The Best of the Best of the Best
Talking with someone recently, I heard him ask "wouldn't you expect your boss to be the best in the firm at what you do?"
Um, no. Personally, I'd expect that I'M the best in the firm at what I do. But that says more about my ego and ambition than my boss' abilities.
My real answer, though, is that I don't necessarily want a leader who's the best possible designer/stylist/copywriter/whatever. Instead, I want a leader who's the best possible leader.
This raised a good question: do you have to be more skilled than your employees in order to be their leader? My answer to that would be "no."
For one thing, saying who's "the best" among Creatives is a tricky proposition. How do you measure that? It's tough to find a way everyone agrees upon. Maybe you can divide people into "talented" and "untalented," but even that's an opinion. So don't worry about being "the best" because that's somewhat out of your control.
Another thing to consider is, if your creative skill was your greatest talent, then maybe you should be doing that instead of being a leader. You need to think about where you'll add the most value to the firm, and if you can do things in the creative realm that no one else can do, well then, maybe you need to be doing it and let someone else be the leader.
Of course, even though you don't have to be the top in your field, it helps to have some talent. You need to understand the requirements and capabilities of your Creatives, and if you're going to evaluate them you need to understand what they do.
One reason that people suggest the leader should be the best of the bunch is that it's the way you'll get respect from your Creatives. They'll look up to you because of your talent, or so goes the theory. But if they're getting screwed over by upper management while you're off doing better work than them and making them look bad in comparison, then respect is going to be hard to come by. What they'll really respect you for is being the best possible leader, who motivates them, protects them, and draws out their own best effort.
And after all, isn't that what you're getting paid to do?
Um, no. Personally, I'd expect that I'M the best in the firm at what I do. But that says more about my ego and ambition than my boss' abilities.
My real answer, though, is that I don't necessarily want a leader who's the best possible designer/stylist/copywriter/whatever. Instead, I want a leader who's the best possible leader.
This raised a good question: do you have to be more skilled than your employees in order to be their leader? My answer to that would be "no."
For one thing, saying who's "the best" among Creatives is a tricky proposition. How do you measure that? It's tough to find a way everyone agrees upon. Maybe you can divide people into "talented" and "untalented," but even that's an opinion. So don't worry about being "the best" because that's somewhat out of your control.
Another thing to consider is, if your creative skill was your greatest talent, then maybe you should be doing that instead of being a leader. You need to think about where you'll add the most value to the firm, and if you can do things in the creative realm that no one else can do, well then, maybe you need to be doing it and let someone else be the leader.
Of course, even though you don't have to be the top in your field, it helps to have some talent. You need to understand the requirements and capabilities of your Creatives, and if you're going to evaluate them you need to understand what they do.
One reason that people suggest the leader should be the best of the bunch is that it's the way you'll get respect from your Creatives. They'll look up to you because of your talent, or so goes the theory. But if they're getting screwed over by upper management while you're off doing better work than them and making them look bad in comparison, then respect is going to be hard to come by. What they'll really respect you for is being the best possible leader, who motivates them, protects them, and draws out their own best effort.
And after all, isn't that what you're getting paid to do?
Labels: Leading
posted by Will at
3:00 AM
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