Leadership

Course 7 :
Philosophy and Leadership

Faculty : Brata T. Hardjosubroto

Semester : 4/ 2009
 The Greeks: The Leader as Harmonizer and
Teacher

 Plato’s Republic: Ideal Leader in the Ideal

City

 The Leader as Provider of Resources and

Guide to Others

 The Leader as Mediator of Individual Self-

Interest
The Leader as Harmonizer and
Teacher
 To perform well, one must cultivate the
appropriate arete –
 The appropriate virtue or excellence that enables
the possessor to perform well.
 Given way to democracy, empowering many
more people from many different social classes
Plato: the Ideal Leader (1)

 Human nature is to be self interested

 People are motivated by their desire to expand
their power over other people and over desirable
objects – wealth, influence, position and so on.
 Laws is to restrain chaotic situation
 Laws run contrary to human desire
Plato: the Ideal Leader (2)

 As shepherd, the leader are to advance his/her

own interests at the people’s expense - so it is
strength, cunning and the ability to cultivate a believable
facade. such leaders manipulate the public for their
own advantage
 The good one: leaders are distinguished by
certain talents then refined by specially tailored
education and being a cultivation of wisdom.
Socrates: Philosophical nature that
serves as the basis for the true leader’s
1. Love unchanging truth
2. Hate untruth
3. Moderate with money
4. Neither petty nor mean
5. Do not fear death
6. Have a good memory

Ø “These characteristic do not guarantee a good

leader, rather they are the starting points for
cultivating the quality of leadership”
Quality Leader (1)
 To have proper education which refine the quality
to the point where excellence of wisdom emerges
 The curriculum which orient the mind toward the
abstract, the universal, the unchanging ->Truth
 Forms the carriers of universal and immutable truth
 To acquire the virtue of wisdom (the ability to make
sound judgement)
Quality Leader (2)
 In concreate practices, leader is to deliver: good laws, good public
policy, a coherent and excellent program of education, all to the
benefit of everyone.
 Socrates: the truly wise ruler leads in order that those who are led
can develop their potential as human beings and thereby prosper.
 Plato: the leader as harmonizer of people, as the improver of those
whom he leads and as an individual of rare intellectual qualities.
The Leader as Provider of Resources and
Guide to Others
 The leader emerges as the teacher of virtue as well as the
caretaker of human needs
 Cultivation is crucial to living well and to generate
happiness and the divine bliss
 Thomas Aquina: leader is assume take a role of a teacher,
improver and moral paradigm
 The leader must contribute to the improvement of those
who look to them for leadership, create a community that
self sufficient and thriving union of individual who enjoys
the resources needed.
The Leader as Mediator of
Individual Self-Interest (Thomas
 Human life becomes a ceasless quest for power and the

pursuit of those things that accrue greater power

 In the absence of strong law and governmental authority,
convert social life into a war of each against all
 The natural human condition as one of universal war, a
world of perpetual violence and fear in which the life of
human being is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’.
 Without a powerfull leader, cannot avoid the catalysm of
civil war.
Hobbes; Laws of Nature
 Human desire for power and their willingness to
dominate others in its pursuit, is simply too
strong.

 Human nature is self interested and that in the

absence of a strong sovereign there is nothing
but chaos
John Locke; the Laws of Nature
 Passion encourages some to desire what others possess,
and in the absence of organized society and political
authority, human will soon slide into a state of war.
 Passion will incline some to violate other’s right to life,
liberty and possessions.
 Fundamental decisions about policy should be made at a
broadly based level with much participation and with the
interest of community.
 Questions??
Group Discussion

Discuss within your group:

 Summarizing some of key

importance points that you have
learned today
 Chapter 7 – PHILOSOPHY AND LEADERSHIP
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND
REVIEW
 What are some of Plato’s views on the nature of human
beings and the characteristics of the ideal leader?

 How did Socrates’ conceptualization of a leader differ from

that of Plato?

 How did Thomas Aquinas’s work contribute to our

understanding of leadership? What characteristics did he
attribute to the ideal leader?

 What are the Laws of Nature, and how are they beneficial,
according to Hobbes?

 How do Hobbes and Locke differ in terms of their views on

the amount of control people have over their lives?

 How are the views of each of the individuals presented in

this chapter reflective of the culture and historical time
period in which they lived?