Leaders have a choice — to lead people toward achievement by moral means or to lead them toward immoral gain. History has taught us how easy individuals can succumb to the temptation of money and greed. The Enron debacle provides a perfect example of immoral leadership and employees seduced and girded by the allure of power and prestige.
Followership is a human need, especially in times of economic and emotional strife. Indeed, an article in Medill Reports by Natalie Brunell, October 6, 2011, highlighted a study by Stanford University that demonstrated a troubling possibility. That generous leaders may be regarded as ideal commanders only in situations of limited competition, whereas tough, power-wielding leaders are more desirable in times of hardship. Sigmund Freud explored this phenomenon in is book “Moses and Monotheism”, which he penned on the eve of global conflict in 1936. The book explained that Hitler’s tyrannical behaviour earned him the support of a nation at a time of great emotional and economic need. According to Freud “We know that the great majority of people have a strong need for authority which they can admire, to which they can submit and which dominates and sometimes even ill-treats them”.
Many people turn to a life of crime after witnessing the power that leaders in their environment wield. The ability to persuade and to seduce is apparent in many a successful leader, and that power can be perverted perhaps especially when the need for moral leadership is greatest.
So often those in power are not held accountable. Many financiers, when the house of cards finally tumbles, walk away chagrined only by the need to keep a low profile at the country club. The mansion in the Keys remains, and a colleague provides a lucrative consultancy position. Many a national leader is able to leave office, passing the shattered ruins of a nation to a new leader who must begin to unearth the harsh realities of economic disaster.
Accountability is as pertinent for the leader as to those who he leads. It is a process that must start at the top to have any validity in an organisation.
Resources:
Accountability Leadership (2013) Di Worrall
The Wall Street Journal: Tapes Show Enron Traders Joked About Power Market Manupulation
http://academic.udayton.edu/lawrenceulrich/EnronTapes.html
Medill Reports: While Wall Street Protests continue, new study shows nice leaders finish last
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=189995&print=1
Sigmund Freud; Moses and Monotheism