Reading Samet’s anthology, one sees how starkly perspectival leadership is. From the inside, it often feels like a poorly improvised performance; leading is like starring in a lip-synched music video. The trick is to make it look convincing from the outside. And so the anthology takes pains to show how leaders react to the ambiguities of their roles. In one excerpt, from the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, Samet finds him marching toward an enemy camp. Grant, a newly minted colonel who has never commanded in combat, is terrified: “My heart kept getting higher and higher, until it felt to me as though it was in my throat.” When the camp comes into view, however, it’s deserted—the other commander, Grant surmises, “had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him.” Leaders, he realizes, are imagined to be fearless but aren’t; ideally, one might hide one’s fear while finding in it clues about what the enemy will do.
Doris Reeves-Lipscomb on 15 Sep 14Blog by Gwen Teatro, You're Not the Boss of Me is name of blog, September 14, 2014. Identifies five elements that I believe are right on for real teams: 1. Everyone on the team clearly understands its purpose 2. Individuals on the team each know their roles in fulfilling the purpose 3. Individuals on the team see their roles as being no more, or no leass important than anyone else's 4. We pay attention to the team dynamic every time a new member is introduced 5. The team works together until its purpose is fulfilled.
