What Happens When Bosses Don't Lead

One of the worst things that happens when bosses don’t lead is that the vision of the organization suffers. If a team starts out with a vision but without a competent leader, it is in trouble. Why? Because vision leaks. And without a leader, the vision will dissipate, and the team will drift until it has no sense of direction.

Lead Yourself Well Before Anything Else

Every now and then at a conference, sharp young people will come up to me and tell me how much they want to become great lead­ers and how hard they’re working to learn and grow. But then they’ll lament, “I don’t have anyone to lead yet.”

My response is to tell them, “Lead yourself. That’s where it all starts. Besides, if you wouldn’t follow yourself, why should anyone else?”

The key to leading yourself well, especially when you work for an ineffective boss, is to learn self-management.

Find Ways to Work with Your Boss

Few things can be more maddening to anyone with leadership potential than working for a leader who doesn’t lead. What may be most frustrating is that the majority of bad bosses have no idea how bad they really are as leaders. People with high skill levels can always assess those with lower skills than their own, but people with low skill levels can rarely accurately assess the abilities of those at a higher skill level. This is especially true in leadership.

Develop Your Influence Wherever You Are

If you want to succeed, you need to learn as much as you can about leadership before you have a leadership posi­tion. When I meet people in social settings and they ask me what I do for a living, some of them are intrigued when I say I write books and speak. And they often ask what I write about. When I say leadership, the response that makes me chuckle most goes something like this: “Oh. Well, when I become a leader, I’ll read some of your books!” What I don’t say (but want to) is: “If you’d read some of my books, maybe you’d become a leader.”

Avoid Landmines That Could Make the Situation Worse

If you’re facing the challenge of working with a boss who can’t or won’t lead, you’re already in difficult circumstances. You don't know if things will get better. But I know things can get worse.

You can take steps to avoid many of the common landmines that threaten to blow up a relationship with a boss—whether that boss is a good leader or a bad one.

Develop an Attitude of Contentment and Fulfillment

When you’re working for a bad boss, it’s easy to feel frustrated and discontented. However, it’s essential that you maintain a sense of positive contentment despite the challenges if you want to be successful. Remember that in the long run, success is more a matter of disposition than position. With the right mind-set and the right skills, you can influence people no matter where you are in an organization. And you can feel a sense of reward for doing a job well.

Prove Your Worth

Few things gain the appreciation of a top leader more quickly than an employee with a whatever-it-takes attitude. They must be willing and able to think outside of their job description, to be willing to tackle the kinds of jobs that others are too proud or too frightened to take on.

Never Stop Growing

So how do you become better tomorrow? By becoming better today. The secret of your success can be found in your daily agenda. I suggest you keep growing—to become better at your core competency.