Why Your Reluctant Leaders May Be Your Best Leaders

Megumi Miki (pictured below) is a leadership and culture specialist and author of the upcoming book Quietly Powerful: How your quiet nature is your hidden leadership strength and Start Inspiring, Stop Driving: Unlock your team’s potential to outperform and grow. In this guest post, Miki
What’s more common – hearing people complaining about their bosses or praising them for good leadership?
Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of Why so many incompetent men become leaders (and how to fix it) refers to a few studies which show that we still have a significant leadership gap in organisations:
- A 2011 study by Jazmine Boatman and Richard Wellins, Global Leadership Forecast where only 26 per cent of human resource professionals and other managers rated their current leaders positively and only 18 per cent of future leaders as promising.
- The HBR article, Talent management: Boards give their companies an ‘F’ indicated that fewer than 20 per cent of boards are confident that their organisations have a grip on their leadership problems.
- Another HBR article, Do you hate your boss? Refers to a global survey where 70 per cent of employees are not engaged at work and of these employees have anything nice to say about their bosses.
If this is a trend, surely we are missing something in how we identify and develop leadership talent? What may be surprising is that some of the best leaders may not have aspired to take up senior leadership positions.
The 29 Quietly Powerful leaders interviewed for the book, Quietly Powerful, highlighted that many were reluctant leaders and yet have successfully stepped into leadership and made positive impacts. They never thought of themselves as leaders initially. Someone – a mentor, a manager, a senior leader – saw something in them, encouraged and gave them opportunities to step into leadership.
What makes these reluctant leaders powerful are that:
- They step into leadership roles for a bigger purpose than themselves. They would not have done it unless there was a compelling reason for them to step up. Their interest in the collective – the team, organisation or purpose – is stronger than their self-interest.
- They do not develop a sense of entitlement or self-importance. They remain humble, empathetic and retain their ability to listen to and show respect to everyone regardless of rank/position.
- They develop their own style of leadership. As they don’t step into leadership roles to impress or to gain power for power’s sake, it is important to them to feel authentic. They work on identifying and nurturing their own style of leadership.
- They are committed to their own development. They are often reluctant because they know that they are missing some skills. Because they are aware of their skill gaps, they are committed to developing themselves and often excel in them with practice.
- They look for opportunities to develop others. As they know how much they have benefited from having mentors and supporters. They support and develop others not out of a sense of obligation but out of joy of seeing others succeed.
Organisations are overlooking talent right in front of their eyes
Organisations and leaders often look for ambitious people and those who say they wish to lead as potential leaders. Reluctant leaders – those who may not put themselves forward or promote themselves, those who may not appear confident, those who may even say that they are not interested in leadership roles even if they are highly capable – are taken off the ‘potentials’ list.
Professor Adam Grant, Wharton organisational psychologist and author of many books including Give and Take, says that senior leaders promote the wrong leaders because they overestimate their ability to judge leadership talent and get fooled by the more self-centred ‘takers’ who tend to be better self-promoters.
Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, mentioned earlier, says that we mistake over-confidence and self-absorption as charisma and leadership-material. His concern is that “the result is a surplus of incompetent men in charge, and this surplus reduces opportunities for competent people – women and men – while keeping the standards of leadership depressingly low.”
Reluctant leaders often don’t want the limelight but will step into it if it’s for a meaningful purpose. Some of the leadership issues we are seeing today may partly be a result of overlooking these leaders due to the bias towards style against substance, mistaking a confident appearance with competence, or believing that strong leadership = dominance.
If we were to find, encourage and develop reluctant leaders to step up for a greater purpose that’s meaningful to them, we could:
- Reduce the misuse and abuse of power by appointing more leaders focused on the collective interest rather than themselves.
- Decrease the leadership gap and address issues with low customer or employee trust in many organisations.
- Make more progress with diversity in leadership as we stop saying that someone is not leader-like or ready due to the appearance of being reluctant.
We have an opportunity to uncover leadership talent we never thought we had by looking beyond first impressions, style and appearances.
Please login with linkedin to comment
Megumi MikiLatest News

Man Of Many Joins The Australian Press Council
Listing a Mumbrella Award under the accomplishments of Man of Many guarantees scorn from the B&T editorial team.

Ubiquity Lab Expands Team: Nidhi Rajan Joins As Director Of Digital & Performance
It's always good to have someone keep tabs on whether you're underperforming.

Elsa Pataky Hits The Cover Of T Australia
The article compares Pataky's life balance to cocktail ingredients. B&T's recipe would be gin, schnapps and regret.

PlayStation Australia Put NSW And QLD Head-To-Head In Gran Turismo 7 Campaign Via Creative PR Agency Poem
For anyone who wants to take a car and go through the city streets at 200 m/ph.

“Be Very Careful!” Liberal MP Tim Smith Threatens To Take Action Against Teenage Journo
Maybe this little conflict can be resolved in the principal's office or over decaffeinated coffees.

State Of Origin Flasher Upstages ABC Reporter During Live Cross
It's always impressive when a supporter manages to be more badly behaved than any of the players.

Audible Announces First Nations Content For NAIDOC Week
First Nations content should be consumed all year round. But get this in your ears as a start!

10’s Star-Studded Pilot Showcase Features Courtney Act, Abbie Chatfield & Melissa Leong
Channel 10's latest pilot season line-up just screams! We want more Logies next year.

