The Hindu Business Line : Leaders are all too human

Rare is the leader without flaws, writes Joseph S. Nye Jr. in The Powers to Lead ( www.landmarkonthenet.com). “Leaders are all too human. Sometimes good people do bad things, and vice versa,” he writes in a chapter on ‘good and bad leaders.’ One of the problems, however, in identifying good and bad leaders is the ambiguous way in which people use the word ‘good,’ the author frets. For instance, does ‘good’ mean ‘ethical’ or ‘effective’?

In practice, we can judge both effectiveness and ethics in three dimensions, viz. goals, means, and consequences, Nye suggests. “Effective goals combine realism and risk in a vision that can be implemented, whereas ethical goals are judged by the morality of the intentions and vision.”

When it comes to means, the effective ones are efficient for achieving the goals, and the ethical ones depend on the quality, not efficiency, of the approaches employed.

A leader’s consequential effectiveness, according to Nye, involves achieving the group’s goals; in contrast, ethical consequences mean good results not just for the in-group, but for outsiders as well.

He cautions that a leader who pursues unrealistic (ineffective) goals or uses ineffective means can produce terrible moral consequences for followers. “Reckless reality testing that leads to immoral consequences can become an ethical failure.”

Leaders’ ethical lapses can occur in different ways at different stages of their careers, the author describes. “Sometimes competitive pressures cause leaders to abandon their principles; then they become destructive achievers.”

Then, there is the Bathsheba syndrome – visible in leaders who rise by ethical means but succumb to complacency, hubris and a sense of privileged access thinking that impartial ethical standards do not apply to them because they are leaders.
Good leadership is not merely inspiring people with a noble vision, says Nye. It involves creating and maintaining ‘the systems and institutions that allow effective and moral implementation,’ because poorly designed or led institutions can lead people astray, he warns. “The very real recent case of Abu Ghraib Prison reminds us both of the importance and the danger of poorly designed institutions.”
An interesting section in the book discusses the policy vacuum scenario when the middle managers don’t have clear directives from the top. In such a situation, passive followers keep their heads down, shun risk and avoid criticism; the opportunists use the slack to feather their own nests; and the bureaucratic entrepreneurs take advantage of such opportunities to adjust and promote policies. Watch out if entrepreneurial activity exceeds the bounds of general high-level policies set from the top, Nye observes. “Without the soft power that produces attraction and loyalty to the leader’s goals, entrepreneurs run off in all directions and dissipate a group’s energies. With soft power, however, the energy of empowered followers strengthens leaders.”
The author advises potential leaders to learn more about the sources and limits of the soft power skills of emotional IQ, vision, and communication as well as hard power political and organisational skills. “They must also better understand the nature of the contextual intelligence they will need to educate their hunches and sustain strategies of smart power.”
The book wraps with a sobering message for citizens in democracies, in today’s age of globalisation, information revolution and broadened participation: that they must learn more about ‘the nature and limits of our all-too-human leadership.’
Recommended reading for hassled followers and unsure leaders.

D. Murali

BookPeek.blogspot.com

More Stories on : Books | Management | Manage Mentor

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
When teams are virtual

Busting silos

Wealth lies in ideas, relationships

Chair planned in Balachandran’s name at Kellogg

Are you ready for that job?

Teaching the teachers

Leaders are all too human