[blocktuw]

"Do this or you're fired" will typically get those below you to produce the change you desire. Not sure how you can put that much value on a skill inherit to a hierarchical organization.

If the organization was flat, then I would concede your point that affecting change without any seniority would be difficult and worth extra compensation. A true leader would need to be persuasive, knowledgeable and visionary.

What you describe as "leadership" is people doing their job.

[harryh]

"Do this or you're fired" will typically get those below you to produce the change you desire.

LOL. If this were true it would be so much easier. But talented employees, who can easily get another job across the street, are more likely to laugh at you then do what you want if you talk to them like that.

[cmdrfred]

"Robert we have to complete this report by Thursday" == "Robert work overtime to complete this report by Thursday, or you will be fired"

So the main skill of a CEO is he can ask nicely?

[harryh]

(We've gotten a bit off topic this deep in the thread. At this point we're really just talking about general management skills which really isn't a big thing for a CEO of any reasonably sized company. That being said....)

Robert: Sorry I can't work late this week. It's my kid's birthday tomorrow.

[cmdrfred]

Boss: "Robert isn't a team player, let's contrive a reason to fire him so we don't have to pay unemployment."

[harryh]

Back in the real world it's not unemployment that you're gonna worry about. It's how much severance you're going to pay him. Somewhere between 1 and 3 months. Which he'll use to take a nice vacation and then easily go get another job whenever he's ready.

And you'll be down a talented employee that's hard to replace.

Nice work!

[cmdrfred]

What's your alternative? "Gee, Robert you have such pretty eyes... please do this report?"

Intelligent, talented people don't fall for that kind of stuff in my experience.

[totalZero]

If Robert is a superstar and he's tactful with his colleagues, then this will never happen.

[karthikb]

Good leaders can effect change without resorting to the "do this or you're fired" line. If your manager kept using that line on you, I suspect you'd go find a place that didn't work that way.