50 Leadership Techniques That Don't Work

1. Applying a lower standard to yourself than to your followers.
2. Not doing what you say you will do.
3. Leading from behind.
4. Knocking down straw men.
5. Relying on speeches instead of actions.
6. Hinting.
7. Tolerating unethical conduct.
8. Fostering dependency.
9. Emphasizing your tenure and status over accomplishment of the mission.
10. Engaging in turf wars with peers.
11. Rewarding yourself first.
12. Failing to delegate.
13. Rewarding negative behavior.
14. Hiding.
15. Ignoring internal customers.
16. Adopting passive-aggressive behavior.
17. Neglecting your homework.
18. Suppressing dissent.
19. Hiring sycophants.
20. Keeping incompetents.
21. Failing to clarify.
22. Continually reorganizing.
23. Choosing reaction as a policy.
24. Failing to control the staff.
25. Making frequent excuses.
26. Acting as if your responsibilities belong to someone else.
27. Failing to maintain skills.
28. Running from conflict.
29. Ignoring reality.
30. Lowering standards.
31. Failing to communicate.
32. Failing to analyze.
33. Not sharing credit.
34. Personalizing everything.
35. Giving lip service to humility.
36. Lying to customers, be they internal or external.
37. Letting ego overcome judgment.
38. Parsing words in order to fashion excuses.
39. Demanding loyalty from everyone but yourself.
40. Being controlled by events.
41. Not choosing the right battles.
42. Denigrating associates.
43. Letting staff filter key information.
44. Rubber-stamping important decisions.
45. Over-extending yourself.
46. Failing to prioritize.
47. Setting too many goals.
48. Exhausting resources.
49. Exhibiting weakness.
50. Not having a higher purpose.