Given the state of things in our world, perhaps for just one season, Dickens’ ghosts can shift their attention away from Scrooge and focus on a few of those truly deserving characters hiding in positions of leadership inside our organizations and governmental institutions.

May these questionable characters (the alleged leaders, not the ghosts) gain a deeper understanding of the pain and suffering they’ve needlessly created during their time in the leadership realm. For those who see the error of their ways, perhaps it’s not too late.

For those who do not, well, we all know the story. May the weight from their chains grow heavier and increasingly burdensome as they forge their links one lousy leadership event at a time.

Scheduled for the Holiday Haunting List:

–Micro-Managers who consistently smother the spark of creativity everywhere they go.

-The My-Way or the Highway Leaders who never met an idea of their own they didn’t fall in love with and then ram down people’s throats.

-The Monologue Leaders who prattle on endlessly with orders and commands and just don’t give a damn about anyone else’s opinion.

–Color Challenged Leaders-I: leaders who see gray in the face of black and white ethical issues.

-Color and Difference Challenged Leaders-II: those who make decisions about people for any reason other than focusing on qualifications and capabilities.  Leadership must be color and difference blind.

-Leaders who squander public trust in pursuit of their own selfish goals. Oddly, many of these characters end up as governors in my home state of Illinois.

-Forgetful Leaders...particularly those who misplace a billion dollars give or take a few hundred million. (That’s you, John Corzine.)

-Elected Leaders who betray our trust by not solving problems..all in the name of ideology. Congress, anyone?

-The “I’s” Have it Leaders: those who use the personal pronoun “I” excessively. In particular, a certain President.

–Dump-Truck Leaders-anyone who backs up the feedback dump truck once a year and unloads everything on his people in one big load.

-The I Can Fix You Leaders-everyone who focuses on fixing us, not on promoting our development.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

The list is growing long and the Ghosts of Leadership Past, Present and Future only have so much time to work their magic. May their efforts bear fruit as we look to the new year and a long list of problems in need of the best our society and our firms have to offer.

And yes, for those that don’t get it…Bah Humbug.

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Want More? Check out Art Petty’s latest book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. Created for fast-moving and highly motivated professionals and leaders, Leadership Caffeine offers more than 80 short, idea-packed essays for the critical leadership and professional development situations in your life.  Ideal for leadership discussion groups. A great holiday gift for the professionals in your life!

About Art Petty:

Art Petty is a Leadership & Career Coach and Strategy Consultant, helping motivated professionals of all levels achieve their potential. In addition to working with highly motivated professionals, Art frequently works with project teams in pursuit of high performance. Contact Art via e-mail to discuss a coaching, workshop or speaking engagement or to inquire about being a guest on The Leadership Caffeine podcast.