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Lahore University of Management Sciences

Suleman Dawood School of Business
MBA Batch of 2022
Organizational Behavior – MBA 5051
Course Project

Pablo Escobar – Leadership Study

Group Members: Ali Mustafa (049), Nayha Arif (037), Umar Khalid (109)

Date of Submission: 17th December 2020

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Table of Contents

Background .............................................................................................................................. 3
Personality Theories ................................................................................................................ 4
Myer-Briggs Type Indicator ................................................................................................... 5
Character Wheel ...................................................................................................................... 6
The Dark Triad ........................................................................................................................ 8
Escobar’s Motivation ............................................................................................................. 10
Sources of Power .................................................................................................................... 11
Campbell Leadership Descriptor ......................................................................................... 13
PWR Model ............................................................................................................................ 15
HER Model ............................................................................................................................. 17
Maxwell’s Five Levels of Leadership ................................................................................... 17
Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 19
Citations .................................................................................................................................. 24
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Background

In 1949, a boy was born in a depleted and rundown neighbourhood of Medellin, one of the
poorest areas of violence plagued Colombia. Belonging to a mediocre family with a farmer
father who died early and a teacher mother who lost all her children except him within a short
period of time, the boy never knew an easy life. Medellin was always a tough place to live in
for anyone, let alone for a poor orphan responsible for taking care of his mother. The valley
was naturally fertile and hence historically had drug plantations scattering the countryside. The
central government ignored the region as a whole and hence the region had no loyalty in return
for the central government. This atmosphere of lawlessness and every-man-for-himself was
integral in the nurturing of the young boy, who learnt from a young age that he could not sustain
himself and his mother by working in the broken system. Hence, he set out on crafting a way
for himself.

As in any South American rural setting, socialist causes were all the rage back then and he had
significant influencers in the form of teachers and other elders who exposed him to ideas of
revolution and breaking the chains of social stratification. This lifestyle of resistance did not
end here, and he joined a radical youth organization which became notorious for violent anti-
state protests. It was this affair with politics that led him to his first altercation with the state
when he was briefly arrested for violence at a rally. His first business venture came in the shape
of petty burglary, where he started desecrating graves and reselling the headstones and attached
engravings on the black market. Then he joined his favourite cousin and became highwaymen
robbing passing travellers on gunpoint in the deserted hills of Medellin. Eventually this
business became so profitable that he had an entire gang at his disposal and wielded significant
influence in Medellin’s crime circles, with traders coming to him to buy protection from his
caravan raids. At this point, he had realized the power of building relationships and
connections. He knew that if he was to fulfil his dream of taking a place in the system which
had always wanted to keep him out, he had to play the system using its own people and tools.
It was from this realization that he recognized the potential of smuggling and started off his
own enterprise which had the monopoly of the trade routes passing through Medellin. Soon
enough, he was exposed to the ever-expanding business of narcotics smuggling, and he realized
he had the infrastructure already in place to capitalize on this new opportunity. This was the
decision that would come to change his life forever.
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He always had a vision for his future, and that future made him hungry to succeed, at any cost.
This hunger was a perfectly natural response to life’s cruel realities, however it combined with
another emotion which overpowered the rationale for legitimate struggle and replaced it with
something much more sinister: anger. The boy who had lost almost all his family to either
poverty or violence related to poverty was angry at the broken system and the people which
kept it broken, and he wanted vengeance. About 50 years later, this boy had possibly become
the richest man on earth, with money literally too much to count, which was eventually buried
for safekeeping. But this came at a terrible cost, with almost 5000 people giving up their lives
in the battle between this boy and the system he had vowed to take on and destroy. Who was
this boy? Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria.

