In Praise of the Incomplete Leader

An article by Deborah Ancona, Thomas Malone, Wanda Orlikowski & Peter Senge
Harvard Business Review - Feb 2007

No leader is perfect. The best ones don’t try to be—they concentrate on honing their strengths and find others who can make up for their limitations.

Accept that you're human, with strengths and weaknesses and understand the four leadership capabilities all organizations need:

• Sensemaking—interpreting developments in the business environment
• Relating—building trusting relationships 
• Visioning—communicating a compelling image of the future
• Inventing—coming up with new ways of doing things

Then find and work with others who can provide the capabilities you’re missing. Take this approach, and you promote leadership throughout your organization, unleashing the expertise, vision, and new ideas your company needs to excel.