Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Inspiring leaders;
improving children’s lives
The Future
of Leadership
This booklet sets out what some of
the world’s leading thinkers have
to say about leadership – past,
present and into the future.
ALL SCHOOL
LEADERS
Learning resource
www.ncsl.org.uk
This paper was originally published as a supplement to In View,
the journal for senior leaders in the NHS, by the NHS Institute
for Innovation and Improvement. It was written by Stuart Crainer
and Des Dearlove. Des is contributing editor to Strategy+Business,
while Stuart is editor of the London Business School's journal,
Business Strategy Review, and their first editorial fellow. They are
founders of CrainerDearlove. The supplement was conceived,
editorially managed and produced by the Team, a specialist
communications consultancy working with public services.
1
Introduction
Everyone agrees that leadership matters. That is why there is so much attention
paid to it today and why so many businesses and organisations are focusing on it.
In education the government set up the National College for School Leadership
(NCSL) and it has supported other public sectors in their efforts to develop
leadership. NCSL has built good links with these organisations being keen to
draw on their experiences and expertise whenever we can.
This booklet is one example of such cross-sector sharing. Senior staff at NCSL
have been meeting their counterparts at the NHS Institute for some time, to share
examples of what we each do. When I was shown this booklet I immediately
realised it would be of interest to school leaders and sought to find a way of using
it with schools. Colleagues at the NHS Institute were very supportive of our
proposal to distribute it and I am most grateful to them for their generosity.
This booklet sets out what some of the world’s leading thinkers have to say about
leadership – past, present and into the future. The booklet was originally
produced for the health service, so we have lightly edited out some specific
references to health to make it appropriate for school leaders today. Not only is
this booklet a very readable review of key ideas, it is also valuable to know that
many of the same issues are being considered by professionals in the health
service as well as in education. Ideas such as: the importance of context;
transformational leadership; followership; leaders’ personal qualities and
authenticity; turnaround leadership; and leadership by consent. These and other
ideas are discussed in a straight-forward and clear way in this booklet. It is, in my
view, well worth reading and a very good read.
What is leadership? Ask 100 executives and you will get 100 different
answers. Ask the experts, the academics and journalists who spend
their lives researching leadership, and you will still be searching for
a definitive answer.
Leadership, as management guru Tom Peters says, is “confusing as
hell” – “if we’re going to make any headway in figuring out the new
rules of leadership, we might as well say it up front: there is no one-
size-fits-all approach to leadership. Leadership mantra #1: It all
depends”.
What most people do agree on, is that leading a major organisation
has never been so challenging, so transient – or, in many cases, so
richly rewarded. Nor has the job ever attracted so much critical
attention.
A string of chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior executives’
careers have come off the tracks in spectacular fashion. Other
promising leaders simply fail to reach the top positions, they get
fired, demoted or reach a career plateau, victims of what
occupational psychologists call ‘career derailment’.
If not a crisis of leadership, it is enough to provoke leadership
academics and journalists into producing a number of new theories
about leadership. But is it really worth paying attention to leadership
theory? Yes, and here’s why. First of all, leadership theory reflects real
world leadership practice and influences how future leaders behave.
And secondly, it might make you a better leader.
3
”
“
There are times when you need a
great man, and there are many
times when you don’t. So in a sense
it is all a matter of what are the
circumstances under which
leadership is required.
Nigel Nicholson
Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London
Business School
Leadership is a subject that has fascinated people for The leadership camps
centuries. The poet Homer wrote about the heroes of Much of the traditional theory falls within three
Ancient Greece such as Achilles and Odysseus. broad categories. Some leadership theories centre on
Plutarch chronicled the histories of Roman emperors the disposition of the leader, their personality and
like Julius Caesar. Thomas Carlyle dissected the traits. Others focus on the behaviour of the leader,
character of Napoleon and others. identifying the different roles they fulfil and
preferring to see leadership in terms of what leaders
Today the leaders of corporations and other do rather than their characteristics. A third group of
organisations have replaced kings, emperors and theories view leadership as specific to the context.
generals in the affections of those who study
leadership. And leadership theories have become They are based on the idea that different situations
more sophisticated and more numerous. If anything, require different styles of leader – think of how Rudy
there appear to be almost as many theories on Giuliani reinvented his reputation in the aftermath
leadership as there are leaders. of 9/11.
Warren Bennis
Warren Bennis is one of the world’s leading experts
on leadership. He is Distinguished Professor of
Business Administration and founding Chairman of
the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern
California’s Marshall School of Business. He has
written 27 books on leadership, change, and
creative collaboration.
