CURRICULUM DESIGN
Business school students are very smart and highly driven. I have taught at various institutions in Africa, Asia, the US and Europe and I used to say that the programme content is often smarter than that taught on other postgraduate courses but it is often deeply extrinsically, rather than intrinsically, motivated. These students invest a great deal of money in their degrees (often more than $100,000) and plan not only to recoup it as soon as possible, but also to earn at least that amount per annum over the next few years. Any courses and ideas that do not immediately seem to contribute to this end are thought of as irrelevant, whereas topics that appear new and disruptive, such as those encompassing the magic term “AI”, are considered surefire choices. Skills and attributes to watch for Executives don’t fall short because they don’t understand accounting and economics or didn’t spot world trends. Rather, they fail because they do not understand how to motivate their staff. Leadership is quite simply the ability to form and motivate teams better than your competitors. Business leadership is a contact sport. Modern literature, based on both psychiatric and psychological theory, suggests that underlying all leader derailment (and, indeed, all personality disorders) are three fundamental markers. While there are many factors that might indicate the
WHEN LEADERSHIP GOES WRONG: PSYCHOLOGICAL INSIGHTS Here are six lessons on leadership failure that summarise the developments and findings made over years of research, as described in a paper for Consulting Psychology Journal led by US organisational psychologist Robert Hogan
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There is a dark side to every personality and it consists of counterproductive tendencies that emerge when we are stressed, distracted, or simply unconcerned about the impression we are making. It is important to distinguish between identity – ie how we see ourselves – and reputation – ie how others see us. The dark side is more apparent from the outside-in. A leader’s effectiveness is best measured by the performance of the team and organisation, not by how they rise in the hierarchy. Charisma isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It has a dark side, too. Boards and compensation committees place great faith in charismatic leaders, but the research shows mixed and often undesirable results in terms of organisational performance.
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• A surprisingly high number of leaders are AWOL (absent without leave). They don’t work closely with their teams, resolve conflicts or bottlenecks, develop their people, or hold them accountable. • Winning the struggle to get to the top of the organisation can result in losing the struggle to stay on top of the competition.
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Business Impact • ISSUE 4 • 2024
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