I know some people like to get up and pontificate about everything they did in the past and have a lot of long stories about that. But I'm not one of those kinds of guys.
[.source]Jim Harbaugh | Football Coach[.source]
While VIM Executive Coaching strives to sound intelligent on the topic of executive leadership, we doubt we could coach a middle school football team to a winning record. So, we humbly defer to collegiate and NFL coach on the topic of coaching and pontification.
VIM Executive Coaching and Jim Harbaugh have a lot in common on the subject of pontification; we both know better than to do it!
Pontification? We don’t think so.
Sooner or later, we fear that at some point in your career, you will come across a pontificating manager or leader. They have troubling personalities; they are pompous and often condescending, they have the ability to make the tallest of us feel about two-feet high; they believe in crediting themselves before others; they rarely acknowledge anyone but themselves or their designated “favorites.”
From our point-of view, pontificating executive leaders almost never succeed; they shut down creativity and initiative; they bully and are closed to any idea that may conflict with their narrow view.
In 2021, the software company BambooHR, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 employees about what makes a bad executive leader. The top five reasons included:
- 63 percent said a bad leader is when a boss takes credit for your work
- 62 percent said the bad boss never empowers or trusts them
- 58 percent said their boss didn’t care about overworking staff
- 57 percent said they consider their boss a bad executive leader when they don’t advocate for them
- 56 percent they consider their boss a bad executive leader when they always hire the wrong people (and usually choose a clueless family member or cronies).
In fact, every negative ascribed to a bad executive leader has at least some basis in a pontificating, self-centered executive leader who puts themselves out in front, with everyone else a distant second no matter the situation.
“I’m walking”
We well know the “employment” story of last year: the so-called Great Resignation. However, one of the lesser-known stories were the thousands of newly hired employees who never showed up for the first day of work.
VIM Executive Coaching has far too much respect for people to fall into the trope of saying, “People have become basically lazy; there’s no work ethic.” It is simply not true.
Our theory? We believe that given the widespread use of online tools, many prospective employees are learning of corporate cultures that pontificate rather than lead; of cultures that disregard and trivialize employees rather than empower them. It has consistently been shown that salary is not the motivator, it is how employees feel within the values the organization espouses.
Where are we leading the discussion with this post?
Simply this: virtually every time, the executive leader who is mindful will retain and attract their employees. The executive leader who is officious, close-minded and pontificates rather than listens, loses employees and respect.
This is obviously not the 1950s, where executive leaders pounded the boardroom table and “commanded” respect. The work place has changed, and along with it, a renewed focus on corporate social responsibility and equity. Those goals cannot be reached through pontification, they must be achieved through mindfulness and authenticity.
VIM Executive Coaching is dedicated to developing executive leaders who are more authentic, more responsive and highly effective in helping organizations become more mindful and successful. In all things, be more responsive, mindful and authentic; it is always good look.