What Are Leaders Made of?

12 April 2012

This week we’re asking the question: What Are Leaders Made of?

那要看你是什么领袖了。毕竟,女童子军领袖、陆军将领、企业老板和哲学系负责人有什么共同点呢?我想说,没什么。例如:无论你说的是女童子军部队还是陆军部队,一个有效的领导者仍然需要有沟通和激励的能力。但是,激励一群不到十岁的女孩努力工作并获得徽章,与激励一群士兵在战场上战斗是完全不同的。很容易看出,一个人在这方面做得很好,而在另一方面做得很差。

但为什么不能两者皆对呢?有效的领导者往往会分享一些技能和能力,比如沟通和激励的能力。但如何有效地锻炼这些技能,可能在很大程度上取决于环境。这表明,我们应该区分通用型领导技能和特定情境型领导技能。也许领导者需要某种通用技能,无论在什么环境下。但是,特定环境的技能不一定适用于不同的情况。

That seems plausible -- and yet having made the distinction explicit, I’m beginning to have doubts. Is there anything of real substance to say about what it takes to be a good or effective leader in general? It’s at least conceivable that there is. Take somebody who’s good at leading girl scout troops, but not so good at leading army troops. You might call that person a good girl scout leader, but you wouldn’t say that they were a good leader -- full stop -- would you?

It seems to be part of our ordinary concept of a good leader that you have to have leadership skills that don’t depend on context, that are transferable from context to context in order to count as a good leader -- full stop. A real leader is the kind of person that, given any leadership task, has a good chance of rising to the occasion. It seems pretty hard to say what it would take to make leaders like that. Are there really any people like that, anyway? Isn’t that what we’re looking for when when we ask what leaders are made of? It’s one thing to ask what it takes to make a good leader in this or that context. It’s another thing to say what it takes to make a person a good leader in any context.

We also need to distinguish between effective leaders, and wise or moral leaders. History is full of examples of highly effective leaders who were neither wise nor moral. Are we trying to figure out what effective leaders are made of, or what wise and moral leaders are made of? Does it really make sense to even try to separate out the qualities of effective leadership from the qualities that make for wise and moral leadership? The last thing we need is more foolish and immoral, so-called leaders.

And yet a leader who leads their followers into ruin, folly, or immorality is still a leader. I completely reject the directions in which Mao or Stalin or Hitler led their nations. But I can’t deny that they were highly effective, highly consequential leaders. Yet I wouldn't call any of them great leaders. Great leaders don’t lead their followers into ruin, folly, or moral darkness. Great leaders have to be both wise and moral. Calling someone a great leader is a way of endorsing or approving of their leadership. By that token, Hitler was not a great leader at all. He may have been temporarily effective. But he was ultimately a foolhardy leader who led his followers into both immorality and defeat.

But a still small voice in me says, “Not so fast.” One man’s moral darkness and folly is another man’s most cherished goal. Is it really right to build a particular moral point of view into the very idea of leadership? That’s just one of the many questions we’ll have to answer, as we try to figure out what leaders are made of with our guest, Stanford Law Professor Deborah Rhode, who has co-authored a number of books on the nature of leadership.


Photo byMarkus SpiskeonUnsplash

Comments(20)


Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Thursday, April 12, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

The fifth paragraph of your

The fifth paragraph of your post says much, as does the sixth---they could have been one. In any case, leadership derives from an older phrase: lead your ship. Leaders are not born to that station---they are steered into it---by parents who are fully aware of the life-long implications of training their offspring to be leaders. This goes back to the ancient goal of having your children do better than you did. Winston Churchills, John F. Kennedys and Mohandas Ghandis were not born that way. They were shaped; by parents and/or other circumstances, including an interest in making things better. Or to die trying. Many died trying. And we remember that. It is not rocket science. No, it is really so much more...

Guest's picture

Guest

Saturday, April 14, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

In ancient Sumer, the world's

In ancient Sumer, the world's first civilization, when an irrigation system needed rehabilitation or a devastated city needed rebuilding, a leader was put in charge to see the project to a timely and successful conclusion, whereupon he was dismissed. Compare the ludicrous performance of FEMA following Hurricane Katrina. Failure of leadership shows up in mundane affairs as well, from troubled corporations to troubled marriages.
20世纪50年代,美国海军委托开展了迄今为止最广泛的领导力研究,成为心理学家的信息宝库。It failed to identify a single trait that marked effective leadership but revived an old Greek idea that there are four distinct styles of leadership:
a. the goal of the "choleric" leader is to dominate others; he/she uses authority and any other form of legitimate power available to do so
b. the goal of the "sanguine" leader is to influence others through persuasion
c. the "phlegmatic" leader's goal is to bring everyone on side democratically; he/she is willing to sacrifice assertiveness to achieve consensus
d. the "melancholic" leader's primary goal is to stay out of trouble; he/she tends to be analytical, diplomatic and a stickler for policy and procedure.
Perhaps surprisingly, all four types have been effective and successful leaders in corporations, although each type brings weaknesses as well as strengths.
Perhaps the most overlooked arena of leadership is in marriage. Imagine the problems of a husband and wife, both of whom are "choleric" and constantly trying to dominate the other. But all of the other possible combinations has unique strengths and weaknesses as well, requiring different solutions. This seems an issue the psychologists have not yet adequately addressed,

