Leadership Is Overrated

June 26, 2023
“Small but dedicated teams of empowered individuals can and do outperform large organizations driven by top-down leadership,” contend business consultants Buckett and Mefford (Hiring, Firing and Creating an Amazing Team Culture for Leaders in a Hurry) in their ho-hum program. Buckett draws on his experience as a platoon chief in the Navy SEALs to suggest that corporate leaders recreate in the workplace the force’s collaborative spirit. Anecdotes from Buckett’s time in Afghanistan illustrate the benefits of a cooperative team, but are short on specifics. For example, the authors emphasize the importance of fostering a culture of “approachability, trust, and openness” by noting that the camaraderie of Buckett’s platoon made them the envy of other units, but the authors don’t describe what Buckett did to create such a culture. Stories from the business world offer more actionable advice, encouraging leaders to “listen more, talk less” by discussing how Jungkiu Choi, the head of consumer banking at Standard Chartered, served employees breakfast during surprise visits to various branches and solicited their suggestions for improvement, the implementation of which boosted customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, the war stories don’t always have clear takeaways, and the business advice, while reasonable, is unoriginal. It’s not quite mission accomplished.