Habit # 1: They see themselves and their party as dominating their environment
Shouldn’t a party try to dominate the political environment, shape the future and set the pace for growth? Yes, but there’s a catch. Failed leaders who never question their dominance fail to realize they are at the mercy of changing circumstances.They vastly overestimate the extent to which they actually control events and vastly underestimate the role of chance and circumstance in their success.
Habit #2: They identify so completely with the party that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their political interests People want leaders to be completely committed to their ideology, with their interests tightly aligned with those of the party. But digging deeper, you will find that failed politicians weren’t identifying too little with the party, but rather too much. Instead of treating party as enterprises that they needed to nurture, failed leaders treated them as extensions of themselves. And with that, a “private empire” mentality took hold.
Habit #3: They think they have all the answers Leaders who are invariably crisp and decisive tend to settle issues so quickly they have no opportunity to grasp the ramifications. Worse, because these leaders need to feel they have all the answers, they aren’t open to learning new ones.
Habit #4: They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isnt completely supporting them Leaders who think their job is to instill belief in their vision also think that it is their job to get everyone to accept it. Anyone who doesn’t rally to the cause is undermining the vision. By eliminating all dissenting and contrasting viewpoints, destructive politicians cut themselves off from their best chance of understanding and correcting grassroot problems as they arise. Sometimes politicians who seek to stifle dissent only drive it underground. Once this happens, the entire organization falters.
Habit #5: They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past Many politicians on their way to becoming spectacularly unsuccessful, accelerate their party’s decline by reverting to what they regard as "tried-and-true" methods. In their desire to make the most of what they regard as their core strengths, they cling to a static (non-changing) model.They insist on providing a solution to a voter group that no longer exists, or they fail to consider changes in areas other than those that made the party successful in the past. Instead of considering a range of options that fit new circumstances, they use their own careers as the only point of reference and keep on doing the things that made them successful in the past; leading down to the path of spectacular failure.
Habit #2: They identify so completely with the party that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their political interests People want leaders to be completely committed to their ideology, with their interests tightly aligned with those of the party. But digging deeper, you will find that failed politicians weren’t identifying too little with the party, but rather too much. Instead of treating party as enterprises that they needed to nurture, failed leaders treated them as extensions of themselves. And with that, a “private empire” mentality took hold.
Habit #3: They think they have all the answers Leaders who are invariably crisp and decisive tend to settle issues so quickly they have no opportunity to grasp the ramifications. Worse, because these leaders need to feel they have all the answers, they aren’t open to learning new ones.
Habit #4: They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isnt completely supporting them Leaders who think their job is to instill belief in their vision also think that it is their job to get everyone to accept it. Anyone who doesn’t rally to the cause is undermining the vision. By eliminating all dissenting and contrasting viewpoints, destructive politicians cut themselves off from their best chance of understanding and correcting grassroot problems as they arise. Sometimes politicians who seek to stifle dissent only drive it underground. Once this happens, the entire organization falters.
Habit #5: They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past Many politicians on their way to becoming spectacularly unsuccessful, accelerate their party’s decline by reverting to what they regard as "tried-and-true" methods. In their desire to make the most of what they regard as their core strengths, they cling to a static (non-changing) model.They insist on providing a solution to a voter group that no longer exists, or they fail to consider changes in areas other than those that made the party successful in the past. Instead of considering a range of options that fit new circumstances, they use their own careers as the only point of reference and keep on doing the things that made them successful in the past; leading down to the path of spectacular failure.
