Kathleen Melymuka of ComputerWorld interviewed Ronald A. Heifetz who teaches leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and who co-wrote "Leadership on the Line." According to Ms. Melymuka, Heifetz offered the following cautions:
To lead is to live dangerously, and leaders who ignore the danger can find themselves taken down
When you ask people to develop competencies they currently do not have, you are asking them to go through a period of incompetence, and the loss of competence is a terrible thing. Employees faced with this challenge may fight ferociously against the validity of your initiative -- and frequently in ways that will endanger your efforts and you personally.
The dangers are to one's reputation, career or institutional credibility.
Leaders championing change may find themselves increasingly isolated. This is where leaders need allies and confidants along the way to point out what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.
Leaders need to find ways to contain conflict so it does not spread and infect others, particularly the uncommitted. A leader's goal is to bring aboard the uncommitted
To maintain credibility, leaders needs to display authoritative expertise, but it is important for a leader to engage others in the process and not try to address and resolve all the problems personally (Melymuka, 2002, 42).
There is an old expression: "Leaders are born, not made." This suggests that power and leadership exist in a limited number of people whose innate natural ability destines them to become leaders. By implication, those people with the 'right stuff' lead, and everyone else must follow. On a more philosophical level, a person's destiny is predetermined and preordained and no amount of effort, or learning or yearning will change that destiny. According to Tina Sung of Training and Development, the alternative (and correct) theory is that proper coa...