1) Lauren
Kellerman, B. (2005). How Bad Leadership Happens. Leader to Leader, Winter, 41-46.https://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~soc186/AssignedReadings/Kellerman-bad.pdf
Kellerman, B. (2004). Claiming the Bad Side. In Bad Leadership, 3-14. Harvard Business School Press. https://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~soc186/AssignedReadings/Kellerman-bad2.htm
How Bad Leadership Happens
Barbara Kellerman
State of Nature
Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke:
· Human beings can’t be trusted
· Should consider organization and orders over human rights/entitlements
Founding Fathers:
· Federalist paper: “of man’s capacity for reason and justice that makes free government possible, of his capacity for passion and injustice that makes it necessary.”
*Self interest dictates the choice to lead or follow*
· Leadership rewards (rights/resources from power, authority, and influence and greater degree of autonomy) more obvious
· Follower rewards (individual needs and needs as a group member) are more obscure
Individual level gain:
· *safety--self-preservation is strongest basic need; Hobbes illustrated as a way to maintain public order; also applies to business exec who wants security for family
· stability (generally trumps need for self-expression); even bad leaders can provide order and protect against angst
· simplicity—easier just to follow; simplifies cognitive load
Group level gain:
· order maintained
· cohesion
· taking on collective work
· Michel’s “iron law of oligarchy”: always be leaders because we always need to hold some one accountable for getting the group’s work done
Types of Bad Leadership
· Basic level divides into 2 categories:
1. ineffective—fails to produce desired change, falls short of its intention
2. unethical—cannot make even most basic claim to decency and good conduct
7 Bad Types of Leadership
1. Incompetent—(Bush) lack will and skill to sustain effective action; fail to create positive change (with regard to at least one important leadership challenge)
2. Rigid—(Mary Meeker, queen of the internet)) stiff and unyielding. Unable or unwilling to adapt to new ideas, changing times, etc
3. Intemperate—(Marion Barry, Jr., former mayor of DC, elected 4x) lacks self control, aided and abetted by followers who willing or unable to effectively intervene
4. Callous—(Al Dunlap, “Chain-saw Al”) uncaring or unkind, ignored or discounted are the needs, wants and wishes of most members of the group or organization, especially subordinates
5. Corrupt—(William Aramony, Head of United Way of America) lie, cheat, and/or steal, to a degree that exceeds the norm they put their own personal self interest ahead of public interest
6. Insular—(Bill Clinton, Rwanda) minimize or disregard the health and welfare of “the other”—that is, of those outside the group or organization for which they are directly responsible
7. Evil—(Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Jim Jones(cult leader), Radovan Karadzic (leader of Bosnian Serbs, declared criminal) commit atrocities, pain an instrument of power, the harm done to men, women, and children is severe rather than slight, harm can be physical, psychological, or both
The Web
· The roles that followers and context play are critical
· Leader, followers, and context are inextricably entangled
· To learn to be a good leader, must also learn to be a good follower and have a good understanding of the underlying context
Stopping or Slowing Bad Leadership
· Leaders cannot do harm without followers who enable them
· Stopping/slowing bad leadership is social responsibility
· Bad leadership is a social disease
What is to be done:
Leaders
· Limit your tenure
· Share power
· Stay in touch with reality
· Compensate for your weaknesses
· Stay balanced
· Be reflective
Follower:
· Empower yourself
· Be loyal to the whole
· Be skeptical
· Be a watchdog
· Take a stand
· Find allies
Week 5: February 27, March 1, 3 From Vision to Goals
2) Lisa
Emrich, C. G., Brower, H. H., Feldman, J. M. & Garland, H. (2001). Images in Words: Presidential Rhetoric, Charisma, and Greatness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46 (3), 527-557.
https://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~soc186/AssignedReadings/Emrich-ImageUse.pdf
Emrich - Images in Words: Presidential Rhetoric, Charisma, and Greatness
Overview: This paper is a study of what causes followers to consider a leader "great" and attribute to him/her the quality of "charisma."
Conclusion: Leaders (Presidents) who used "image-based rhetoric" in their inaugural addresses were rated higher in charisma, and those that engaged in image-based rhetoric in their most significant speeches were rated higher in charisma and overall greatness.
INTRODUCTION
- Much is known about what charisma is, but little is known about what causes it to be an identifiable characteristic.
