Leadership Side Effects

I got my 2nd Covid-19 Vaccine shot yesterday, so I’m good to go unless the conspiracy theories about a nano-technology tracking chip in the vaccine are correct. I decided to chance it.

So far, no side effects: no sore arm, no fever, and no tiny chirping sounds from the chip. The same was true for me the 1st shot. (I wonder if I have two tracking chips in me?)

Generally, we think of side effects as bad, or unpleasant at a minimum. But there are exceptions. For example, what we now know as Rogaine was originally an antihypertensive vasodilator drug used to treat high blood pressure. One of its side effects was (and still is) stimulating hair regrowth. So, it was repurposed from the heart to the head and renamed Rogaine.

However, side effects aren’t usually positive. Listen to the fast-speaking part of drug ads and you’ll be scared to death by the “rare but has been known to cause diarrhea or constipation” (take your pick).

Like drugs, organizations have a lot of side effects, usually caused by the leader’s style.

If you lead as a boss, the side effect will be that best and brightest in your organization won’t stay long.

If you use anger as a leadership tool, the side effect will be pervasive fear that buries the truth.

If the leader has favorites, the side effect will be losing the support and respect of the non-favorites.

If command and control is the leadership style, the side effect will be an organization full of “yes” men and women who never question or challenge decisions—even really bad ones.

If the organization is stuck and unwilling to change, the side effect will be obsolescence and eventually, disappearance.

I could give a lot of other examples, but the point is, remember this: everything you do—at work, at home, at church, etc.—will have a side effect. It is up to you whether it will be positive or negative.

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