A633.1.2.RB

Leadership Gap

A REFLECTIVE EXERCISE TO OPEN UP YOUR MIND AND GET A VIEW OF LEADERSHIP GENERALLY 

We are surrounded by issues of leadership. Leadership books and courses are more numerous now than ever before.  Leaders are under more scrutiny than they ever have been.  We seem fascinated by leaders in all spheres of life – and we also seem to have a different attitude from our forebears.  Here are some questions to ponder:  

•   Has your own attitude to leaders changed in your life, and if so how? 

•   If we take as a starting point the attitude to those in authority/leaders as held by your grandparents, and then look at those attitudes held by your parents, and then by you, and then by the younger generation, is there a changing trend? If so, what is it? 

 

•    Why do you think that this has occurred?  Spend a few minutes reflecting on your answers to these three questions.

            My attitude would change towards my leaders every time I would have a Permanent Change of Station (PCS).  I would have to adapt to my new leader’s style and personality.  It was like getting a new boss every two to four years.  Because of this, I became very adaptive over my twenty seven years of Army service. 

            Trends have changed dramatically over my fifty two years on this planet.  I came of age in the late seventies and early eighties.  When I was a child growing up in the sixties and seventies, I respected my elders or those in authority.  I would use phrases such as “Yes, sir”, “Yes, ma’am” and “please/thank you”.  Over the course of the last three decades, I have noticed a degradation of these respectful comments and pleasantries.  There is definitely a changing trend.

 

            As time changes, so do people.  We now live in the world of email, texts, Twitter (140 characters), Facebook, Instagram, KIK, SnapChat and so many more vehicles for communicating with one another.  The English language has been relegated to “LOL”, “LMS”, “TBT”, “RALMAO”, and so many more acronyms.  Words have also been abbreviated.  Too, to and two have become “2”.  You has become “U”.  I, for one, still use proper English while texting or using social media.  It is just the world that we live in.

            Regardless, leadership is still the same whether we need to speak to our subordinates in this cryptic language or in plain text English.