Page 74 - The extraordinary leader

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SIMPLIFYING LEADERSHIP

I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity but
I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Our objective in this chapter is to provide some of the “simplicity that lies just
on the other side of complexity.” In Chapter 1, we presented many of the
dimensions that create the extremely complex nature of leadership. In this
chapter, we wish to reduce that complexity to a model of leadership that is
more easily understood.

Mattresses and Tents
Mattresses

For decades, researchers and observers have tried to find the competency, trait,
knowledge base, personality dimension, or thought process that makes a person
a good leader. The analysis was extremely granular, breaking leadership into as
many discrete competencies as possible. The outcome was to describe leader-
ship behaviors or competencies as highly specific, discrete, individualized acts.
Each trait or characteristic was made separate and distinct from all the others.
One metaphor compares this approach to understanding leadership as a
“coil-spring mattress.” This approach to leadership assumes that these traits

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