Short termism
Short termism

Short termism

Twice this week I have spoken about the short termism in education and personal leadership development. How education is time-pressured and as a result we water the crown and not the roots.

In both conversations, I have referred to the leaky boat dilemma. So here it is.

When the boat is taking on water, bailing is important, but plugging the hole is essential.

Whether to ‘bail’ or to ‘plug,’ that is the decision drawn from experience. It is simply of question of assessing the return on investment. A simpler version on upstreaming.

With this, I thought I’d share another leadership favourite.

I wanna be the leader
I wanna be the leader
Can I be the leader?
Can I? I can?
Promise? Promise?
Yippee I’m the leader
I’m the leader

OK what shall we do? 

Roger McGough

In first reading the poem, I was clear that McGough was poking fun at the eager leader. Having had some time to think about it, that may be, but it is rather a sensible, sage and shared approach to leading – no?

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