Most ‘leadership’ training focuses on subjective, results-oriented management rather than the objectively definable, human-focused leadership
“Leadership is organizational bacon terminology. Wrap it around anything and it makes it better.”
– Sheriff’s Deputy Marc Junkerman
Leadership is one of the most written about topics. In an article titled Why Are There So Many Leadership Books, the author Joe Iarocci gives the reader five possible reasons. The first reason he gives is that many people feel entitled to give their opinion on leadership, and this is OK because leadership is really an art and therefore there are many different ways to define it.
The second reason he gives is that people have different tastes, and just like how people prefer different foods, there is a demand for different ways to season leadership. Iarocci states that leadership ultimately is a matter of taste.
The third reason is that anyone can publish a book. As of Jan. 28, 2025, Amazon states it has more than 60,000 books on leadership. The fourth reason he gives is that leadership is constantly evolving, which means that new books on leadership need to be written. And the last reason is that there is no limit to the way leadership can be described, sort of like descriptions of love or happiness.
I’ll be presenting at FDIC 2025 this year on my book, Operational Intelligence for Health, Wellness, and Leadership. After reviewing the FDIC program, I counted 24 classes that include the idea of leadership in one way or another. If Iarocci is right, then it’s good to have many different books and teachings of leadership because ultimately it’s just like food or art or opinion, and we should let people choose what feels right for them. But is that true? Is leadership impossible to define in a universal and timeless way?
I have previously argued in two CRACKYL articles, here and here, that leadership can be defined objectively. The problem is that the word leadership can be used as both a noun and a verb, and there are potentially subjective and objective definitions for both. The figure below provides a matrix of how leadership as a noun and a verb can be either subjective or objective.
What People Normally Mean When They Say ‘Leadership’
When used as a noun, “leadership” normally refers to the first objective noun definition, which is the individual or group in decision-making positions. However, when used as a verb, leadership normally refers to someone’s opinion on how the person or group in decision-making positions (objective noun No. 1) should act in order to be successful. That means that “leadership,” when you are referring to the action(s) (verb) that a person or group in charge (noun) does, essentially means doing whatever you think is right as a decision maker. That is completely subjective and will change based on country, culture, organization, and even group norms. It’ll even change from one fire station to the next.
Ninety-nine percent of what you read about leadership is some mix of ideas that are based on the definitions in the boxes outlined in red above. I call that Red Box Leadership. There is virtually no conversation or effort to establish Green Box Leadership – an objective definition of leadership as a verb.
In my book, Chapter 5 opens with an assertion that there is a defensible objective definition of leadership as a verb, and that definition is how you find out who is truly doing leadership. It also asserts that leadership is therefore distinguishable from management, as shown in the figure below. Lastly, I assert that when most people talk about leadership or leadership training, they are often just using the organizational bacon term “leadership” to describe management (noun or verb) or management training – Red Box Leadership.
How to do Red Box Leadership
The following is a step-by-step guide on how to be a “leader” without actually doing leadership.
- Focus on process and things
Be a decision maker and work on processes or things. If you’re not a decision maker, either obtain a title or just call yourself team leader or project lead, and then work on processes or things. Because processes and things do not have the ability to “follow” you, you’ll be able to get whatever you want done as long as you know your craft.
- Keep things the same
If you do interact with humans, be sure to keep things staying the same as they have always been. Ensure the day’s work gets done without any injuries or accidents. That’s what success looks like. Focus your energy on the organizational mission and use humans as a means to achieve that end. Make sure the people you are directing do what they need to do to accomplish the mission and, as their boss, don’t spend any energy on trying to evolve them in their body, mind, or soul for their own sake.
- If you do change humans, make it neutral or negative change
When bringing about change for those that work for you, make the change neutral or negative. The best way to make neutral change is to pressure people to conform to your opinions. Even though the end result won’t make them a more capable, thoughtful, or friendly human, they will act more like you. The best way to make negative change is to give false information and pressure others to conform to that information. Be careful, because sane people will not want to change themselves for the worse. You’ll have to appear especially confident, and convince them that the information will help, not hurt, them.
- Make change without closing any knowledge gaps in others
If you do make positive changes in humans, do it without sharing your knowledge about anything. Knowledge is power, so don’t give it away. Instead of sharing your knowledge, make positive changes to others by doing things for them like completing paperwork or shining their boots. When it comes to delegating tasks, focus on directing people to do things they already know how to do.
- Accomplish your goals under involuntary circumstances
Employees are bound to the standards, expectations, and job descriptions. Your job as their boss is to ensure they do what they need to do and hold them accountable if they don’t do it. When people don’t want to do things, it looks better if you use reward and punishment instead of brute force. The reason is that it then appears to be voluntary, and you can say that they made their own decision.
If employees don’t do what you need them to do, increase the intensity of the rewards and punishment until they decide to do what you told them. Use your rank, money, or even sexuality to influence them. After all, leadership is all about your ability to influence others. Finding ways to leverage their psychology so they do what you want them to do will increase your effectiveness. If psychological levers fail, then you can always go full-on authoritarian and mandate. It’s OK, as long as you accomplish the mission.
- Don’t create or expect lasting change
Ultimately, it is you that is making things happen. If you give your knowledge away so others can learn your secrets and do things on their own, then you aren’t leading. You need to be there in their lives to be their leader, because when you leave, your leadership is over. Keep close tabs on the individual or group you’re leading because sometimes they won’t continue doing what you told them to do if you aren’t around. If remedial training is needed, go back to Step 5 and ensure they do what you told them.
Green Box Leadership
If leadership is an art, then it ultimately devolves into what Iarocci argues. It would simply be a preference that changes from person to person, organization to organization, and culture to culture, and there is no wrong way to do leadership. That also means all the dictators in history who forced people to do what they wanted in order to accomplish some mission, are leaders, and the most ruthless are the best. If leadership is a topic worthy of learning about, then we must reject this notion and seek an objective definition of leadership that is universal and timeless. This is necessary if we ever want to improve leadership training and leadership assessments.
My previous articles with CRACKYL and my book Operational Intelligence for Health, Wellness, and Leadership offer a defense for a necessary and sufficient set of components for an objective definition of leadership. One hundred percent of royalties from the book go to the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation (NFFF) for spouses and children of fallen firefighters.
Dr. Gamaliel D. Baer is a firefighter/EMT/special operator with Howard County Fire and Rescue (Maryland). He is a reserve officer for the U.S. Coast Guard, and is a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches Leading and Managing Change for the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. He lives in Howard County, Maryland, with his wife and four kids.
