There are far too many leaders who don’t really want to be managers. Given most workers cite their manager as their main reason for leaving a company, this is a big problem. It’s hard to love your job when your boss hates theirs.

How do so many people end up as managers when they shouldn’t? Who should be a manager? Is leadership a natural trait or a learned skill? It’s a wide ranging conversation in the café today, including a rare disagreement between our co-hosts Pilar and Tim!

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Navigating the realm of leadership often brings us face-to-face with a timeless debate: are leaders born or made?

Drawing from her experiences, Pilar recalls an instance where she assisted an individual who possessed all the quintessential leadership qualities but grappled with self-confidence. This anecdote underscores the complex interplay of inherent abilities and acquired skills in leadership roles.

However, leadership ascendancy doesn’t always follow a meritocratic path. Tim’s anecdote about his friend’s executive trajectory – one achieved more through strategic maneuvering than leadership acumen – serves as a poignant reminder. Often, a pivotal determinant of one’s success in management roles is the alignment between an individual’s leadership style and the organization’s expectations. Tim’s contrasting experiences across different companies provide a vivid testament to this claim.

A prevalent misconception in corporate circles is viewing management roles merely as stepping stones to professional growth and financial rewards. However, a managerial role isn’t just an elevation in rank – it’s a profound shift in professional responsibilities. Those who pursue it solely for prestige or monetary gains might find themselves not only inept at the role but also deeply discontented.

Companies inadvertently amplify this problem when they present management as the sole trajectory for professional advancement. By doing so, they might be enticing the wrong set of individuals into the managerial fold. A few forward-thinking companies like Shopify have ingeniously sidestepped this pitfall. By offering growth avenues that bypass managerial responsibilities, they cater to professionals who are more technically inclined and might not be inclined towards “people” roles.

Pilar brings to light intriguing insights from Brian Klaas’ book, “Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us”, which posits that 34% of individuals yearn for leadership roles. Intriguingly, Klaas identifies a gene location, 876, which ostensibly amplifies one’s chances of securing a leadership position by 25%. This revelation sparks a lively debate between Tim, a staunch believer in the nurture aspect of leadership, and Pilar, who veers more towards nature’s role.

Delving into the realms of DNA and leadership might be daunting, as Tim quickly discovers when he jestingly debates genetics with a biologist. However, it’s not just the biological intricacies that are complex. Often, professionals, such as doctors transitioning into managerial roles, find themselves pining for their prior responsibilities. While some argue that intensive training might be the panacea, Pilar offers a different perspective. If an individual isn’t intrinsically driven towards a managerial role, organizations should consider alternative promotion routes.

In essence, it’s imperative for companies to elucidate what leadership truly entails within their milieu. Such clarity not only aids organisations in pinpointing suitable managerial candidates but also equips potential leaders with a transparent vision of the challenges and rewards awaiting them.

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TIME CODED SHOW NOTES

00:00 mins We open with a discussion about whether leaders are born or made and Pilar’s answer surprises Tim.

2:30 Pilar shares a story about helping someone who had the skills to lead but lacked confidence.

4:50 Unfortunately leaders aren’t always promoted due to their leadership skills. Which reminds Tim of a friend who’s had a very successful executive career through knowing how to “play the game”.

7:40 A big part of who gets management roles, and particularly who succeeds at them, is based on fit. Does your leadership style fit with what the company wants? Tim recounts his experience of being in a management role where his style was poorly suited to the company. And a time at a different company where it was well suited.

10:30 Oftentimes people wind up in management positions because they want a promotion and more money. But management is not just a promotion, it is a profession. If you don’t want to be a good manager you will be a bad manager. And an unhappy one.

11:40 If management is the only growth path available to people, companies are incentivising some of the wrong people to become managers.

12:50 Shopify and other tech companies have promotion pathways that don’t involve management. Often the founders are keen to stay in tech instead of being in a “people” role. This allows companies to still reward people who have valuable experience and technical ability but don’t want to be a manager.

15:20 Pilar references the book “Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us” by Brian Klaas which says 34% of people aspire to a leadership position. It also claims that gene location 876 increases the probability of ending up in a position of authority by 25%.

16:50 Tim struggles to accept the idea of a “leadership gene”, he’s clearly team nurture. Pilar is team nature. (Kind of.)

19:50 Tim learns not to debate DNA with a biologist.

20:30 On the After Hours podcast hosted by two HBR professors, there was a story about doctors who moved into management roles and were unhappy at being removed from their former role. The podcast claimed the solution was to train them better, but Pilar disagrees: if someone doesn’t want to be a manager, find another way of promoting them!

21:30 It’s important that companies are clear about what being a leader means within their organisation. This helps them select better people as managers. It also helps those people better understand the manager role and decide if they want to do it.

What about you, dear listener? Do you think there are natural leaders? Or is it a learned skill? We’d love to hear from you!

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