The Impotence of Being Important – Reflections on Leadership

Ian Douglas Couper

doi:10.1370/afm.664

Published eLetters

If you would like to comment on this article, click on Submit a Response to This article, below. We welcome your input.

Submit a Response to This Article

Compose eLetter

Title *

Author Information

Contributors
First Name and Middle Initial * First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'. Last Name * Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'. Email Address * Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com Occupation * Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'. Affiliation * Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.

Statement of Competing Interests

Competing interests? *

Yes

Please describe the competing interests

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

What code is in the image? *

Enter the characters shown in the image.

Vertical Tabs

Jump to comment:

Happy Feet
Paul R Thomas

Published on: 21 June 2007
Penguins
Thomas L. Schwenk

Published on: 08 June 2007
Impotence Avoidance in Practice
Thomas C. Rosenthal

Published on: 07 June 2007

Published on: (21 June 2007)
Page navigation anchor for Happy Feet
Happy Feet
Paul R Thomas, London UK
I love the play on words in this paper. I also warm to its wisdom that it is dangerous to take one-self too seriously - all leaders and practitioners need a good dose of humility. But a tiny slip in the paper made me think deeper, and conclude that the issue of importance is not ‘importance’, but an ability to listen and dance.
The slip is the title: ‘The impotence of BEING important’ - but the paper is about...
Show More

I love the play on words in this paper. I also warm to its wisdom that it is dangerous to take one-self too seriously - all leaders and practitioners need a good dose of humility. But a tiny slip in the paper made me think deeper, and conclude that the issue of importance is not ‘importance’, but an ability to listen and dance.
The slip is the title: ‘The impotence of BEING important’ - but the paper is about FEELING important. This led me to realise that the opposite is also true – being and feeling UNimportant also lead to impotent leadership and practice. We all know leaders who are ineffective because they are not considered to be important enough for their views to be treated seriously; and large numbers of patients are unable to make much needed changes in their lives because they do not feel strong enough.
I conclude that good leadership and good practice both require listening to objective and subjective perspectives. Sometimes I am considered by others to be important, but lack inner conviction - by listening to others I can often quell my personal doubts and remain effective. At other times I feel certain about an insight that is dismissed by others - by listening to myself I can often face down external criticism, and survive to be effective another day. Furthermore, by dancing between these internal and external perspectives, I find new patterns that help me to learn and grow.
Conversely I get it wrong when I do not listen and do not dance. Then I remain stuck in my own way of seeing things, or am in thrall of someone else’s. Then I stop trying to achieve internal-external coherence. I become trapped in my own lonely world, isolated from others. I fear to pass tasks to them or learn from them.
It is a lot to ask of leaders and practitioners to undertake internal -external dance as a way of life. That is why ‘shared leadership’ is so important. This feature of high performing teams requires challenge and support in equal measure, and is intolerant of both importance and unimportance on their own. It makes things fun.
Schwenk’s penguins needed Rosenthal’s teams - and Warner Brothers’ Happy Feet.
Competing interests: None declared
Show Less

Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (8 June 2007)
Page navigation anchor for Penguins
Penguins
Thomas L. Schwenk, Ann Arbor, MI USA
I have a poster that has been a prominent part of my office décor since I started my career in academic medicine. It shows a pyramid of penguins, four rows of penguins on top of penguins, with a single penguin on top. And the look on the face of each penguin is identical, a mixture of dismay and perplexity, with just a touch of self-satisfaction and self- importance. The penguins on the bottom are no more distressed th...
Show More

I have a poster that has been a prominent part of my office décor since I started my career in academic medicine. It shows a pyramid of penguins, four rows of penguins on top of penguins, with a single penguin on top. And the look on the face of each penguin is identical, a mixture of dismay and perplexity, with just a touch of self-satisfaction and self- importance. The penguins on the bottom are no more distressed than the one on top, and the one on top is no more triumphant than those at the base. Dr. Cooper’s personal observations about leadership are a wise reflection on the life of penguins in an organizational hierarchy. The organization member who has been designated as THE leader would do well to stand at the bottom of the pyramid often, if not most of the time, to understand the work and the importance of all members of the organization.
Dr. Cooper’s observations describe what is generally labeled as service-based leadership, in which success is measured by how the leader makes every member of the team better. This is a trait often used to describe the qualities of a sports star, perhaps a quarterback or a point guard, someone who is not only outstanding in his/her own right, but who makes all members of the team better. On the other hand, THE leader is THE leader for a reason. There are times when team members look to the leader for decisions, for wisdom, for vision, and for comfort. There are times when it is the leader who must have the confidence (sometimes bordering on but not quite arrogance) to think, or at least hope, that he/she truly knows what is best for the team, what must be done, and how it must be done. Those infrequent, albeit critical, moments when the leader is truly important are only possible, and likely only successful, if the leader understands how truly unimportant he/she is the rest of the time.
Competing interests: None declared
Show Less

Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (7 June 2007)
Page navigation anchor for Impotence Avoidance in Practice
Impotence Avoidance in Practice
Thomas C. Rosenthal, Buffalo, NY
Commentary: The Impotence of being Important- Reflections on Leadership by Couper, IA. Ann Fam Med. 2007;5:261-2.
The day after I became acting Department Chairman I went through our hospital cafeteria line and approached the table our faculty traditionally occupied at lunch time as I had hundreds of times before. But this time my approach caused the usual good natured banter to cease. Seconds later it restarted...
Show More

Commentary: The Impotence of being Important- Reflections on Leadership by Couper, IA. Ann Fam Med. 2007;5:261-2.
The day after I became acting Department Chairman I went through our hospital cafeteria line and approached the table our faculty traditionally occupied at lunch time as I had hundreds of times before. But this time my approach caused the usual good natured banter to cease. Seconds later it restarted but only after faculty assessed if the subject was something that should be shared with “the boss”. I had crossed to the dark side.
Dr Couper’s commentary reminded me of the isolation I felt that day. I realized that my colleagues would measure the potential of my conversational participation against their perception of my power to fix, evaluate, or worse yet, screw up the problem at hand. Going forward I would only hear what colleagues wanted to share unless I made an effort to ascertain their insights and experiences. Without their insights I would be impotent.
Fourteen years of being a Departmental Chairman has taught me a lot about my weaknesses. I learn only a little from Deans and University presidents. My weaknesses are best understood by the faculty. I am blessed to have a team of faculty and staff who really understand my weaknesses and are capable of overcoming most of them.
But I need to ask.
In his book on the Seven Habits of Successful People Steve Covey describes leadership as “deciding what is right” but I would put a finer point on it. Leadership is integrating bits of information from internal and external sources, delineating benchmarks, synthesizing knowledge, and enhancing the talents of the team to achieve. A leader recognizes personal limitations and empowers others to compensate. Mostly a leader reminds the team of collectively held objectives, provides feedback, facilitates adjustments and makes acquisitions necessary for success.
As Dr Couper opines, leaders are impotent without the team.
Thomas C. Rosenthal MD Professor and Chair Department of Family Medicine University at Buffalo Building CC, Room 150 462 Grider Street Buffalo, NY 14215
Phone 716-898-4505 Email: trosenth@buffalo.edu
Competing interests: None declared
Show Less

Competing Interests: None declared.