Leadership Style

We've ruminated for decades about leadership. What makes a leader? Well, definitionally, that people follow one.

Simple.

For all the books, advice, and more, though, three themes emerge: To be effective, you must have clarity, commitment and competence.

The second one is maybe the most-discussed. What does it take to "motivate" someone? For that matter, regarding human endeavor, is "motivate" a transitive verb at all?

"You've got to motivate yourself." Truer words were never spoken. Motivation arises from within each of us. We decide to work towards objectives. The roots of that decision might be variable, but ultimately any commitment to work is a decision, individually made.

And we know what "de-motivates." Negative reinforcement is not as effective as positive reinforcement. Criticism, no matter how essential, risks falling on "deaf ears" if it is overwhelmingly negative.

And yet we still have leaders who deal only in that, and rarely if ever provide positive feedback. Why does that happen, when we know so much more about leadership than a century ago?

I can only offer that, first, providing positive reinforcement is not a native behavior. We don't do it out of habit. We are inherently a negative, critical species, especially when it comes to how other people act.

Second, giving positive feedback is a risk. When we tell another person something good, there's a risk that it will "go to their head." There is also a risk that they might perceive themself as better than you are.

So we don't give positive feedback habitually.