Michael Scott terrifies me. In fact, he’s my worst nightmare.
For those of you who might not know, Michael Scott is the bumbling General Manager of a little paper company called DunderMifflin on the hit show The Office. Played by the ridiculously funny Steve Carell, Michael is all that is wrong with management and leadership in corporate America. The show is a hit for one reason – we all identify with the unimaginable, inconceivable, inappropriate, and stupid, stupid, stupid (did I say stupid?) behavior of the boss and co-workers. For many of us, The Office is real and we live it every day.
Back to my nightmare.
As a leader, my biggest nightmare is that someone who works with me thinks, in some way, that I act like, talk like, or look like Michael. It’s become such a problem for me that I’ve started to ask myself, “What would Michael do?” And then I do the opposite. Clearly, I have michaelphobia, which could be the clinical diagnosis for the fear of being viewed as a ding-dong by my team. It’s because of this fear that I’d like to begin a conversation to discuss the best leadership (and leaders) around.
While this is just the first of many posts on this blog, I start with this quick introduction and the backdrop of Michael Scott for a reason – this kind of leadership behavior is far too common (hilarious though it may be). Somehow or another, many supervisors land in positions with lives in their hands without the skills to lead.
And that’s what I’d like to talk about.
With each post, I’d appreciate your comments. Again, this is a discussion. Share your stories, as I share mine. Let’s commiserate some – but most importantly, let’s talk about what leadership really means and how we can all become better.
Looking forward to it.
Brenden
