Thoughtful content alert. If it is one thing that you get during a career in the military, it’s a lot of discussion about leadership. It’s also a big topic for college programs, business seminars, and at least millions of pages in books and other written material. One of the questions often asked is about born leaders versus teaching leadership and while that generates plenty of conversation, that isn’t actually the point to this post. Leadership techniques can be taught and there certainly can be late bloomers when it comes to taking on a leadership role and succeeding. On the other hand, there are people who are not suited to leadership. At least, not suited to being effective leaders that can create and/or sustain a productive environment that has minimal drama. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with not having the type of personality that lends itself to leadership. The initial problem comes in when such a person is placed into a leadership position. The second and more difficult problem is when that individual is unaware that he or she is not suited to leadership. I don’t plan on dwelling on all the ramifications of that and the complications that inevitably ensue.

No matter how one of these situations occurs, it tends to end badly either through the constant loss of personnel, a loss of effectiveness, finally having to release the failed leader, and in extreme cases, the business itself not surviving. (Okay, really extreme is workplace violence, but that definitely isn’t a topic I’m going to discuss.) The secondary point here that even though what often draws people to leadership roles is more money, if someone isn’t suited, they aren’t suited. If you are ever in a position to hire someone for a leadership role, while past performance is an indicator of future performance, so is length of time in a job. If someone has held multiple leadership jobs for three years or less, that’s something to question. In some cases, it’s the nature of a business where projects end or movement is required because of wide geographical needs. Barring that, however, you have to wonder about the frequent changes. The reality is that in today’s environment, former employers are often reluctant to give adverse information and you might have to couch questions like asking about employee turnover under that person. On the flip side, if you are a person who doesn’t feel comfortable in a leadership role, that’s okay. Maybe you even try it once to see and you realize that it isn’t for you. There’s nothing wrong with that and not wanting a leadership position doesn’t indicate a lack of ambition. It can, instead, be a matter of valuable self-awareness.