In the 1980s Bennis reshaped leadership studies for
a new generation. In a now famous study of 90 US
leaders, he sought to identify the common traits of
effective leaders. His most recent work, Geeks and
Geezers: How Era, Values, and Deciding Moments
Shape Leaders, is a provocative study of how
individuals are shaped by the defining or ‘crucible’
moments in their lives.
One of the earliest preoccupations of leadership Since the 1950s the Great Man and trait theories have
theorists was power and influence. Leadership was lost a little of their lustre. But they have not yet been
viewed as a function of power, exercised through consigned to the dustbin of leadership. Today’s more
politics and influencing skills. An early scholar of sophisticated understanding of leadership allows us
human nature in general, and leadership in to make room for great men. “There are times when
particular, was Florentine diplomat Niccolò you need a great man, and there are many times
Machiavelli. He famously advocated a combination of when you don’t,” says Nigel Nicholson, Professor of
cunning and intimidation as a way to more effective Organisational Behaviour at London Business School.
leadership. “Politics have no relation to morals,” he “So in a sense it is all a matter of what are the
said. At the heart of Machiavelli’s work was the idea circumstances under which leadership is required.”
that “the ends justify the means”.
The idea of situation or context is an important one
The theory with the longest lasting influence on in leadership theory. One school of thought believes
leadership is disposition theory, which seeks to that leadership is specific to the context. Different
identify universal leadership characteristics or traits. situations and contexts require different styles of
It includes Great Man and trait theories. Great Man leader. Winston Churchill was an effective leader in
theories were popular in the 19th and early 20th wartime, but not in peacetime. “In the health service,
centuries, and were based on the notion of the born for example, you probably need different types of
leader with innate talents that could not be taught. leaders at different levels,” says Nicholson. “If you are
(Great women were generally disregarded at running a trust the leadership model is probably
that time.) different from running a ward, and will be different
again from running a health authority.”
Related to the idea of the Great Man, trait theory
identifies the key personality traits of effective The problem with previous situational theories of
leaders. In the 1980s, Warren Bennis embarked on leadership is, in Nicholson’s view, that they are
his now famous study of 90 US leaders. Bennis impoverished. “They focus just on tasks and
sought to identify and codify effective leadership. In relationships. They don’t really talk about the nature
place of the man or woman of destiny, he offered a of the challenge or the complexity, the amount of
view of leadership based on four factors: vision, change. There are so many other dimensions to a
meaning, trust and the deployment of self. leadership situation than those which so-called
situational theories look at.”
5
”
Lynda Gratton
Dr Lynda Gratton is Professor of Management
Practice at London Business School. Since the 1990s
she has led The Leading Edge Research Consortium, a
major research initiative involving companies such as
Hewlett Packard and Citibank. The initial results from
“
The old model of transactional
leadership is based on the idea that
if you do this, then we’ll do this. It is
the research were published in 2000 in the book,
Strategic Human Resource Management: Corporate
a very simple equation.
Rhetoric and Human Reality. Transformational leadership is much
Her book Living Strategy was voted one of the 20 more inspirational. It is about
most influential books by US CEOs. Recent research engaging the emotions of individuals
initiatives have focused on flexibility in organisations,
and her latest book is The Democratic Enterprise.
in the organisation. It is crucial for
leading change today.
Alan Hooper
Founder of the Centre for Leadership Studies
at the University of Exeter
”
“
Charisma wasn’t always important in
business. For three decades following
WWII, the typical chief executive was
an organisation man who worked his
way up the ranks.
Rakesh Khurana
Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour
at Harvard Business School
Jim Collins
After seven years on the faculty at Stanford’s Graduate
School of Business Jim Collins returned to his
hometown of Boulder, Colorado, where he founded
a management research laboratory.
Collins is best known for his highly influential books
Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
co-authored with fellow Stanford academic Jerry
Porras and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make
the Leap...And Others Don’t. His leadership ideas
centre around the concept of level 5 leadership and
the quiet leader.
When Collins isn’t divining the secrets of corporate
success he can often be found in the great outdoors.
An accomplished climber he has made a free ascent
of ‘The Big Stone’ El Capitan the largest monolith in
the US – and Washington’s Column in Yosemite.
