When To Lead

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

There has been an interesting amount of chatter of  late around the concept of “when to lead.” What puzzles me is this statement’s inference that there must be a good time to not lead. I couldn’t disagree more – Leadership is an always on, full-time endeavor. There’s an old joke that says leaders don’t have time off, they just have moments of down time. What real leaders know all too well is they’re evaluated every bit as harshly, and sometimes more harshly, on the choices made during their down time. When you’re in a leadership role everything you do is on the clock. In today’s post I’ll examine the fallacy of leading by not leading.

Leadership is a 24 -7-365 job. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the best leaders see what they do as a calling and not just a job. What you do in public, private, in silence or in word, in thought and in deed will be observed, evaluated and critiqued – count on it. There are simply no free passes for leaders. Don’t believe me? Just look around – the news is littered each day with examples of people in leadership positions who ignore or forget what I’ve just espoused.

Let me take a moment and dismiss the sophomoric leadership theorists who believe that sometimes a leader must not lead by stepping-back, stepping-aside or stepping-away in acquiescing leadership to others. Guess what? This is not an example of not leading, rather it is a great example of real leadership. Real leaders know that choosing to surrender the floor, to remain silent, to delegate, or to utilize any number of other subtle leadership acts demonstrate astute examples of situational and contextual leadership. 

John Maxwell is one of the greatest leadership thinkers of the modern era, and I count myself among his fans. However, like all of us (myself included) sometimes we get one wrong. John said, “when to lead is as important as what to do and where to go.” Taken literally this is an example of flawed logic. However in all fairness, I think John was talking more about the timing of decisioning, rather than whether or not to lead. The reason I point this out is that I’m fearful that many young leaders are misinterpreting statements like these, and as a result make ill-advised choices.

My bottom line is a simple one…whether you accept a leadership position, or are thrust into a leadership role by circumstance, once you make the choice to be a leader you must ALWAYS lead. Dismiss or forget this advice at great cost and peril – remember it and you’ll be long admired for your service as a leader.