Seven Failings of Really Useless Leaders

I came across this London Times Online writeup on Moore and Sonsino's book, "The Seven Failings of Really Useless Leaders: How to Inspire Your People to Higher Levels of Performance, Productivity and Profitability" Every one of these failings apply to project managers just as well as functional management.

I have not read this book, but the 7 failings listed obviously make sense, although they do not necessarily re-invent the wheel or introduce any new concepts from what I see. I do like the way they are packaged however, and having a "do not" list like this helps reinforce the myriad of "do" lists out there.

1. Killing enthusiasm through micromanagement, coercion and disrespect;
2. Killing emotion by being aggressive, lacking empathy and not supporting work-life balance;
3. Killing explanation through incomplete or inconsistent communication;
4. Killing engagement with limited team goals and an insistence on managers dictating objectives;
5. Killing reward by rewarding the wrong things or doing it in the wrong way, for example, by offering a cash bonus to someone who is not motivated by money;
6. Killing culture, for example by ignoring differences in working cultures when managing mergers between organizations or by “punishing risk- taking” while trying to introduce a culture of innovation; and
7. Killing trust by making unfair decisions when hiring or rewarding staff.

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