Is Leadership Ideological

05 Nov Is Leadership Ideological

Transformational leadership, ethical leadership, spiritual leadership, authentic leadership, servant leadership are styles that have gained a lot of attention in recent days. Given the current ethical crisis in politics and corporate world, no wonder. All these models are focused on the ethical and moral dimensions of leadership. They are based on normative ideology of ‘what is considered to be the right thing to do?’ How many of you want to be thought of as a good leader who is also a good person, who is loved and respected? Most people I know will say yes, because it is socially appropriate

Mumford and others (2014) advance a provocative argument against these ideological models. A few of the key points they raise are:

1. All these models are focused on the followers and ignore other stakeholder groups. They cite Steve Jobs as an example. He was famous for his negative interactions with followers but could we call him an ineffective leader? He focused on customers.
2. Ideological models encourage leaders to provide what the followers want so they can be more likeable and thus influential. But is this what followers need?
3. Evidence suggests that autocratic leaders can be very powerful and effective. But positive leadership models are based on the assumption that all leaders need to be positive and encourage participation.
4. Ideological leadership models operate on the assumption that all effective leaders should demonstrate a core set of behaviors and all of them must always be ethical and moral examples. The world is not simple or black and white all the time and there is a lot of complexity in leaders’ lives and decision-making processes.
5. As leaders, does this resonate with you? Are you naturally drawn to the positive, virtue-based leadership models? Are these pragmatic models that will work in the real world?