Charisma - ability to inspire followers above and beyond the call of duty by appealing to their emotions and motives
- House and Shamir - study concluded that visionary behavior was a part of all eight theories of charismatic, visionary, and transformational leadership
- Studies of charisma emphasize the emotional link between leaders and followers.
- Studies in greatness emphasize achievement.
IMAGERY, CHARISMA, AND GREATNESS
Imagery - how quickly a word arouses a sensory experience (mental picture, sound, etc.)
- MLK and Churchill were good at using imagery
- Allowed them to more easily tap into listeners' life experiences
- Appealing to sensory/emotional experiences is more effective than appealing to intellect
- Martindale, Covello, West - created a table of sensory vs. concept -based words (root v. source, rock v. dependable, sweet v. agreeable, etc.) - more effective.
- Mediating Processes
1. Attention - first challenge of a leader is to attract and sustain attention.
- People can't be influenced if they're not paying attention.
2. Comprehension - it is important to use concrete rather than abstract material.
- People can't be influenced if they don't understand what's going on.
3. Emotion - last challenge of a leader is to appeal to the followers' emotions.
- People may hear and comprehend a speech, but they won't act on anything if it doesn’t resonate with them somehow.
4. Memory and Elaboration - a leader has to make sure that the follower also remembers and elaborates upon the points made.
- Images are often remembered more easily than concepts.
HYPOTHESES - When dealing with a president's speech:
1. Higher proportion of image-based rhetoric = higher charisma ratings.
2. Higher proportion of image-based rhetoric = more favorable historians' assessment of his greatness.
3. Lower proportion of concept-based rhetoric = higher charisma ratings.
4. Lower proportion of concept-based rhetoric = more favorable historians' assessment of his greatness.
STUDY 1
1. Analyzed Presidential inaugural addresses from Washington to Reagan
2. Used Martindale's Regressive Imagery Dictionary to tabulate the frequency of image-based words.
3. Used this along with Simonton's measures of public charisma and creativity to create personality sketches for all presidents.
4. Students evaluated the presidents on 20 charisma items and 15 creativity items - rated each on a scale from 1 (atypical of him) to 7 (typical of him.)
5. FDR was rated highest and Grant was rated lowest.
6. Historians also rated the presidents on greatness. Lincoln was highest and Harding the lowest.
Conclusion: Hypothesis 1 was correct - the greater the proportion of image-based rhetoric in his inaugural address, the higher his perceived charisma.
Hypothesis 2 was inconclusive - they found no evidence to link image-based rhetoric in an inaugural address to perceived historical greatness.
STUDY 2
1. Analyzed presidents' pivotal speeches from Washington to Reagan.
2. Proceeded as before with the measures of public charisma and creativity and image dictionary. Both image-based and concept-based words were tabulated.
Conclusion: Hypothesis 3 and 4 are not confirmed - the high frequency use of concept-based words was not an indicator of lower charisma or less greatness.
3) Emily
Collins, J. C. & Porras, J. I (1997). Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. Chapter 11, pp 219-239. New York: Harper-Collins.
http://www.shkaminski.com/Classes/Readings/Collins%20and%20Porras.htm#_ftnref1
“Building the Vision” By James Collins and Jerry Porras
The most important characteristic of successful corporations is the preservation of a cherished core ideology, while at the same time progressing and changing in every other way.
A vision consists of a) core ideology b) envisioned future
A good vision builds on the interplay between these two complementary forces, the core ideology representing “what we stand for and why we exist” (never changing) and the envisioned future as “what we aspired to become, to achieve, to create” (requires constant change and progress).
Core ideology = enduring character of an organization
-Self-identity that remains consistent through time and transcends product/market life cycles, technical breakthroughs, management fads, and individual leaders.
-Provides the glue that holds an organization together as it grows, decentralizes, diversifies, expands globally, and attains diversity within.
Examples: principles of Judaism (held the Jews together through centuries of struggles)
Core values = organization’s essential and enduring tenets- a small set of timeless guiding principles that require no external justification
-Have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization.
-The company decides for itself what values it holds to be core, and these values are almost entirely independent of the current environment, competitive requirements, or management fads.
-Sometimes as “Mars Group,” or small group of five to seven individuals who are most likely to have a gut-level understanding of your core values, are responsible for articulating a company’s core values- they represent a slice of the company’s “genetic code.”
Core purpose = organization’s fundamental reason for being
-Most important part of the core ideology, in terms of guiding and inspiring an organization.
-More difficult to identify than core values.
-Reflects the importance people attach to their company’s work, including their idealistic motivations (rather than just a description of the organization’s output or target customers).
