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However honorable, dissenters are rarely embraced by their

organizations. I am reminded of a recent cartoon showing an in-

dustrial titan, surrounded by his suited minions, who is barking:

“All those opposed, signify by saying, ‘I quit.’” Organizations

tend to deal harshly with those who insist upon speaking embar-

rassing truths, as Enron’s Sherron Watkins learned, as did FBI

agent and critic Colleen Rowley. And yet no one is more valu-

able to the organization than the subordinate willing to speak

truth to power. Organizations sometimes go to absurd, even im-

moral lengths to ignore bad news—the auto industry’s silence on

dangerous car and truck models is an egregious example. But

authentic leaders embrace those who speak valuable truths, how-

ever hard they are to hear. Nothing will sink a leader faster than

surrounding him- or herself with yes-men and women. Even

when principled nay-sayers are wrong, they force leaders to re-

evaluate their positions and to poke and prod their assumptions

for weaknesses. Good ideas are only made stronger by being

challenged. The subordinate who speaks truth to power needs

courage, and may pay the price for candor. But, by doing so, he

or she evinces nothing less than leadership. The willingness to

stand up to the bosses may not save the candid individual’s job,

but it will serve him or her well in another, better organization.

That brings me to another thing I’ve learned since writing On

Becoming a Leader. Great leaders and followers are always en-

gaged in a creative collaboration. We still tend to think of leaders,

like artists, as solitary geniuses. In fact, the days when a single in-

dividual, however gifted, can solve our problems are long gone.

The problems we face today come at us so fast and are so com-

plex, that we need groups of talented people to tackle them, led

by gifted leaders, or even teams of leaders. As co-author Patricia

Ward Biederman and I write in our book, Organizing Genius: The

On Becoming a Leader

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