Does Leadership Matter?
• No! (Lieberson & O‘Connor, 1972)
―Studies estimating the effect of administrators have found them to account for about 10 percent of the variance in organizational performance. [This is] a striking contrast to the 90 percent of intellectual effort that has been devoted to developing theories of individual action.‖ Pfeffer & Salancik
• • • • Person OR Situation? Democratic OR Authoritarian? Dogmatism OR Relativism? Tough OR Nice?
Person OR Situat源自on?―The history of the world is but the biography of great men.‖ Thomas Carlyle
Person AND Situation
―Historical forces create the circumstances in which leaders emerge, but the characteristics of the particular leader in turn have their impact on history.‖ John Gardner
―Historical performances come from great opportunities greatly met.‖ John Gardner
Hitler
Ataturk
Ayatollah Humeini
―It would be a profound disservice to leaders to suggest that they are ordinary people who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe the place matters, but it takes a special kind of person to master the challenges of opportunity.‖ Locke & Kilpatrick
Democratic OR Authoritarian?
Democracy as Solution to Authoritarianism
• Kurt Lewin (1939)
– democratic leadership – laissez faire leadership – authoritarian leadership
―Hierarchical organizations are simply too inflexible and rigid to compete effectively in today‘s business environment... They need to be replaced by lateral forms of organizations that rely heavily on teams, information technology, networks, shared leadership, and involved employees.‖ Edward Lawler
Psychology 1508: Janusian Thinking
―The goal in leadership development, it is important to remember, is to develop well-rounded leaders, ones with the skills and personal attributes needed to adapt, act with flexibility, and combine what appear to be opposites: toughness and compassion, self-confidence and humility, strong individuals and good team players.‖ Russ Moxley, Center for Creative Leadership
Janusian Leadership
―Ben Franklin was a paradox. He fiercely believed in the power of the individual, but he was a relentless advocate for acting on behalf of the community. He believed in competition, but he never hesitated to cooperate with competitors when it was in his interest. He could be the most partisan of politicians—and the most accomodating of diplomats.‖ Jack Uldrich
―The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.‖ W. E. B. Du Bois
Leadership Matters
• Between versus Within (Thomas, 1987)
• Skipper Effect (Thorlindsson, 1987)
Person AND Situation
―Historical forces create the circumstances in which leaders emerge, but the characteristics of the particular leader in turn have their impact on history.‖ John Gardner
Democracy Is Not Enough
One sure way to miss truth in any field is to count the votes: had Copernicus and Galileo done so, the sun might still be circling the earth. Parker Palmer ―I wonder how far Moses would have gone had he‘d taken a poll in Egypt.‖ Harry Truman
Myth
: You can‘t have your cake and eat it too.
Reality : Rather than succumbing to the ―tyranny of the OR‖ they embrace the ―genius of the AND.‖
Progress through Synthesis
―Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious instrument in the attainment of historic, universal, aims of humanity. A deed done is irrevocable, and its result coinciding in time with the actions of millions of other men assumes an historic significance. The higher a man stands on the social ladder, the more people he is connected with and the more power he has over others, the more evident is the predestination and inevitability of his every action.... A king is history‘s slave.‖ Leo Tolstoy
Thinking the World Together
―Paradoxical thinking requires that we embrace a view of the world in which opposites are joined, so that we can see the world clearly and see it whole... The result is a world more complex and confusing than the one made simple by either-or thought—but that simplicity is merely the dullness of death. When we think together, we reclaim the life force in the world, in our students, in ourselves.‖ Parker Palmer