-Captures the soul of the organization.
Examples: Nike- To experience the emotion of competition, winning, and crushing competitors.
Wal-Mart- To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people.
Walt Disney- To make people happy.
-The “five whys” can help a company discover its purpose by starting with a descriptive statement and asking “why” at least five times to get to the fundamental purpose of the organization. (i.e. “We make X products.” “Why?”)
-Core purposes are NEVER to maximize shareholder wealth.
-You do not create or set core ideology, you discover it.
-It is not the content of the ideology that makes a company visionary, but rather it is the core ideology’s authenticity, discipline, and consistency with which it is lived.
-Core ideology must be meaningful and inspirational to the people within the company, it does not need to be exciting to those outside the organization.
-You cannot install new core values or purpose into people- core values cannot be “bought into.”
-The wording of a core ideology does not matter, what is important is that the employees gain a deep understanding of the organization’s core values and purpose, which can be expressed in a huge number of ways.
-Anything that is NOT core ideology can and should change and progress constantly.
If it’s not core, change it!
Envisioned future = a) 10-30 year “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” b) vivid descriptions of what it will be like when the organization achieves the BHAG.
- On the one hand, envisioned future conveys a sense of concreteness, something vivid and real. On the other hand, it portrays a time yet unrealized, a dream, hope, or aspiration.
“Vision level” BHAG = applies to the entire organization and requires 10 to 30 years of effort to complete.
- Not a “sure bet,” a BHAG should only have a 50 to 70% probability of success- but the organization must believe that “we can do it anyway.”
- Requires extraordinary effort, and a little luck.
Four categories of BHAGs:
1. Target BHAG- can be quantitative or qualitative (i.e. “Become a $125 billion company by the year 2000” by Wal-Mart)
2. Common-enemy BHAG- involves focusing on beating a common enemy- a David versus Goliath (i.e. “Crush Adidas” by Nike)
3. Role-model BHAG- are particularly effective for up-and-coming organizations with bright prospects (i.e. “Become the Harvard of the West” by Stanford University)
4. Internal Transformation BHAG- tend to be effective in old or large organizations in need of internal transformation (i.e. “Become #1 or 2 in every market we serve and revolutionize this company to have the strengths of a big company combined with the leanness and agility of a small company” by General Electric)
Vivid Descriptions = vibrant, engaging, and specific description of what it will be like to achieve the BHAG.
- Translation of the vision from words into pictures, creating an image that people carry around in their heads- “painting a picture with your words.”
- Passion, emotion, and conviction are essential parts of the vivid description.
-Purpose is the organization’s fundamental reason for existence, which like a start on the horizon can never be reached and instead guides and inspires. In contrast, a BHAG is a specific goal with a specific time frame that can be achieved. (Discovery v. creative process)
-Envisioned futures must produce the “gulp factor,” when it dawns on people the level of commitment it will take to achieve the goal. It should get the “juices flowing.”
-Organizations must beware of the “we’ve arrived syndrome”- which is the complacent lethargy that arises once an organization has achieved a BHAG and fails to replace it with another.
-Creating alignment requires two key processes a) developing new alignments to preserve the core and stimulate progress b) eliminating misalignments that drive the company away from core ideology and envisioned future
Boyatzis, R. E. & Van Oosten, E. (2003). A Leadership Imperative: Building the Emotionally Intelligent Organization. Ivey Business Journal, January/February.
https://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~soc186/AssignedReadings/Boyatzis-EI.pdf
“A Leadership Imperative: Building the Emotionally Intelligent Organization”
By Richard Boyatzis and Ellen Van Oosten
This short article basically tells the story of how a trucking company called “Roadway Express” reinvigorated its employees through the cultivation of emotional intelligence. Frank Sims, an executive at “Roadway Express,” exposed employees at ALL levels to training and information sessions that showed them how their efforts fit into the big picture of the company’s success, giving each employee ownership and purpose to their work.
The top executives crafted a vision statement that expressed, “everyone would be fully engaged in the success of the company and committed to the success of each other.” They established some goals that included:
1. Increasing leaders’ self-awareness and emotional intelligence
2. Positioning leaders to develop leaders at every level
3. Developing the capabilities of the leadership team to achieve breakthrough performance
4. Broadening the participants’ understanding of issues that are crucial for long-term economic performance
Thousands of studies have shown that effective leaders consistently possess more emotional intelligence competencies such as self-awareness and self-management.