The leadership illusion My best friend in high school became a chief executive for Time Warner Books in Australia, and when I went to visit her she talked about how sad it was that she couldn't be friends with any of her employees. She felt so isolated. I'd started a few businesses in the States and said to her that they had been successful because I'd made friends with every employee. Her response was that in big business you just couldn't do that. "You can't be personal with people you supervise." That, to me, was an example of an illusion -- an inherited notion, a handed-down tradition. She honored it like it was a holy corporate commandment, and perhaps it was, but organizations are living things, like evolving organisms. They only thrive when they adapt to their changing environments. Jan Phillips Read the whole article here. Start or join the conversation for this posting on the Emergent Village Facebook Page
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