Phil Risher argues that constantly firefighting problems and positioning yourself as the hero actually undermines your organization. Real leadership means building other leaders so they can share the load and multiply impact.
The most dangerous kind of hero syndrome is the one that looks like leadership. You want to be on the front lines. You want to be out in front of everything, driving the force forward. I'm not saying that that's wrong, but you have to do it the right way. Being on the front lines does not mean going around and firefighting every single thing. It doesn't mean someone needs help and you just instantly run over there to try to help them. It means building up leaders in your business and supporting them so that way they can also turn into leaders and help support you as a leader. A lot of times people want to go around and fight fires and call it leadership when it's not. It's you trying to be the hero in your own business and not building up leaders inside of your organization.
