Leadership Vertigo

Book excerpt: Over the past few decades, there’s been an exponential rise in the number of books and studies on leadership and what we need to do to ensure organizational success in today’s increasingly complex and interconnected global market. And yet, year after year, we continue to see research that shows employee engagement and morale levels plateauing on the low end of the scale. Why is this? Why are we unable to move the needle and create the kind of working conditions that not only allow our employees to succeed, but thrive under our leadership? What these findings reveal is that leaders often can’t see the gap that exists between what they want their leadership to represent and how others actually experience their leadership. Many of us are experiencing a common perceptual problem where our brain sends us false signals assuring us that everything is okay when it is not. We call this phenomenon Leadership Vertigo. Leadership Vertigo: Why Even the Best Leaders Go Off Course and How They Can Get Back On Track will help you to understand how you can counter these bouts of self-deception by employing four Leadership Landmarks—Community, Competence, Credibility, and Compassion—to get your team back on course.