What should people in leadership roles actually be doing all week?
Ask most managers about their daily leadership activities, and I bet they’d snarl back at you: “I make money.” That’s certainly one aspect of leadership, although we know from research that about 21.4 million middle managers add absolutely no value back to their firm. So, there’s that! The other response you’d likely get to “What leadership activities are you chasing this week?” is Buzzword Boulevard: “I’m working on organic feedback in a mission-driven way.” Both of these answers mean absolutely nothing, and would not help someone become a better leader or manager down the road.
So, what are the leadership activities people need to focus on? I’d argue most of them are probably soft skills, which terrifies a lot of executives. Why? Executives are about execution — not about fluffy stuff like “communicating better.” They want to run their business via The Spreadsheet Mentality, and not run it via “I need to give Johnny his precious feedback.” It’s a real issue. We often gloss it over.
We’ve also got research on eight crucially effective leadership skills, and research on what leadership skills lists should look like for executives. But those are lists of skills — they’re not actions and activities, per se. What do we know about leadership activities?
