Leaders who believe that being an effective leader is somehow synonymous with achieving ‘Perfection’ are headed for a fall over the cliff of reality. The art of leadership – and, by the by, being an effective leader is being an artist – involves human beings. Human beings are imperfect – they stumble, fall down, and frequently fail. Therefore: Leaders are ‘Imperfect’ – ‘Perfection’ is an illusion.
I am not sure what a leader would be if he or she were ‘Perfect’ – I do know, however, that this leader would not be human. In spite of this, there are leaders who still strive for ‘Perfection’ – they strive to be flawless-leaders (how often do these leaders dehumanize themselves and dehumanize the other).
‘Being Imperfect’ is not only a common ingredient in being a leader, it is essential if one is going to be an effective leader. The great American photographer, Ansel Adams, was never one to mistake ‘Precision’ with ‘Perfection.’ He often reminded his readers of the old adage that ‘the perfect is the enemy of the good.’ His point being that if he waited for everything in the scene to be exactly right – to be, in his eye, ‘Perfect’ – he would never make a photograph.
The leader who is seduced by ‘Perfection’ is the leader who will suffer from paralysis – this person will never be able to make his or her ‘photograph’ – he or she, for example, is the leader who waits and waits and waits for all of the information before making a decision when having all of the information never occurs. This is the artist who never completes the painting because there is always more to add, or correct.
How do you do this? As a leader you cling even more tightly to what you already know you can do – you shy away from (or is it you scurry quickly away from) exploration and risk. You lose ‘heart’ (think: courage). You emerge many reasons as to why your behavior is ‘prudent’ (and ‘protects you from failure’).
Sadly, over time you lose your capacity to engage the art of being a leader. Then one day you take the final step and find that you are not capable of engaging the art of leadership. You quit. You resign yourself to your fate. Sadly, in one of those perverse little ironies of life, your pattern itself achieves perfection – you have created and lived into and out of a perfect ‘death spiral.’
Our imperfect humanity is the ultimate source for our developing the art of being a leader. Our imperfection is the very thing we need to embrace in order to be the ‘artist-leader.’ ‘Perfection’ is a flawed concept. Einstein reminded us of this when he observed that ‘As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.’
Charles Darwin also helps us understand this when he noted that a perfect survival strategy for one generation would become, in a changing world, a liability for its offspring.
The leader’s ‘failings’ are the guides – valuable, reliable, objective, non-judgmental guides – to help inform him or her about matters that must now be considered. By embracing both the Vision-for-the-Future and the ‘Imperfect-realities’ the leader can become the artist he or she is called to become while avoiding the seduction of ‘Perfection.’
Searcher-Seeker 
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