Why We Exist

Greetings, my name is Bob Pryor and I am the founder of the company "The Common Sense Approach to Leadership."

I wanted to elaborate a bit more on why I’ve started this organization.

One might assume that common sense in this field should be a given. Not necessarily!

For those of you who have suffered working under an unqualified leader, you know what I mean. Your day-to-day existence, to put it mildly, can be challenging. For establishments structured either for-profit, or not-for-profit; having unqualified leaders pave the way for an unstable environment, and in severe cases an entity which is no longer viable.

So, what do we consider leadership common sense? Our definition is a leader who is able to take their formal textbook leadership training and combine it with real life situations, and has a keen sense of good judgment and instinct. Remember, regardless of the type of organization you have, leadership is dealing with people, and a technically proficient person, is not necessarily a good leader.

Great care must be taken in the selection of leaders, to make sure they have the correct combination of formal training, on the job experience, and the ability to utilize good judgment, when complete information to make a decision is not available.

Unfortunately, in many instances, organizations utilize the "Peter Principle" in selecting their leaders. For those not familiar with this term, in 1969 Lawrence Peter developed the management concept called the "Peter Principle." His theory which is well known in the management field, paraphrased, states that "in many organizations, employees are promoted to their level of incompetence." The results can be devastating...

The "Peter Principle" has become one of the most profound principles of management, but still, many institutions still make this costly mistake in selection of leaders. They continue to promote people into leadership roles that do not the psychological profile to be successful. One would think they would have learned, many times the hard way, but in many instances, that is not the case.

Promotions are often made for financial considerations, assuming that since a person is excellent in a non leadership role, that they could lead, and in some cases, cronyism. In voluntary organizations, due to the lack of trained personnel, leaders are simply assigned with little or no suitable background. They are then left to "sink or swim."

All of these scenarios create pending disasters for an organization. This type of policy is unfair to a person, being placed in a position where they are doomed to failure, unfair to the people who must work under the incompetent leader, and it is incredibly damaging to the long-term health of an organization! Establishments continue to apply this faulty strategy, year after year, and then wonder why they continue to have problems.

So how do we help our clients avoid these budding pitfalls in their organizations? Training and practical application of real life scenarios to groom potential leaders is what we provide. We give the formal background needed, plus case studies, role-play and other methods, to create successful leaders.

Whether it be in our public seminars, custom made courses for organizations, or one on one coaching, we hope you will give us the opportunity to enhance the Leadership experience for you.

Thank you,

Bob Pryor