Several years ago, I worked as a director in a tech consulting firm, where our mission was to provide innovative tech solutions to our clients. I’m not a technical architect, and I can’t code or even configure the low-code platform solutions we provide. You wouldn’t find me writing test cases or committing code to production. The day-to-day delivery management was skilfully handled by our project managers. In fact, when it comes to “delivering value” to our clients, as measured by the deployment and adoption of technology solutions, my contributions didn’t stack up to those of the delivery teams proper.
Despite this, at the end of every successful engagement I was personally congratulated by the MD and executive leadership for my good work. Occasionally, they’d give a nod to a team member in passing.
Since transitioning into leadership roles, I’ve noticed a clear disparity in the opportunities and recognition I’ve received compared to my non-leader peers within the organization. Specifically, I’ve gained access to exclusive education, incentives, and recognition that non-leaders do not enjoy.
Similarly, my compensation packages have seen exponential growth, in contrast to the incremental increases seen by team members. This reality is underscored by a striking statistic currently being widely reported, the average CEO in the United States earns approximately 320 times more than the average worker. A cursory glance at the business press confirms the widely discussed and concerning divergence between worker and executive pay. It’s a stark illustration of the systemic overzealousness for leadership over team work in our corporate landscape.
Often, the justification for this imbalance is that leaders are entrusted with clear business objectives, bearing the weight of business success or failure on their shoulders. Consequently, they are equipped and rewarded according to this perceived burden. However, a year or two spent as an associate in a large corporation is sufficient to dispel this notion. The reality is that good leadership is not always rewarded on merit.
Consider the term ‘failing upwards,’ and you’re likely to recall instances from your own career where individuals who did not contribute positively to the bottom line, and in fact, may have made things worse, were rewarded with promotions. This stark contrast between the ideal of a meritocratic workplace and the corporate reality is all too familiar to many.
The business enablement and capability marketplace bears this out. When I look around the personal development marketplace, I see a rich and varied market of offerings for leaders. Everyone from the Ivy League to the local “performance coach” seeks to sell you some sort of service or certificate that will enhance my leadership capabilities and afford me the opportunity to progress my leadership career. I don’t see much by way of helping people become better team players. If the subject is addressed, it seems, it’s an aside, mentioned within the leadership literature.
By contrast, there isn’t much emphasis about it takes to be an effective, successful team member in the business literature or professional education. In the rare books I’ve found that deal with the topic of being a better team member, the reflection of the team in relation to the leader remains prominent. A good example of this is “Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders,” by Barbara Kellerman, from 2008. It’s a fascinating study with some good points that are worth digesting. But the focal point of her thinking is the team’s impact on the leader, i.e. the leader is front and center — And honestly “followership”? - what a turn-off of a name!
I don’t want to devalue the impact and importance of good leadership, but it’s not the panacea for business success, in my experience. The right team of people, working well together, in relationship with a leader is the success equation, in my opinion.
These observations, among others, have led me to a conclusion: leadership is unduly overemphasized in comparison to teamwork within both business practice, literature and capability uplift. Continuing to perpetuate the “cult of leader” narrative does us no favours.