Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, and Why It Matters
Barbara Kellerman
Harvard Business Review Press (2004)
Webs of leadership are among the webs of significance in the given enterprise, for better or worse
As Barbara Kellerman defines it, “A leader chooses a particular course of action and then in some way gets others to go along; or, more subtly, the leader encourages the led to ‘choose’ the course that the group will follow.”
Every organization needs effective leadership at all levels and in all areas of operation within the given enterprise. “Often a leader is assumed to be all-powerful,” Kellerman notes. “But we must remember that leaders acting alone are not responsible for bad leadership. Thus, the web symbolizes the many different strands that always constitute the leadership process.”
This seems to be what Lao-tse had in mind when he wrote Tao Te Ching. Consider this passage:
“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves.”
Lao-tse is talking about a good leader, one who is both effective and principled. In her book, Kellerman identifies and discusses seven types of bad leadership. She suggests all manner of “patterns” or “strands” between and among these defining characteristics: Incompetent, Rigid, Intemperate, Callous, Corrupt, Insular, and Evil. She discusses each in Chapter Three and they retain a thematic value throughout the lively and eloquent narrative, by association or implication as she examines leaders that include Juan Antonio Samaranch (Pages 73-74), Mary Meeker (93-94), Marion Barry, Jr. (116-117), Al Dunlap (145-146), William Aramony (167-168), Bill Clinton (189-190), and Radovan Karadzic (215-216).
It is important to keep in mind: “To type human behavior [i.e. good or bad] is to invite argument. Still, it is precisely when the making of meaning is so difficult that typologies are especially useful. They constitute a tool with which to cut through the thicket.” Each of the aforementioned leaders is neither totally bad nor totally good. Their “strands” vary in nature, extent, and impact.
I was especially interested in these passages:
o The Light Side (Pages 7-1O)
o The Dark Side (11-14)
o Types of Bad Leadership (37-46)
And then, after the seven aforementioned mini-profiles:
o Parallels between the study of culture and the study of leadership (225-226)
o Prevention and correction of bad leadership: Three assumptions (231-232)
o Leaders: Self-Help (233-235)
o Leader: Working with Others (235-237)
o Followers: (237-239)
o Followers: Self-Help (239-240)
o Followers: Working with Others (240-243)
Obviously, no brief commentary such as mine could possibly do full justice to the high quality of the information, insights, and counsel that Barbara Kellerman provides in abundance. However, I hope I have at least indicated why I think so highly of her and her work. Opinions may differ — sometimes vigorously — about which leaders in modern times were the worst. Vladimir Putin certainly deserves consideration, as do Adolph Hitler, Kim Jong-il, and Joseph Stalin. However, her seven types are as sensible as any others for making such determinations.
Of much greater value to most of her readers, in my opinion, is the framework she suggests for their making an effective self-assessment in key areas.