Instead of talking about how good leaders lead, or focusing on what makes great leaders, or anything like that, they looked at the opposite. Based on two research studies on executives and leaders, they examined those who failed and developed a list of the ten things most commonly missing in bad leaders. As they write, “every bad leader had at least one, and most had several.”

According to their work, the worst leaders:

• Lack energy and enthusiasm
• Accept their own mediocre performance
• Lack clear vision and direction
• Have poor judgment
• Don’t collaborate
• Don’t walk the talk
• Resist new ideas
• Don’t learn from mistakes
• Lack interpersonal skills
• Fail to develop others

The authors further note that the bad leaders they studies often were unaware of these behaviors.

This is interesting because the vast majority of the literature on leadership has been focused on the positive traits and behaviors of good leaders. This look at the flip side of the coin provides fresh perspective (even though some of the factors outlined above might seem somewhat obvious).

Being a good leader might be as much about exhibiting the good traits and behaviors as it is about not displaying the bad ones. Read the full article for the details.

In the article, Bossidy discusses that, while the success of a leadership team depends heavily on the relationships the boss has with his or her direct reports, precious little has been written about the expectations of those relationships (on either side). He suggests the following list of behaviors that should be expected from both the boss and the subordinates, a sort of Leader’s Covenant.

These behaviors resonate with me from both the boss and the direct report perspective. I encourage others in leadership positions or who are direct reports of senior management to take a good look at these.

What Direct Reports Should Do

• Know when a situation calls for them to get involved.
• Generate ideas (remembering that some of the best may sound crazy at first).
• Be willing to collaborate, putting the long term objectives of the company above their (or their department’s/division’s) short term goals.
• Step up to lead initiatives, even if their outcome is uncertain.
• Develop leaders among their people, especially through direct involvement in performance evaluations.
• Stay current on world and industry/market events and developments.
• Anticipate how those events/developments may affect the company and the competition.
• Drive their own growth by exposing themselves to new people and ideas and by accepting demanding assignments.
• Sustain these behaviors in bad times as well as good.

What the Boss Should Do

• Provide clear direction.
• Set goals and objectives.
• Give frequent, specific, and prompt feedback.
• Be decisive and timely.
• Demonstrate honesty and candor.
• Offer and equitable compensation plan.

It got to the point that I thought I knew more than my boss, the Account Supervisor on the business. I ran my projects well, with not a ton of supervision, and usually with no issues. I even had some minor client contact and did not embarrass myself or the agency. I thought that I was indispensable. And that’s when it started.

I began to keep my boss just a little less informed than normal, and give her information just a little later than before. I started sharing less, less often, and later. I was the keeper of the information. I had the knowledge. She didn’t. Knowledge is power, they say, so I was powerful. I continued like that for a while, almost walking on air intoxicated by my perception of power. I was like the squirrel stashing away nuts for the winter, storing away information so that I could sound smart or knowledgeable (more up to speed or up to date than my boss, even) if anyone asked anything.

Hoarding makes your cheeks floppy

Then it happened. We had a problem. A big problem. A big client problem. It was traced back to part of my work, to things that I managed. Things that I had been managing myself without sharing as much with my supervisor. All of a sudden, all eyes were upon me. Lots of questions were asked “how could this happen?” was a popular one), all the way up to the Director of Client Services. I was freaked out and afraid I’d lose my job (which made sense considering that my not sharing information had kept the agency in the dark about something that seemed insignificant to me then but to the trained eye of my managers would have meant something).

In the end, no one was fired and things were cleared up. My Account Supervisor heroically covered for me and taught me a huge lesson in the process. From then on, I was the most prolific sharer of information out there. I learned that having the information itself does not really give any power. It’s knowing what to do with it that does. It’s not about having the information and keeping it to yourself (where’s the power in that?). It’s about the power of sharing it and letting those around you know that you have it (that’s power).

I learned that the more I shared with my Account Supervisor, the more she saw how I was understanding things, managing things, and being proactive. That helped her assess my performance and it allowed me to grow. It also made my boss look good. And there I learned that making my boss look good makes me look good. It all trickles down.

Information about the client business, about a project’s status, about what someone said in a creative presentation related to our work, all wants to be free. Sharing it often with your supervisors lets them stay abreast of what’s going on (which is part of your job) and helps them help you do yours (which is part of their job).

Keep your boss informed of things so that he or she is not surprised (in any business, surprises are not exactly welcome) by any development. Keep your team abreast of what’s going on so that everyone benefits from your information and you benefit from theirs. And don’t hoard. It makes your cheeks floppy.