March 18, 2008
Column - Know who you are meant to be
When in doubt, turn to La Rochefoucauld:
“Nous sommes si accoutumés à nous déguiser aux autres qu’enfin nous nous déguisons à nous-mêmes.” (Maximes 119)
(We get so used to disguising ourselves to others that we end up becoming disguised to ourselves.)
There’s nothing like a good dose of French scepticism to shake you up in the morning. The noble duke’s words came to mind recently when a new DVD landed on my desk. Offering an “expert’s guide” to interview skills, it was accompanied by a press release that was headlined: “Don’t just look the part, act the part.”
The training film is divided into sections such as “Ensure you are instantly liked”, “Breeze past tricky questions”, and “Close the interview with style”. All your problems solved for just £14.99. How deep can the crisis in capitalism really be if the market is still coming up with products like this?
But the DVD’s producers have, perhaps without realising it, hit upon a recurring management challenge. How should you present yourself to the world? What sort of leadership style does the situation demand? Or should you simply ignore such thoughts as you get on with the business of “being yourself”?
Continue reading Know who you are meant to be
Tags: Leadership, Management
It is particularly difficult to do this in a global management context. Should you be yourself or flexible to other contexts.
A good leader in London may be a disaster in Tokyo, and vice versa.
To me “flexibility” (albeit around a core of authenticity) is more important than “fit” to a particular context
I think in general we focus too much on leaders and too little on what we want followers to think, feel and do as a result of their actions.
Posted by: Kevan Hall | March 31st, 2008 at 5:14 pm | Report this commentWe like to bandy byte and slogan around, some of them do not have depth nor breadth but this is a direct hit on the nail.People are not it making to the top of their career purely because of their ability anymore but mostly what its being describe as “people skill” nowadays and this is more experience in Britian more than anywhere else
Posted by: osu akande LONDON | April 6th, 2008 at 4:55 pm | Report this comment