Amazon Staff Ask The Company To Pull The Plug On Books Calling Trans People ‘Mentally Ill’
If Amazon listens it will be the equivalent of putting your coffee mug in the dishwasher at work: the bare minimum.

McDonald’s Australia Announces Digital Sauce Quest
In a Willy Wonka-esque move, Maccas is sending the public on a quest for sauce, something stoners will be familiar with.

B&T Awards Adds NEW CTV Category!
Here at B&T, we love a new category as much as Kochie loves droning on about the economy.

Sunday TV Wrap: State Of Origin Game Two Is Down 100,000 Eyeballs From Last Year
If you knew our TV Reporter, you'd understand the investigative journo skills she used to know who won Origin.

Meta Shuts Down On Employees Talking About Abortion Rights, Report Says
Meta would seemingly prefer workers to talk about MySpace then Abortion Rights.

“Simple Screw Up!” The Daily Aus Mistakes German Flag For Aboriginal Flag In Editing Blunder
Here at B&T, we'd find this mistake way funnier, if we weren't all so confused about how commas work.

UN Women’s New Campaign Highlights Humanity’s Priorities
The new UN Women's Campaign is a nice reminder that some people do want women to have rights.

How To Test A Business Idea: A Step-By-Step Guide
Surely the best way to test a new idea is to go down to the pub and see if anyone calls it, "a bit shit."

Google Gives Relocation Choice To States With Abortion Rights For All Its US Employees
Packing up and moving your entire life to a place that isn't still stuck in the stone ages is totally a thing now.

Carat Lands $10m Funding For MOOD Tea’s Woolworths Launch
MOOD tea is clearly targeted at younger audiences who can say stuff like "yass" while downing some earl grey.

Cannes Lions: Oglivy Named Network Of The Year, Dentsu Bengaluru Picks Up Agency Of The Year Award
All winners walk away with industry bragging rights and probably a nasty hangover too.

Former Foxtel Exec Launches On-Demand Service Oh! Jazz
If you want to feel better than everyone, but can't be bothered going to a Jazz Club, Oh! Jazz is for you!

Kantar Push Sustainability Efforts Through Appointment Of Bethan Hockey
Feeling smug that you own a Keep Cup? Sorry, sweetie that simply isn't enough.

B&T’s Best Of The Best Late Entries Close Friday + Judges Wanted!
Missed the original deadline? Here's another deadline, although this is actually the last one.

Could The Gift of Adventure Help Drive Your Next Promotion?
Give up on the branded akubra for your GWP, no-one wants it. Try something with a little more adrenaline involved!

Delacon Becomes The First To Release Call Tracking Technology Integration For Google Ads Within APAC Region
Call tracking technology... try finding three more threatening words to put together in a sentence, we dare you!

Eastern Standard Times Hold Launch Event In Deeply Cultural Setting
Global media network Eastern Standard Times had their official launch event on Thursday (23/6) night at the Lucky Kwong restaurant in Sydney’s South Eveleigh, with the focus being placed on how this platform will provide Asian communities in Australia with a greater insight on what they need to know. Editor-in-chief Keshia Hannam, who served as […]

Samsung Slammed With $14M Fine By Federal Court For “Misleading Waterproof Claims”
Thank god we have Korean boy bands because some of the country's leading brands lead a lot to be desired.

Woolworths’ Andrew Hicks Named As One Of The World’s Top 50 CMOs
Woolies' marketing supremo celebrating with an iceberg lettuce or two after being named one of the world's best CMOs.

Nike To Become Latest Big Brand To Officially Abandon Russia
Russians set to queue for bread in their thongs as Nike becomes latest western capitalist dog to exit the country.

Netflix Co-CEO Meets With Reps From Google At Cannes To Strike A Potential Ad Partnership
Ads might soon be coming to Netflix. Although we're quite sure Messrs Warburton, Sneesby etc will be having none of it.

Harrowing Campaign Shows The Last Photos & Videos Of Suicide Victims
Ready the tissues at this incredibly powerful and brave mental health initiative.

Alfi Study Reveals Entertainment & Media Will Be Main Focus Of DOOH Ads Within The Next Year
DOOH continues to prove the hot category in adland. That said, B&T's still got a soft spot for towed plane banner ads.

TV Journo Goes Viral After Mistakenly Drawing Large Penis During Report Into The Capitol Riots
Were your school days full of drawing penises on the blackboard and afternoon detentions? Relive the good times here.

ACT Responsible Awards Wunderman Thompson Australia As One Of This Year’s Champions Of Good
ACT Responsible celebrated 4 Champions for Good from the agency, advertiser, NGO and public sectors who have made an impact in the social and environmental areas and helped improve the world through personal contributions or creative campaigns. “It is not an Award. There is no competition and there is no winner. The goal of this […]

Thursday TV Wrap: Footy Punts Seven To A Big Win
The AFL proved a ratings winner for Seven last night. Just not in Sydney, were no one gives a shit unless the Swans win.

WARC Announce The Winners For Their 2022 Award In Effectiveness
If B&T ever had an award for effectiveness, it would go to our publican for his 5-6pm half-price pints happy hour.

Cannes Lions: VICE Media Win Third Grand Prix For Their ‘Unfiltered History Tour’
On the third day of the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the “Unfiltered History Tour” campaign by VICE Media walked away with yet another Grand Prix, this time in the Social & Influencer Lions. The campaign, which was held in partnership with the British Museum by the Dentsu Creative teams of Mumbai, Bengaluru […]