What if our definition of leadership has always been incorrect? And, if it is truly incorrect, what harm does it cause to those aspiring to leadership positions?
“Leaders are part of a huge stumbling block to change,” said Dr. Maja Korica. “This idea of charismatic leadership is entirely irrelevant to me.”
Korica is an Associate Professor of Management and Organization at Warwick Business School, at the University of Warwick. Her research focuses on understanding complex and rarely-seen organizational settings in addition to executive management and leadership in practice.
Many top-level executives, in Korica's opinion, subscribe to the philosophy, "I've worked hard to get here; now you should work harder than me to succeed." Leaders who adopt such a philosophy are, knowingly or not, promoting the idea that work must be the central focus of one's life if that person is to succeed.
The Workaholic Problem
To give one concrete example, senior leaders may overlook a rising star for promotion or enticing new responsibilities if they are not giving 100% of their attention and energy to "the work." In many organizations, this is precisely how succession planning works.
Leaders who are themselves workaholics or suffering from presenteeism undermine efforts to make the workplace more humane by making work itself an end in and of itself rather than a means to a more fulfilling life.
One notorious case is that of Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States. Dimon famously said in 2021 that he wanted employees exclusively back in the office rather than working from home because “it doesn’t work for young people.”
“It doesn’t work for those who want to hustle. It doesn’t work for culture,” Dimon said.
Many senior leaders have been influenced by this kind of thinking. There is no way to make it in the world as a young person if you don't hustle, working long, hard hours no matter what it takes.
Those in positions of authority are owed a fiduciary responsibility to the people they are entrusted to lead. “What can you do to create better conditions so others can thrive?” Korica stated.
Fundamental Attribution Errors of Leaders
Many employees are held back by societal trends that are reinforced by senior leaders' own personal biases. As Korica argues, this can be compared to several fundamental attribution errors made by a leader.
She alluded to an example with Best Buy. The company used to be a shining example of the ROWE model of a productive and successful workplace. Unfortunately, it was abruptly cancelled in 2013 by a new CEO. Korica thinks the company's new CEO had to send a message of "top-down accountability" to investors. Because of this, ROWE was scrapped despite the fact that it had been shown to significantly boost productivity, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and other metrics.
What is clear is that CEOs and senior leaders operate from separate places from the typical team member. As you climb the ladder, leaders become removed from the realness of the organization. “You also are fundamentally different from others,” said Korica, “yet due to fundamental attribution error, leaders are unaware of this ridiculously wrong view of people’s reality.”
Bad Behaviour Follows Bad Behaviour
Disengagement and staff turnover are common in workplaces where ideas like "passion," "hustle," and "ego importance" are prioritized over "dignity," "balance," and "care."
Korica points out another example with Goldman Sachs. How do junior bankers learn poor judgment, inauthentic leadership skills, and a work-all-the-time mindset? “It’s because of what they observe of senior bankers,” she said. Perhaps it’s a real-life example of Martin Seligman’s concept known as learned helplessness: when employees feel that they have no control over their situation, they may begin to behave helplessly. (Or, in this case, as horrible employees.)
Celebrity Leaders
Not only must we be concerned about organizational leaders who exacerbate poor leadership practices, but mainstream and business media continue to portray "celebrity leaders" in ways that glorify many negative characteristics.
Korica attributes the media's culpability to their repeated use of what are known as "ideational roles." “These traditional masculine, aggressive visions of who these males are is what dominates the press,” she said. “This label of entrepreneurship gives them a very distinct positive notion.”
These sorts of leaders are benefitting on the back of positive public associations with the word entrepreneur. Korica suggests it then allows for terms like poaching, taking public, paying no taxes, using size to shut down smaller competitors to help justify to others what it means to be a successful entrepreneur.
“When good ideas are associated with celebrity entrepreneurs, it becomes a way to justify the bad behavior of these leaders,” she said.
Then, young people will view these celebrity leaders or entrepreneurs as models for leadership. The positive association is completely opposite of what employees and team members want from their leaders, or perhaps what they require.
The Cult of Leadership
“It is difficult to have conversations in the classroom with my students,” she said, “because the cult of leadership justifies a way to allow for morally dubious action because these entrepreneurs appear to be successful.”
The workaholic, uncaring, aggressive, and completely out-of-touch leader ultimately presents a non-progressive, mythological entrepreneur based on a flawed understanding of what constitutes successful business. Said Korica, “Who are we giving pedestals to, and for what reasons?”
“Leadership is about action, not the pomp,” remarked Korica. “By making the elites look great, we are poisoning the pool.”
No matter if there is a pandemic or not, there will be problems for years to come if we are unable to redefine what it means to be a leader.
NEXT: --> Watch the Leadership NOW interview with Dr. Maja Korica on YouTube or listen to the podcast here on Apple Music. (or wherever you get your podcasts)
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Hey! Why not pre-order my next book, Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team That Flourishes, which will be published in October 2023.
Watch the one-minute book trailer below. Or, visit the book's microsite.
