camp? Were some of them secretly invited to be followers? Do I have to listen to them when they get back?
a distinct skillset of abstract thinking about objectives and outcomes (strategy)
a distinct skillset of teaching
a distinct skillset of managing dialogue
a distinct skillset of coordinating people in real time
a distinct skillset of mediating and resolving disputes between group members
Leadership, which is some mishmash of all or any or none of the above, we say it’s a skill but there are no good tests or even any quantitative metrics of it
I can say for certain that none of the leadership things I’ve been roped into have been about any of the things you listed under #1.
Maybe “abstract thinking about objectives and outcomes” but that appears to be more, like, a thing that justifies “leaders” existing, rather than something they actually do. If I start actually talking about that sort of thing with leaders they get weird about it.
To back you up, Owl, most of these “leadership” programs are grifts; something along the line of “pay us money so you can think about what it would be like to be in charge,” with a light dash of networking. The USian concept of leadership seems to start and end at having enough money and influence to own a business or organization.
When I was a little kid, a few students in my cohort were selected for a “leadership camp”. I never knew what went on there. How did they practice leadership without any followers at the camp? Were some of them secretly invited to be followers? Do I have to listen to them when they get back?
I was sent to one of those.
I don’t know the answers to any of those questions either.
Which makes more sense?
I can say for certain that none of the leadership things I’ve been roped into have been about any of the things you listed under #1.
Maybe “abstract thinking about objectives and outcomes” but that appears to be more, like, a thing that justifies “leaders” existing, rather than something they actually do. If I start actually talking about that sort of thing with leaders they get weird about it.
To back you up, Owl, most of these “leadership” programs are grifts; something along the line of “pay us money so you can think about what it would be like to be in charge,” with a light dash of networking. The USian concept of leadership seems to start and end at having enough money and influence to own a business or organization.