Much of modern leadership theory focuses on the In ‘The curse of the superstar CEO’, an article in the
personal qualities of the leader. Current thinking on September 2002 issue of Harvard Business Review,
leadership reflects recent experience. In particular, Khurana notes that CEOs have much less impact on
there is widespread discontent with a particular sort companies than is commonly believed. He estimates
of heroic (or narcissistic) leadership – which many that anywhere from 30 to 40 per cent of the
believe contributed to corporate scandals such as performance of a company is attributable to industry
Enron, Tyco and Vivendi. True there are governance effects, 10 to 20 per cent to cyclical economic
issues. However, regardless of whether safeguards changes, and perhaps 10 per cent to the CEO.
were inadequate, the point remains that some
leaders chose to abuse their powers. One leadership guru to offer an antidote to more
charismatic approaches to leadership is Jim Collins,
There is wide belief that the cause of the recent author of the 2001 bestseller Good to Great (and co-
leadership crisis is rooted in the cult of the CEO. In author of the 1994 bestseller Built to Last). Collins has
the late 1990s, US anthropologist and psychoanalyst championed something he calls level 5 leadership.
Michael Maccoby noted a pronounced change in the
personality of those at the top of companies. The The highest level in a hierarchy of executive
new breed of business leaders craved the limelight. capabilities, level 5 is a potent blend of selflessness,
“There’s something new and daring about the CEOs humility and iron will. Those who exhibit it are
who are transforming today’s industries”, he observed typically ‘quiet leaders’ rather than the larger-than-
in an article in the Harvard Business Review. In life figures associated with transforming
Maccoby’s view, these larger-than-life leaders closely organisations.
resembled the personality type that Sigmund Freud Humility is a key ingredient. According to Collins, the
described as narcissistic. simple formula is Humility + Will = level 5. “Level 5
Harvard Business School’s rising academic star Rakesh leaders are a study in duality”, notes Collins. “Modest
Khurana, author of Searching for a Corporate Savior: and wilful, shy and fearless.” They are more likely to
The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs, is another attribute their success to luck than any heroic
to question the management fervour surrounding so- leadership qualities. They are ambitious for the
called charismatic leaders. Charismatic leaders loom company rather than for themselves. They tend to
large in history and include Napoleon, Churchill and leave a more durable legacy when they step down.
Ghandi. In the corporate world, however, charismatic
leadership is a more recent, and not necessarily
healthy, obsession.
9
Leadership in Healthcare
Not everyone is persuaded by modern leadership What Klein discovered was that, in the situation of
theory. Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe, Professor of the Shock Trauma Centre, leadership was “a role –
Leadership Studies at the University of Leeds, and or, more specifically, a dynamic, socially enabled
John Alban-Metcalfe, Real World Group, for example, and socially constrained set of functions which may
assert that much of the recent leadership theory be filled by the numerous individuals who, over
lacks relevance for public organisations in the UK. time, occupy key positions of expert authority on
the team”.
This is because leadership research is: dominated by
studies in US organisations; based on data collected Leadership is the product of an organisation or unit’s
in commercial or military organisations; influenced “norms, routines and role definitions”. In other
by studies of dominant top leaders rather than words, the function of the leader existed separately
leaders at other levels of an organisation; based on from the many different people who fulfilled the role
studies of white male managers; and focused on depending on the circumstances. Klein also identified
leaders rather than followers. four key functions of the leader: providing strategic
direction; monitoring team performance; instructing
However, despite being based on the study of a US team members; and providing hands-on assistance
medical team’s recent research by Professor Katherine when required.
J Klein, of the Wharton Business School at the
University of Pennsylvania, it has the potential to Klein’s research suggests that organisations would do
change our perceptions of leadership both in the better to put in place the necessary structures to
public and private sectors. support whoever steps into a leadership position –
with well-established roles and clearly identified
Klein spent 10 months studying medical teams in norms – than concentrate on selecting brilliant
action at the Shock Trauma Centre in Baltimore in leaders.
the US. The result was a unique perspective on
leadership “as a system or a structure – a
characteristic not of individuals but of the
organisation or unit as a whole.”
10
”
Rob Goffee
Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London
Business School, Rob Goffee’s research publications
have covered entrepreneurship, business formation
and growth, and managerial careers.
“
Leadership in a modern organisation
is highly complex and it is
increasingly difficult – sometimes
He has published seven books including impossible – to find all the necessary
Entrepreneurship in Europe, Women in Charge,
Reluctant Managers, Corporate Realities and The traits in a single person. In the future
Character of a Corporation written with Gareth we will see leadership groups rather
Jones. More recently, again with Jones, he has
turned his attention to the idea of authentic
than individual leaders.
leadership, with the highly acclaimed article in Jonas Ridderstråle
the September 2000 Harvard Business Review ‘Why International business consultant, author and
should anyone be led by you?’ and the forthcoming lecturer
book of the same name, published by Harvard
Business School Press.
”
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman is among the most influential
leadership thinkers to hit the business world in
recent years. The psychologist and former journalist
has spread the gospel of emotional intelligence (EQ)
to a largely grateful business world. It is based on the
“
None of us is as smart as all of us.
