Lead, follow, or.....

Things that come to those who wait may be left by those who got there first” Murphy’s Other Laws.
The old adage is “Lead, follow or get out of the way”. But really its only Lead or Follow; getting out of the way means getting totally out of the way (and the company).

I’ve always maintained that I’m a pretty good leader and I’m also a pretty good follower. I’m pretty lousy at in-between. Many companies, especially startups, suffer from entrepreneurs who are sporadic leaders. Between their electric personalities and ADHD styles they tend to flip between mandates that nothing be allowed to happen without their knowledge and consent to rage about having to “do everything” themselves. This tends to plant the hired employee base in the dreaded Twilight Zone of “neither a leader nor a follower be”.

What to do. I’ve seen the Alexander Haig syndrome where people “take charge” whenever the opportunity presents itself. This is high comedy for the rest of the office, only trumped if there are two “Al’s” in the same office. Unfortunately no one listens to these people so no progress happens. The other extreme are the pouters who do nothing since no one told them to. This is painful and without humor.

If you’re that sporadic leader, stop it. Your schizophrenic style is slowing down progress. If you can’t stop then at least make sure there is a clear and understood path forward and some directions. I worked for a VP at ADP once upon a time who said, “Look, I don’t mind if some of us end up in San Francisco and others in LA, but let’s at least all go West”.

If you’re the one experiencing the churn learn to live and love the adage, “I’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission”, then go do your job.