Send to KindleWhat’s New in Leadership?
The headline screamed, “The New Rules for Leadership.” This caught my attention since the rules of leadership that I’d seen work so well, and had used myself with some success, were pretty old. Many of the researchers who had codified these principles did so in the early to mid 20th century, but one could trace those principles even farther. They sometimes appear in the Bible and can be found in some of the actions of Cyrus the Great, Persian king in the 6th century BC. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to read that there were new rules.
My excitement was short lived. There was nothing new about the leadership rules the author presented. Instead, he recited time tested ideas such as learning about people, developing their skills, communicating well, and having a vision.
The article wasn’t a total loss though. I’m not sure it was the author’s intent, but he did illustrate two very important points. First, though the fundamentals of leadership are ageless, not everyone understands them. We must continue to develop our future leaders. Second, while fundamentals don’t really change, the way we approach them often does.
In Sonnet 59, Shakespeare, in the somewhat tortured prose of the day wrote,
“If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burden of a former child.”
He was just expressing the principle espoused by Solomon. There’s nothing new under the sun.
Instead of laboring to invent new concepts, let’s instead endeavor to help more leaders understand and adapt the proven basics.
