The wrong organizational fit can doom an otherwise good leader.
It happens all the time.
It’s essential to fill leadership positions with people who
are willing and able to lead well, of course. That blindingly obvious statement
is necessary since painful reality always finds ineffective leaders – and some
stunningly defective human beings – in leadership positions. They often leave
their organizations in worse shape than they found them. Boards of directors, executive recruiters, leadership teams
and, yes, even we voters need to consider not just leaders’ achievements, capabilities,
and character, but whether and how they fit the context. Two current
NBA coaches help make the point.
LA Clippers’ Doc Rivers seems to lack patience with
rookies. He’s a veterans’ coach and, perhaps, not the type of patient teacher that very young players
need to learn and grow. He may well inherit one or two major veterans soon,
should Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard relocate to the Clippers.
On the other hand, the New York Knicks’ David Fizdale seems
to be a highly engaged teacher. Fiz deserves all our sympathy as coach of the
woeful Knicks. I shared in the ignominy by watching him closely at two games
this year in New York and Houston. Fiz was constantly illustrating techniques
for improvement to his young charges in real time, often visibly, volubly, and
in animated fashion.
I admire these two very different coaches. Doc is a much more successful coach than Fiz. He treats his superstar
and veteran players almost as peers, but he is not likely to succeed as a
teacher of younger players. It’s hard to say whether Fiz could succeed with
veterans, but everything we know about professional sports today is that older,
proven players would reject his visible teaching tendencies. We may learn this
lesson sooner rather than later if Durant and Kyrie Irving choose to join the
Knicks in the off-season. Fiz may not last long in that context.
And that’s just the point. Both the ability and willingness to
lead are major determinants in choosing a new leader. Right behind them,
however, is the question of whether that leader is the right fit for the organization
at that time. As with most of life, context is everything.
Images of Doc and Fiz courtesy of NBA. com and Knicks.com.