It can be lonely at the top

One famous leadership guru once claimed, “If, as a leader, you believe it’s lonely at the top, then there is something wrong with you.”

- FRANCIS J. KONG

Really? I beg to differ.

Leadership, by its nature, is isolating — especially when done with conviction, integrity and a sense of accountability. It is not because leaders enjoy solitude or prefer the echo chamber. It’s often because the higher you rise, the less truth reaches you. And this endangers the leader.

I remember the times when I spoke to the president of a vast business organization as well as the senior pastor of a megachurch. I said, “The higher you are in terms of your position in your organization, the more filtered the information that reaches you.”

Those who understand this truth would deliberately move around and manage things by applying Tom Peters' brilliant management strategy, coined many years ago: MBWA — “Managing business by walking around.”

They don’t stay seated in their lofty ivory towers of their executive office with an impressive view of the city; they want to know what is happening down there, where the action is.

At the top, the view is distorted, not by height, but by filtering. Most senior leaders don’t realize how curated their reality becomes. People begin to tell them only what they think they want to hear. Praise becomes inflated. Criticism is diluted. Some opinions disappear altogether.

When every door opens automatically, when the coffee is served just right, and someone else makes the reservations for you, an illusion forms — one that whispers, “You deserve this.”