Dear Max,
Thank you for your humane and generative post on leadership. Thank you
also for pointing out that Hitler was a failure on any
leadership/management measure. So too was Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and
the various other despots of this and other centuries.
What troubles me about the notion of a definition of leadership devoid of
moral and ethical content (ie leadership is the capacity to attract
follows and its variants) is that although the definition does not work,
is fundamentally unattractive to so many people, and constantly needs to
have its moral deficit explained; it still persists...
Why?
Leadership without ethical and moral intent (note NOT ethical and moral
perfection: leaders are human and will fail) cannot, to my mind, be
leadership. We thus need new leadership definitions.
One of the best books around on the ethically content-free leader is
"Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" by Gitta Sereny. Those who
persevere through this wonderfully written biography will grapple with a
portrait of one of this century's most talented men. Speer was confidant
of Hitler, one of the greatest logistics and production managers of all
time - at one stage of WWII 30 million people reported through to him -
but at his core, Speer was an empty vessel, devoid of any moral sense.
His brilliance contributed to the death of millions, although complex as
he was, Speer also took Hitler on towards the end of the war and saved
much of Germany from Hitler scorched earth policy. This conclusion Sereny
arrives at through some of the most deep exploration of human character I
have ever read, laying open Speer's fundamental character flaws and his
unsuitedness for the authority Hitler granted him. But then, what kind of
judge of leadership character was Hitler?
To my mind, this kind of exploration takes the leadership debate on to a
new level. I am sure that many of our current "great leaders" will also
be found to have a pretty short-lived legacy.
Kind regards,
Philip
Philip Pogson
Leadership Development Strategy Consultant
Staff Development Branch
University of Technology Sydney NSW 2007
Australia
ph: +61 2 9514 2934
fax: +61 2 9514 2930
mobile: +61 0412 459156
"I always know a good idea when I hear it, because of the feeling of terror
that siezes me."
Ben Rick
CEO Lockhead
--Philip Pogson <ppogson@uts.EDU.AU>
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...Rick]
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