Leaders Raised by Wolves

Leaders develop their style and approach to leadership largely by watching and learning from others.

Role models exert a tremendous influence on how leaders behave in the future. Some mentors and role models set a great example, while others display the antithesis of what makes leaders effective.

Unfortunately, people often overemphasize the success of role models in determining what they should do to replicate that good fortune for themselves. Because they see a causal link from behavior to success, they sometimes learn an insidious lesson from an accomplished mentor.

It’s somewhat astounding how often leaders who play favorites, manage work-life balance poorly, have difficulty delegating to others, and express high emotions when they are frustrated have experienced those same tactics themselves from a leader or role model in their lives.

Who and what we model after has a tremendous influence on what we do.

Among the most common negative lessons leaders learn from others, one stands out for its pervasiveness and coercive effect on others: Micromanaging to get things done.

The odds are that if a leader had a previous manager or mentor who was a micromanager, they, too, resort to this coercive style. While it is true that the need for control pushes some leaders toward a micromanaging style, it is much more common for leaders to learn this ineffective behavior from those they model after.

Micromanagers in any industry or workplace share a common set of tactics. First and foremost, they presume team members are incapable of completing tasks without detailed guidance and supervision, so they are overly directive and get involved with the specific details of every assignment.

As a result, they interrupt the workflow by frequently asking for updates and then criticizing whatever actions wouldn’t match their own.

They naturally assert their view about how to do things, often demanding that others follow their precise process or instructions. Almost nothing happens without their approval or blessing.

Leaders who employ the micromanaging style demotivate team members, destroy team morale, diminish productivity, and experience high turnover. But because they associate this style with a role model’s success, they remain committed to it, sometimes even after years of negative outcomes and feedback.

We might facetiously say that micromanagers were raised by wolves and don’t know any better. But there is more to the story than unawareness.

Duplicating the style of micromanaging others is most often the result of the misguided perception that being heavy-handed in oversight is what produced the mentor’s success.

Of course, the real explanation is that the mentor succeeded despite their micromanaging, which means they had a lot of luck in the process or had such extreme talent that they overwhelmed this flaw.

If you or a leader you know has learned to micromanage from others, it is high time to try a different approach. You don’t have to borrow everything a respected mentor has shown you.

Celebrating the role models we have admired and learned from by emulating their behaviors is what good leaders do. But only after they reject those tactics that are ineffective or harmful.

Sometimes leaders need to do the opposite of what they see and absorb from successful people.