Imposter Syndrome Causes A Decline In Leadership

By Luke Bencie and Bashir Khadim

In John Maxwell’s seminal book, “The 21 Laws of Leadership,” the author cites that Law #1, The Law of the Lid, determines a leader’s level of effectiveness. The lid is their managerial threshold, which in turn dictates their leadership potential – and thus, the potential of the organization. Maxwell makes the argument that Ray Kroc, the self-proclaimed “founder” of McDonald’s, was able to globally expand the fast-food giant to an exponentially greater echelon of success than the original McDonald’s brothers could have ever dreamed possible. Kroc’s leadership lid was much higher than that of Richard and Maurice McDonald, who were barely able to franchise five initial hamburger stands in California. Thanks to Kroc’s higher lid, McDonald’s has been the number one restaurant in the world, year-after-year, in terms of revenue, boasting 38,000 locations on six continents.

Today, most people in a position of authority and/or management over others consider themselves to be good leaders. Few would admit to being ineffective at asking others to follow them into battle, whether that be in literal or figurative terms. In the security industry, leadership is an expectation rather than an exception – or so it is believed, since many in the field come from previous careers in the military, law enforcement, or intelligence communities.

But the truth is, quality leadership is rare across all fields. A recent Gallup Poll concluded that just 19% of Am...