Superheroic Leadership Vol. I * No. 9
Jedi Hubris
Superheroic Leadership is a light-hearted examination of what superheroic figures have to teach about leadership and what I have learned from their adventures.
I know more than I want to know about The Last Jedi. When you run in the circles in which I run, information about upcoming movies is hard to avoid. I have been in a media blackout for over a month on this film and I still know too much!
But there is one thing I know about the Jedi that I have known for a very long time. I have known this since I was a kid.
The Jedi are pompous jerks.
Seriously.
Think about it. They know all – or say they do. They claim to have access to special powers which you cannot access. They cut themselves off from personal attachments. They see the future but do not share their insights. They twist the truth to suit their needs (“what I told you was true from a certain point of view” anyone?).
And they kind of lord all this stuff over everyone with whom they interact.
Do you know any leaders like this?
Look, I like Luke and Mace and Obi Wan as much as the next geek but, come on!
The Jedi simply are not great leaders.
We learn more about leadership from them by not acting as they do.
In our leadership, a red light should flash when we feel as though we know all. We should hear warning sirens when we think we have access to things others do not and that is what makes us leaders. Likewise when we cut ourselves off from colleagues – from those we lead – we are headed down a bad road. And if we do not share all we know about what is coming in our institutions, we are more in love with the idea of leadership that we are with actually leading. Finally, when we twist the truth to influence those around us, we are on very thin ice from a prospective of effective leadership.
The Jedi are good. The Jedi are powerful. The Jedi helped save the galaxy a couple times.
But the Jedi are jerks. Hopefully we, as leaders, are not.