Friday, December 28, 2007

Charisma Not Postive in Leaders

A B-School prof, Igor Kotlyar at has done research to discover one the worst types of "leader" has a lot a charisma. They lead their teams, over a cliff as well. This should not be a complete surprise. We often read about how "leadership" is shown by convincing your followers to do something stupid, harmful, or both. One of the worst leaders in history, one of the most destructive, one of the most incompetent, one of the most rigid reveled in the title "leader", or in his language, Führer. The tyrant who did win WWII, Stalin, may got himself painted in heroic socialist realism paintings,however never seemed to believe his own propaganda. In the early 80's the Canadian Tories looking for "leadership" replaced Joe Clark with a "man" brimming over with charisma. Charisma gives the illusion of competence and other moral qualities.

Here is a precis for Falling Over Ourselves to Follow the Leader.
Here is a ROB article on the same study.

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