I am not in a manager or position, how would you suggest me to lead a sacred cow to the slaughter?

Hi LeRoy:

As a practical matter I agree with your distinction. That said, leadership isn’t always practical, and often times it’s the practical mindset that impedes necessary action. Let me give you an example – A leader of a first response situation arrives on the scene, which appears on the surface as being unorganized, if not altogether chaotic. In an effort to bring order to the situation, if the leader were to recall all the first responders to establish a plan and assign responsibilities, lives that would have been saved due to the chaotic but necessary efforts of the team members, would be lost while the leader has them removed from engagement to establish order. 

It’s a leader’s first obligation to ensure the proper outcome not establish order. Where the two can co-exist fine, but where they cannot, the leader needs to be able to thrive in chaos – not order it. 

Here’s a thought – if the only method for remaining in a leadership role was based on contribution, and not protecting those with a lack thereof, we wouldn’t have an “old guard” issue. 

Agree on all points. If continuous learning is not valued and practiced an organization will have great difficulty remaining competitive over the long-term. Thanks for sharing JD.

“Order isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be. In fact, I’d go so far as to say routine is the great enemy of leaders. Conformity to the norm does little more than pour the foundation of obsolescence by creating an environment that shuns change rather than embraces it. Disruption is never found by maintaining the status quo, but it’s most commonly revealed in the chaos that occurs by shattering the status quo.”

What about leaders who step into a situation where there is no order, and the status quo is total chaos.  Establishing order is the first duty of a leader thrust into this type of environment.  If there is no routine to use as a baseline, then you can’t begin the process of improvement, in my opinion.

What I’ve found is that it’s less about bringing in new talent, and more about creating a culture of continuous learning.

If the culture doesn’t reward innovation, results, and tolerate risk and failure, then  it doesn’t matter how fresh the faces are.  Old dogs learn new tricks, and new talents brings out their best when the leaders create an arena of excellence, empowerment, and learning.

That said, culture is simply a reflection of the values, and value flow down, so it does help to have the right people with the right value in place at the top.