We’re stuck with the myth of the leader as action hero. It’s time we put it aside in favor of a more thoughtful approach. Failure to do so will condemn us to repeat recent cycles of boom and bust.

Humankind has an innate need to make sense of events: to fit them into some known pattern or understanding. This is as true of the area of management and business as it is of everywhere else. Events come about, decisions are demanded, and people respond by trying to find some overarching meaning in what they see or know.

One way to do this is through theory. Events are interpreted and re-interpreted in terms of a variety of ideas about “how management works” or “what makes a good leader.” Another way is through the use of myths: ready-made stories that will set events into some context of heroism, deliverance, or archetypal disaster.

Myths reshape our understanding

Of the two, myths are by far the more powerful. We grow up with them, disguised as fairy tales and comic books. Today, many find new life in video games and Hollywood films. From “Star Wars” to “Lord of the Rings,” we are given new versions of ancient myths to use to try to make sense of the confusing randomness of everyday. Stars like John Wayne provided powerful myths of what it means to be a man, to confront enemies, to battle against the odds, and — maybe — to face death itself with courage and stoicism.

The myths of management are full of figures like this. They offer ready-made patterns of understanding and responses: instant ways to categorize events and produce a solution that reinforces the stereotype of the strong hero facing down the evils of chaos and weakness.

Male or female, today’s stereotypical leader is tough, determined, and bent on almost constant action. He or she has little time for “blue-skies thinking” or “empty theories.” Only two things matter: to “get the facts” (probably through various sets of figures, artfully simplified to be quickly grasped by a leader with no time for subtleties or uncertainty); and “implement the right actions” as quickly as possible.

Myths also provide recipe book of actions

But what are the right actions? Without the time or inclination to think through complex events or reconsider simplistic interpretations, many managers are forced to fall back on recipe books of actions, provided by the self-same myths that imposed their own interpretation of events.

It’s as if an auto mechanic began with a belief that all vehicle breakdowns are caused by driver incompetence; then responded to any actual problem by sending the driver for re-training in driving skills — even if the tires on the car were flat, the engine over-heating for lack of water, and the brakes burned out from lack of maintenance.

Leaders need to be thinkers too

If leaders don’t take the time to think things through from scratch, who will? If nearly every business event of problem can be both diagnosed and handled by use of various rules-of-thumb derived from widely-help myths and folk-tales about the nature of management, what need is there for leaders anyway?

I don’t buy the answer that leaders are there principally to “motivate” their people. That’s based on the myth that ordinary employees will not undertake the work they are paid to do without being “encouraged” by their superiors — whether by the use of carrot, stick, or both.

Some, it seems, don’t know what really motivates their people

A study by the UK’s Ashridge Business School has found that, more than half of those surveyed think their bosses haven’t got a clue when it comes to understanding what motivates them and their colleagues. There was a clear discrepancy between the “motivating factors” cited by organizations and those valued by individual managers.

While managers rated challenging and interesting work as their highest motivator, organizations said they believed it was performance-related pay and incentive schemes. Fiona Dent, director of executive education at Ashridge and author of the survey report, said:

“A strong theme from managers’ responses is the desire to move beyond a ’sheep dip’ way of motivating. Managers want to be treated as individuals and for there to be a clear understanding of what types of motivation work best to gain results from different individuals and teams.”

Ready-made understanding is like a cheap suit

By relying on ready-made ways of interpreting events, plus off-the-shelf actions to deal with them, managers devalue their own roles, even as they contribute to more mistakes and misunderstandings.

Shortness of time is only one of the reasons for this situation. Another is the explosive growth in so-called management positions, far out-pacing the supply of able managers ready to step into them. Add the obsessive bias towards short-term results — yet another piece of management mythology, backed up by greed — and you have a near-perfect recipe for turning leaders into automatons, pre-programed to behave according to the rules of the prevailing myth of the macho, heroic manager.

Ready-made thought is no thought at all

Leaders are there to do what those enmeshed in day-to-day activities have neither the time nor the energy to undertake: to think through events carefully and grapple with their true complexity.

By failing to allow them the time to do this, then forcing them into meaningless roles as corporate cheer-leaders, organizations are squandering their time, talents, and abilities. They are becoming mere actors, following pre-written scripts, instead of playwrights creating fresh ways of understanding and relating to the world.

If, as we are so often told, the business world is facing unprecedented challenges and problems in our global economy, why are its leaders content to repeat worn-out, clichéd ways of responding?

If we don’t like the plot, we need to write a new play, not go on rehashing the old ones.

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