The Lone Ranger is dead.
Warren Bennis
notion that the ability of managers to understand Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
and manage their own emotions and relationships is and founding Chairman of the Leadership Institute
the key to better business performance. at the University of Southern California’s Marshall
School of Business
His 1997 book, Emotional Intelligence, has over five
million copies in print and was on the New York
Times bestseller list for 18 months. Follow-up books,
like Working With Emotional Intelligence and The New
Leaders applied his ideas to the business world, and
made a compelling case for cultivating emotionally
intelligent leaders.
We get the leaders we deserve In her recent book Bad Leadership Barbara Kellerman
Increasingly leadership commentators have examines bad leaders who she categorises as:
recognised the importance of the followership in the incompetent; rigid; intemperate; callous; corrupt;
leadership equation. For example, as well as looking insular; and evil. As Kellerman points out, bad
at narcissistic leadership Maccoby has explored the leaders often retain a hard core of followers even
bond between leader and follower. In an article in when their inadequacies are exposed. How do we
the September 2004 Harvard Business Review, ‘Why prevent bad leadership? Through strong moral
people follow the leader: the power of transference’, followership. There is an obligation on followers to
he offers a psychological perspective. Maccoby exert a positive influence on their leaders, and reject
attributes the bond between leader and follower to patently bad leaders.
transference, a concept developed by Freud to
explain the attraction his patients had for him. It is
the transference of experiences and emotions from
past relationships – often parent – child – on to the
present. So if employees believe that their boss cares
about them in a parental way, they will work harder
in order to please them. This situation will continue
unless the employee’s image of the leader and the
reality become separated.
As this suggests, the relationship between leaders and
followers remains a hot topic. There is a significant
body of research that shows how important the
leadership – follower dynamic is to organisational
success. One recent Harvard study, for example,
found that exceptional leadership could improve
organisational performance by as much as 40
per cent.
12
Beyond the tipping point work of New York Police Chief William Bratton as an
Leadership studies often focus on leading change in example of tipping point leadership. In New York in
organisations. Why? Because it is at these times of the mid-1990s Bratton cut felonies by 39 per cent,
organisational stress that effective leaders can make a murders by 50 per cent and theft by 35 per cent
significant and highly visible impact. in two years.
Moss Kanter has extensively researched the subject of According to Kim and Mauborgne, Bratton’s
turnaround leadership. She suggests that information leadership is built around four elements: the
and relationships are crucial aspects of turnaround cognitive (communicating and ensuring managers
leadership. A turnaround leader must facilitate a are in touch with the problems); politics (keeping
psychological turnaround of attitudes and behaviour internal foes quiet and isolating external ones);
before organisational recovery can take place. resources (initially concentrating on trouble areas);
She identifies four essential components of the and motivation (matching messages to various
turnaround process: promoting dialogue, levels within the organisation).
engendering respect, sparking collaboration
and inspiring initiative. All together now
If all these are interesting takes on modern
A related concept is the idea of tipping point leadership the idea that has possibly the most
leadership. The notion of the tipping point entered profound implications is the notion of distributed
public consciousness thanks to Malcolm Gladwell’s leadership. Maybe the idea of ‘the leader’ is
influential book, The Tipping Point. Malcolm misplaced. Maybe we are expecting too much.
Gladwell, currently staff writer with The New Yorker,
observed how fashions take hold. He noticed that Renaissance men and women are rare.
“ideas and products and messages and behaviours
spread just like viruses do”. It only takes one or two “Leadership in a modern organisation is highly
people acting as carriers to spread a cultural complex and it is increasingly difficult – sometimes
infection. Once it takes hold, it shows up as a impossible – to find all the necessary traits in a single
dramatic upward curve. The point at which the curve person,“ says Jonas Ridderstråle of the Stockholm
hits critical mass is the ‘tipping point’. School of Economics. “In the future we will see
leadership groups rather than individual leaders.”
In an article in the April 2003 issue of the Harvard Leadership guru Warren Bennis agrees. He has
Business Review entitled ‘Tipping point leadership’, charted the change in emphasis from individuals
W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, professors at towards groups and teams.
the international business school instead point to the
13
”
“
CEOs have always done many of the
things I do today. But the difference
now is that people can walk out the
door. A dictatorial CEO is bad business.
Good business is about engaging with
the people. Getting agreement on the
fundamental goals and values is a long
process. None of these things are about
CEO edicts. I don’t have the knowledge
to do that. The real knowledge resides
in our people. You have to tap into
their genius and potential.
Dr Curtis R Carlson
CEO and President of SRI International