Ineffective leadership ‘costing €5bn’

LACK of effective leadership could be costing businesses up to €5 billion in lost orders annually.

The claim is made in a new book called Leadership Charisma written by Irish author Deiric McCann.

The book is said to include the largest global research study ever undertaken on what makes a great leader.

“The cost of the deficit of Irish political leadership over the last decade is now unfortunately clear to all,” he said at the launch.

“The cost to Irish business and, indeed, the public sector by poor leadership is less obvious but they are all the same.”

He put the estimated loss to business at between €3—€5bn.

To counter this huge drain on national and business resources requires training and in the book Mr McCann says effective executive, public sector and political leadership can be learned.

The book includes collected global data covering the 400,000 workers who shared their views on 40,000 leaders.

That research is used as the roadmap for acquiring leadership skills.

Based on a comparison with US and German research, the author said up to 20% of Irish employees across the private and public sectors are so unimpressed with their leaders and management that they are “positively disengaged” from their jobs.

Following the launch of the book in Dallas in January more than 10,000 copies were sold.

“Body language, eye contact, smiling, gestures and touch all have an impact but our research finds that the most critical elements of charisma are the ways in which a leader interacts with the people she or he leads,” said Mr McCann.

Leadership Charisma is published by The Liffey Press and costs €24.95.