Guest's picture

Guest

Monday, April 16, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

Well, let's see, Seems to me

Well, let's see, Seems to me (after my sixty-four years, here-abouts...): leaders are 10 percent skill; 40 percent charisma' and 40 percent bullshit. The remaining 10 percent is indeterminate. John F. Kennedy had it. Winston Churchill THOUGHT he did (and given the times, that was enough, so file him under the final 40, given above...).
But the bullshit factor just keeps getting harder to sell. Barack Obama is finding this an annoying contingency. He is such a smooth, smart guy. And with so much money...ah, yes. We might assume he has nothing to lose, by losing, And,as a practical matter, he does not have anything substantive to lose, given his wealth and all. But power is about more than accumulation of wealth. It is about that all-important badge: legacy. Which is another word for vanity. Need I say more? I think not. Well, maybe just this: George W. Bush; Barack Hussein Obama; Ronald Wilson Reagan---all the same cloth,...ain't that a stitch? (heh, heh)
There is one advantage to getting old: experience---and witnessing history. Told you so.

Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Friday, April 20, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

I notice that Eleanor

我注意到你的帖子里有埃莉诺·罗斯福的照片。但不是罗斯福。我很好奇,因为我高中的时候,有个老师觉得罗斯福夫人很无礼。他把她比作一只兀鹫,(咦——咦——咦)在被车撞死的动物上空盘旋。我从来没有跟G.C.莱克曼谈过他对罗斯福夫人的厌恶,他现在已经去世15年或更长时间了——我想这是我的损失。
Well. Leadership looks to be about who has the most money to spend. BOB, (Barack Obama) appears to have many more dollars than the GOP's presumed contender. I did not vote for the Intellectual Blacker in 2008. I won't vote for him, or for the Moron---oops,-Mormon, challenger. They are all FOS, seems to me.
But, in the end, my vote matters not, ergo, my opinion(s) don't either. Does ANYONE really believe in western style democracy anymore? Morons might. Lots of them out there. The media is still hammering away at Whitney Houston, even today. Dick Clark is barely cold, and they are feeding off of his dead flesh, as I write this.

Guest's picture

Guest

Sunday, April 22, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

And so, how may we frame the

And so, how may we frame the altered state we call leadership? Neuman's notion about money seems accurate. But, charisma and salesmanship are clearly in the mixture. Those whom we designate as leaders are as smart, perhaps, as they need to be. But intelligence does not mean success, nor does charisma ensure lasting adoration. It is a tough sell, this leadership thing. And, it ain't for sissies. As Romney will discover. Or not.

MJA's picture

MJA

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

I hate lines and think I was

I hate lines and think I was born this Way.
Hmmm
Leaders are not followers,
And it matters not who or how many follow,
Sometimes true leaders lead no One,
快乐地独自行走。
跟着别人快把我逼疯了!
=

Guest's picture

Guest

Monday, April 30, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

Can someone be a leader while

Can someone be a leader while leading no one
And happily walk alone
在一条没人走过的路上?
Now here is a paradox, and a riddle too.
You have done it, no doubt
And so have I
When we led our own self.
It is called self-discipline.
(谁说写诗得很好?)

Guest's picture

Guest

Friday, May 4, 2012 -- 5:00 PM

"If someone says he is a

"If someone says he is a leader, look behind him. If no one is following, then he's just a man out for a walk." (A. Lincoln, attributed).
A leader is someone who provides purpose, direction, and motivation that advances a group or organization toward a goal. And this means being able to take charge, either by designated position or by assumed role. A person who can do this is an effective leader.
To be a great leader, however, requires one more element, I think - the recognition that leadership is a servant's position. It sounds paradoxical, but it distinguishes those who lead for their own aggrandizement (Alexander, Ceasar, Napoleon) from those who served something greater than themselves (Belisarius, Wellington, Washington). It makes for a leader with the humility put him/herself aside - and only such can really be a great leader.

David Lichtenstein's picture

David Lichtenstein

Thursday, September 25, 2014 -- 5:00 PM

Leaders like David

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Guest's picture

Guest

Tuesday, April 14, 2015 -- 5:00 PM

I think Leaders are made up

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jamesbarber's picture

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alvinbradely's picture

alvinbradely

Wednesday, September 2, 2015 -- 5:00 PM

Leaders come from between of

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