As the story goes, two con men -- fabric weavers, promise a prideful emperor a fabulous new suit of clothes. They said the clothes will be invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. However, in reality, they made no clothes at all, leading everyone to believe the clothes are invisible to them. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his non-existent suit, no one dared to say that they do not see any clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid. Finally, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" When the crowd realized the child is right and confirmed their belief the emperor wasn’t wearing anything at all, they began to roar in laughter. However, the emperor continued on his parade, because to turn back, would admit that he was fooled.
While The Emperor’s New Clothes, was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837, it presents 3 key modern leadership lessons:
Pride comes before a fall
Insecure and prideful leaders refuse to admit mistakes. As a result, they will continue on the same destructive path. Even the mightiest of leaders and organizations have fallen due to pride. If people in leadership positions are fixated on, “We are too big.” “We are too good.” “We are the best.” “We are the only one in town.” “I am the mighty powerful C-Suite leader.” Be careful… karma may be around the corner.
True Leaders: True leaders check their egos at the door. They are self-reflective and work to improve relationships.
“Yes” or a small circle of favorite people can have a devastating impact
Self-importance and surrounding oneself with “yes” or a small circle of favorite people can have a devastating consequence. A different variation of this is when a person in a leadership position leads by fear and intimidation making it difficult for people to speak up. When this happens over time, detachment from reality grows within the leader and in the organization.
I am familiar with a former CEO who chose to surround herself with people who would tell her what she wanted to hear. She removed those who stood up to her with the truth. Eventually, she only had people around her that would peddle invisible clothes. One day, one of those people gave her bad advice regarding an organizational practice. She followed the wrong advice only to find herself charged with a misdemeanor. She will most likely not be permitted to function as a CEO again and the organization will face a long road of reputation repair.
True Leaders: True leaders surround themselves with truth tellers. They make it safe to stand up for the truth.
Seeing things that don’t exist, doesn’t make it so
I’ve also come across people in leadership positions who are fooled by things that don’t exist. Pretty presentations, brochures, buzzwords, and so-called “experts” abound. They have a way of finding the C-Suites at conferences, online or through on-site visits.
True Leaders: True leaders trust but verify. They do not allow themselves to be easily fooled by shiny flashy things. Or in the case of the emperor fooled by invisible things.
Tips for those working for an “emperor”
The tips above sound great. But we also recognize that not everyone feels they have options when working in an organization lead by an emperor. An emperor is defined as a person in a position of power who leads by fear, intimidation, and/or favoritism. We get it – sometimes quitting may not be an option.
Here are some tips for handling an emperor:
The Tyrant: If it’s an egomaniac tyrant we are talking about its helpful to understand that they are constantly making the decision to feed their ego. Their primary concern is maintaining power and will coerce and intimidate others.
Just short of quitting, getting threatened or fired trying to stand up to them, methods of surviving a tyrant include: allowing them to take credit, choosing battles wisely, and managing your own emotions. Managing our own emotions is hard particularly when we are in situations that are unfair. But when quitting is not an option, what might help is considering that this person may not be happy either and may be considering quitting too.
The Visionary: This individual has strengths in coming up with ideas. However, when it comes to executing on the idea they can’t focus or see it through. Instead, they leave it up to others to figure it out while they move on to other ideas.
Since the visionary tends to think broadly, be quick to funnel things down into something smaller and more practical. Ask a lot of specific questions to help force them to think about potential obstacles to implementing the ideas. Instead of refuting ideas directly, just refocus their attention on what it will take to implement the plan in a practical sense.
The Seagull: A type of manager who swoops in, causes a storm and flies off. Rarely do they get the facts straight, fires off ineffective solutions, and flies off. This leaves everyone behind to clean up the mess.
Often this type of manager will not be aware of their behavior or the kind of disruption they cause. One method to improve the situation is to approach the manager in a non-threatening manner and offer ideas on how the entire group can find a better way to work effectively.
Lisa Mull
Latest posts by Lisa Mull (see all)
- The Emperor’s New Clothes: Modern Leadership Lessons - March 29, 2018
- 5 Signs of a Declining Organization - November 18, 2015
