When we speak of “leadership” most people unsurprisingly think of CEOship. The reality is that although CEOs are certainly leaders, there are other leaders in the organisation apart from the CEO. Every person who has the responsibility for other people, is a leader of those people, regardless of where in the organisation they find themselves. The CEO is the leader of the entire organisation, but the field supervisors, for example, are responsible for, and the leaders of, the people and functions under their control. A leader is frequently very lonely in the role – not because they don’t have people to talk to, but because they can’t say certain things to certain people. This is not about “friendship” but about effectiveness. Everybody wants to be friends with the leader – it feels nice, it empowers the friend, and it strokes the ego – and that’s all OK and fairly…
The Loneliness in Leadership
