Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership

© Copyright Frank D. Kanu 2000-2008

In Step 3 “Take Responsibility” Frank Kanu’s book “Stop Telling… Start Leading! The Art of Managing People by Asking Questions” (ISBN 0-9774056-1-3) has the chapter “What to Do When the Boss Is a Failure”. Is it time to rewrite the chapter to: “What to Do When the President Is a Failure”?

From the Washington Post article Bush Responds With Restraint To Questions About Economy:


Naive and laughable. What would you do when that description fits your boss; your President?

What indeed. Well, you can always run away; get a new President. Of course, you have no guarantee that your new President will not be an even bigger failure.

What makes a good President? Creativity, competence, knowledge, and charisma are just a few of the many characteristics we hear in response to this question. Presidents who perform badly are missing at least some of those. They procrastinate and tend to keep themselves away from everything that might be threatening to their position. At least in their minds. Let us not forget that procrastinating can be an extremely powerful tactic. Mostly used by politicians and often seen in sports like cycling.

Does your President avoid making decisions?

Highly skilled specialists—like a business administration MBA—are often put into management positions in the mistaken belief that their expertise will make up for their lack of managerial experience. Unfortunately, few of them can make the transition to manager without the right training—no matter how talented they may be in other areas. And even fewer the amount of those that become leaders. That is frustrating to the “leaders,” who were aware of their shortcomings and who genuinely wanted to be trained. And it is frustrating to their followers because things suffer under well-intentioned but ineffective leadership.

Why so stingy with training? Because once a President they feel that training is too costly and that most Presidents learn on the job anyway. A poor excuse for a poor decision.

When was your Presidents last management or leadership training?

If you want to minimize the risk that your voters starts viewing you as a failure, remember these keys to being a good President:

1. Be flexible
2. Be creative
3. Be open
4. Look to help without your advantage in mind
5. Be a partner instead of an enemy
6. Listen and hear
7. Learn

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