Barbara Kellerman on Leadership Books

In her 2012 book, The End of Leadership, Barbara Kellerman focuses most of her attention on taking the leadership industry to task. One of the areas she concentrates her displeasure on is leadership books.  In her estimate, many of the authors base them “… on a few simple assumptions.”  She elaborates on their formulaic nature by stating:

“… that leadership is a skill of some sort, which everyone everywhere should aspire to acquire; that leadership can be learned by all sorts of people, from different backgrounds, and with different experiences and areas of expertise; that notwithstanding the difference between them, leadership can be learned by large numbers of people simultaneously; that leadership can be learned quickly and easily – over a period of months or weeks or even over a weekend; that, in comparison with leaders, followers are less consequential, less valuable a commodity; that context is of secondary or even tertiary consequence; and the leaders control outcomes – which is why, the industry reasons, leaders matter more than does anyone else.” (p. 154)

Reference

Kellerman, B. (2012).  The end of leadership.  New York: Harper Business.