Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture

by Douglas Squirrel

Some films portray the strong, decisive leader barking orders—someone who is firm but fair. Tough. Not afraid of calling out someone who is screwing up. The other trope is the ineffective manager, Dilbert’s “pointy-haired boss,” who is always asking for status reports and nitpicking the details while missing the big picture. Neither of these approaches are examples of effective leadership, in part because they are at odds with true accountability (the decisive leader won’t listen to the account, and the indecisive one can’t make up their mind about what to do with the information). Both styles lead to unproductive conflict in the organization—but conflict is exactly what creates drama, which is what sells movie tickets and Netflix subscriptions, thus accounting for the popularity of these approaches in films and television.