On Leading with Greatness

Here’s a dirty secret that few acknowledge inside or outside of education: teaching only takes place when learning takes place . In other words, unless someone actually learns, no one has done any teaching. For what is teaching without learning? One hand clapping. It’s the same with leadership . You can’t be a leader if no one follows . Seems obvious, right? You can’t lead the cavalry charge if th...

Have you ever seen the sitcom Abbott Elementary ? Among the many memorable characters populating the school, my favorite is the principal, Ava Coleman . To say Ava is self-serving is an understatement, but she also can be outward looking if only when you least expect it. Overall, though, she’s simply a terrible boss and therefore a lousy leader for her struggling little school. Even so, Ava’s word...

A Festive Parody for this Season of Joy Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Without the core—the why and how of it all—most would-be leaders struggle to find generic strategies that fit their circumstances and implement them successfully over time. Forget adapting. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Real trust takes a lot more than a momentary exertion of empathy. In reality, the mechanics of trust can be complicated and dynamic, which is why the best leaders have a profound appreciation for trust and carefully cultivate and nurture it. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Despite everything we’re told (and perhaps believe) greatness doesn’t drive lasting progress. Goodness does. Greatness as we rate it has to do with one’s prominence, such as position, wealth, influence—all fleeting and limited. Meanwhile, true goodness tends toward the humble and yet can be far more persistent and powerful. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/s...

For years, I struggled to accept compliments with the grace they deserve. When praised, my mind would grumble, “What’s their angle” or “If only they knew…” I’d tell myself I needed to dismiss their recognition so I could “stay humble,” which really just reflected a limiting belief that I'm not deserving. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

I have a confession to make. I’ve been misleading you—maybe even lying to you—for years. The fact that I’ve been lying to myself all that time doesn’t make it any better. The lie I’ve been telling us all is that great leadership will lead to business success. In fact, I know of no studies or slam-dunk examples that definitively demonstrate this claim. I’ve also said that bad bossing is incompetenc...

The b******t is that so many people must seek mental health treatment of all sorts because of their jobs . No one should have to go to therapy because their boss is a dipshit bully, their colleagues are creeps, or their whole organization is a cesspool of toxic behavior. And yet we do. I’ve done it more than once and because of more than one noxious employer. Get full access to On Leading With Gre...

Great leaders know that creating general rules to address a single, narrow issue can result in unfortunate outcomes throughout an organization. It’s like taking a sledgehammer to a fruit fly. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

One of the most challenging aspects of leadership is countering, neutralizing, and helping others cope with bullies. Every bully is a fraud—a weakling and a coward—and deep down they know it. We all do. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Have you ever seen the British version of The Office ? The office manager, David Brent, presents himself as a benign leader, but he’s aggressively benign, and the show demonstrates amply that such a beast can be as toxic as the worst boss. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Humans love categories. We can’t get enough of slicing and dicing things into small parts and putting them each into their own cozy cubbyholes. We do all this because categories help us make sense of the world. Classification serves a useful function,but such systems lack an inherent basis in reality. Great leaders recognize the mixed nature of our drive to taxonomize. Leaders also know that our v...

The best leaders think about systems of thought—their own and others’—to understand how leadership functions. They consider systems of thought when they make decisions or need to persuade. They contemplate when to press those systems and when to ease off. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

I call this technique “the buy-In boomerang.” It’s a logical turnabout that uses someone’s own stated standards against them. It’s a way of neutralizing a passive aggressive bully by getting them to buy into your argument. This technique draws on established psychological principles like commitment and consistency , but it specifically applies it to workplace bullying where evidence is ambiguous....

Call them what you will: conciliators, moderates, normies, or rationalists, many of these people who guard the status quo constitute the extremist middle. In politics, they’re called “ radical centrists ,” but they pop up in all sorts of scenarios. They’re radical because of their ferocity. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Leaders are individuals, but their individuality is almost irrelevant when it comes to their leadership success. The best leader is, after all, just another team member. For a leader, what could be more wonderful than heading an effective organization that has earned a top award? Such collective success can be more satisfying than any individual prize. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness...

Leaders think a lot about success, so let’s do that. Success is obviously the goal, but what do we mean by it? All too often we focus on the wrong kind of success or the wrong metrics of success. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

What a spectacle! A 70-something-year-old white man commanding the stage as he bellows into a microphone. He holds this packed stadium in thrall to his every utterance. The crowd is in raptures. His crowd. They’ve heard all he has to say before, and they want to hear it all again. They cheer, they chant, and they yell his words back in sync to him. This is not some tawdry political rally, though,...

Great leaders think about legacy —what values and behaviors they’re passing down over the long haul, to whom, and how those recipients will carry what they learn into the future. Only this way can leadership have a positive effect beyond the immediate. Like all aspects of leadership, legacy thinking is imperfect, but it’s always preferable to the toxic bequest of bad bossing. Get full access to On...

While there are traits and factors where leaders and philosophers significantly diverge, they also have a great deal in common. It behooves the leader to consider the philosopher’s way and embrace it wherever most beneficial while understanding the differences between leadership and philosophy. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

With all the leadership advice (most of it quality) cluttering social media, our bookcase shelves, and our Audible lists, you’d think that we’d see a profound and widespread positive shift in how people in general manage. I guess things have gotten a bit better in spots, but overall the same assumptions and practices—the same bossing ethos—that have always held sway remain set. Most people in posi...

Let’s create a little thought experiment. Let’s imagine a continuum stretching from the bossiest of bosses on one end to the most virtuous of servant leaders on the other. Contemplating this continuum reveals a paradox of perception. Here’s how the paradox works: the more an individual’s behavior leans toward the virtuous leader end of the continuum, the more we perceive their flaws and inconsiste...

How can leaders maintain their decency in a world of indecency. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

“One day…” Only two words, but what an impact! It’s the battle cry of the chronic procrastinator. We promise ourselves and others that we’ll get around to that task or fulfill that desire…one day. Our intentions may be innocent and pure, but our motivation is slippery—that is, if it even exists. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe