Tag Archives: leadership coaching

Posted on

The Leader You Don’t Want To Be: The Prostitute

I got some good feedback on yesterday’s series starter about bad leadership models where we explored the mindset of the poser leader. If you haven’t had a chance, make sure to read up on one of the most prevailing leadership models you never want to become.

Today, we’re moving on in our series and covering a model that many of you, no doubt, have encountered in your experiences – the prostitute.

The Prostitute

Now, we all are familiar with the common definition of a prostitute as a person who engages in sexual activity for payment from another. But the word also carries the second definition in the dictionary as a person who misuses their talents or who sacrifices their self-respect for the sake of personal or financial gain. Now we’re getting the picture.

I still vividly recall the first time I ever visited the city of New Orleans. I was visiting a good friend who was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and take me on a tour of the city. I recall very well coming out of the airport and heading up the ramp onto the highway where we were greeted with no less than seven billboards advertising strip clubs with “barely legal” woman giving us the naked-shouldered, come hither stare. I was so struck by the audaciousness of this that I made a comment to my friend in the car to the effect of, “I knew about the French Quarter, but I didn’t know about the in-your-face advertising!” 

Posted on

The Leader You Don’t Want To Be: The Poser

Avoid these mistakes if you want to be respected

Lately it seems like everywhere I turn I hear a story from someone or see first-hand the effects of bad leadership. It’s truly an epidemic that’s reaching all areas of our society and I’d like to take a moment to identify some of the top models of bad leadership that I run into on a regular basis.

Drama-Masks-Blk-Wht-noborder

The Poser

A poser is a counterfeit leader. They are the leaders that feign their craft and act in ways that they believe others want. They are not authentic, and we know it. They want desperately to impress us, so they regularly trot out their “credentials” and “titles” in hopes that the language they use might give them some authority. The problem is, their energy is dissonant because they are playing a role and not being themselves. Have you had a run-in with a poser leader? I’m sure you have, (and I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below) but for now, I’ll give you an example from one of my experiences.

Awhile back I had the displeasure of addressing a poser leader at my children’s school. Schools are interesting places when it comes to leadership. Most school leaderships are administrative heavy and can easily get bogged down in the day-to-day operations, or as I like to refer to it, survival mode. This school is no different. But what brought me into the office for this meeting was simply the observation that things could be radically different if just a few weaknesses in the leaders were to become strengths – and they really needed some improvement too, because private school tuition is no laughing matter for these parents.