to teach, he described the need for a situational approach that
taught leaders how to behave appropriately, depending on the cir-
cumstances. Not only was there no mention of a leader’s mind-set
or assumptions, but he went out of his way to explain to us how
leadership development must become more practical and behav-
ioral. We can only hope that his message will not resonate. It is not
that our behaviors don’t matter. They do matter. But over time, our
behaviors will always follow our beliefs.
People have great radar for detecting duplicity. They can tell
whether a leader is passionate or is merely spouting the party line.
They know when a leader’s words are authentic and when a leader
is parroting someone else’s message.
More important, people can tell whether the leader cares about
them or only cares about meeting his or her own goals and captur-
ing the benefits of other people’s performance. As followers, we
look for respect, authenticity, honesty, and caring. When a leader
is authentic, we know it. We can see it in the leader’s eyes. We can
feel it in the leader’s presence. We look quickly beyond words or
style and into the leader’s heart. We care whether our leaders
believe in us and whether they trust us to make a significant
contribution. We care about their motives, and we should.
For example, compliments and praise can be a way of saying
thank-you or can be given in the hope of getting something in
return (usually better work). People can smell the difference in the
motives of the leader instantaneously. No matter how practiced a
leader’s style, behavior exhibited in an attempt to get something in
return will appear manipulative. Manipulation erodes trust and
undermines the development of relationships. “Catch people doing
something right,” we have been told. Rarely have we been asked to
think about why. Do we believe that by praising people we will get
more of the desired behavior, or do we praise people because we
want to say we care? The difference is everything.
We have seen leaders of all shapes and styles who are success-
ful with their teams. Some had charisma; some did not. Some
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