What is ‘Zombie Leadership’ and why are we still walking with the dead?

What pervasive preconceptions of leadership no longer serve us, yet we continue to hold them steadfast in our view of what 'makes' a leader?

According to the recent research Alex Haslam, Mats Alvesson and Stephen Reicher 'Zombie Leadership' ideals walks among us.

These outdated ideals have been proven time and again to not be proven by evidence at all, and yet they remain perpetuated by the powerful and elite few who are in a position to uphold them.

So what are these Zombie Leadership ideals?

1. That only leaders can lead:
   I'm calling bullsh*t on this one (so does the research), leadership it about influencing and motivating others to achieve together, anyone can choose to be a leader.

2. Leaders have qualities that set them apart from ordinary people:
   People aren't born leaders, everyone can learn to lead using their authentic skills and personality traits.

3. Group success should be attributed to the leader:
   For anyone who's been an employee for five seconds, you've got a major ICK right here. Empowering, recognising and rewarding the individual contributions that lead to success - and HOW the individual contributes, not just what - is how we create a meaningful experience for people, not taking credit for everything ourselves.

4. History is ultimately the story of great leaders:
   Well, it's so far been a story of patriarchy and capitalism that serve an elite few. But hey, we can rewrite this moving forward.

   According to the paper Alex et al. (2024) suggest the four key components of leadership are:
   
   💡it is grounded in relationships and connections;
   💡without some form of followership there can be no leadership;
   💡leadership is more about getting people to want to do things than about making them do them; and that
   💡leadership is a group process and ultimately about the activities of collectives not just individuals.
   
   I'll admit bias here, I'm always delighted to see research that reinforces what we do at Human Leaders and our approach to leadership development.
   
   It's a great day to check in with your views around what makes a great leader too, are you still walking with the dead?
   
   Full article in The Australian Financial Review here: https://lnkd.in/gs4-MjmC
   
   Research paper here: https://lnkd.in/gaH4Y9tc
   
   #zombieleadership #leadership #humanleadership #leadershipdevelopment