Personality Theories

When it comes to understanding what shaped Pablo Escobar’s behaviour and made him act
the way that he did as a leader who managed to win the hearts of many, we must deep dive
into his personality through various personality theories.
Self-esteem: Pablo Escobar was high on self-esteem, i.e. he viewed himself in a positive light
and had extremely positive feelings about himself. Leaders with high self-esteem do not settle
for less, and Pablo Escobar would continuously go for bigger and better goals, as he was
never fully satisfied with the wealth he had accumulated, and his self-esteem only rose higher
as his success rose through-out his criminal career. When he was sentenced to prison, he
continued his operations inside, which is essentially what led to his downfall. Had he spent
his five-year sentence without running operations from within in attempts to make more
money, he would have still had billions of dollars. However, he kept aiming for higher riches
due to his high self-esteem, which led him to believe his self-worth was worth more than
what his current net-worth was.

“Everyone has a price, the important thing is to find out what it is.”

Self-efficacy: Pablo Escobar was a narcissist who thought extremely highly of himself,
which is what led him to believe that he could accomplish any task he set out to do, thus
creating his levels of self-efficacy. As a young man, he started out his criminal career with
petty crimes, which he was successful in carrying out. Later on in his 20’s he worked as a
bodyguard and kidnapper, amassing more than USD 3 million by the time he turned 26. His
success grew when he began his cocaine operations in the 1970’s, and by the late 1980’s and
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early 1990’s, he was on Forbes’ magazine for being one of the top billionaires in the world
for seven consecutive years. His incredible success in the drug trade and the love and
adoration of his followers is what fuelled his high levels of self-efficacy, and he knew that he
could accomplish any task.
Self-monitoring: Pablo Escobar was notorious for his crimes, hence after his ordered
assassination of Minister of Justice, Luis Carlos Galan, the government ordered the arrest of
Pablo Escobar. High on self-monitoring, Pablo Escobar based his behaviour according to the
situation at hand, and agreed to serve a five-year prison sentence, however, according to his
own terms. Escobar had the ability to pay attention to what a given situation required and
changed his behaviour accordingly, most of the time in ways that benefitted him.
Locus of Control: Escobar had an extremely tough childhood, yet even as a child he knew
that he wanted to move out of his desolate circumstances and be the richest man in the world,
and he started off young in taking matters in his own hands, because he knew that he was
responsible for his own fate. He believed that he controlled what happens to him and his fate,
hence he had an internal locus of control. As a leader, he was not one to lay the
responsibilities of his actions in other people’s hands, especially the people he surrounded
himself with. Moreover, Pablo’s narcissistic tendencies also come into play in cementing the
fact that he believed that he was the sole reason behind his success, and no one else. This is a
clear indication of his internal locus of control.

Myer-Briggs Type Indicator

In the hopes of further understanding how Pablo Escobar operated as a leader, we decided to
conduct the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator test on him and discovered that he was an ESTP
personality type. Many game changers of the world are ESTP personality type, such as
Donald Trump and George Bush, and Pablo Escobar falls within the same category as these
leaders (Exhibit 1). Leaders with this personality type are charismatic risk takers who are not
afraid of getting their hands dirty. Another similarity between Pablo and these leaders is that
they have both devoted followers and staunch opponents. We will explore Escobar’s
personality type further below:
Extrovert: According to Javier Pena, former U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Officer,
Escobar was “very charismatic, very powerful, very demanding”. His gregarious personality
is the reason he ran for Congress and was successful in being elected. He was adored and
loved by all because of his “generous” nature, where he would go out of his way to help the
less fortune in the city of Medellin. Before starting his drug empire, he would loot banks by
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himself where he would be holding an automatic rifle while indulging in cheerful banter with
the employees at the bank.

Sensing: Escobar was a practical man and he conducted his business meticulously with strict
rules imposed, and those who opposed those rules faced his wrath. He was practical in the sense
that if his position was threatened by someone, he would take the “sensible” step of eliminating
that threat. In the case of his political career, his opponent Luis Carlos Galan had expelled
Escobar from the liberal movement, and Escobar’s retaliation was to have him assassinated.
The way that he interacted with people and the way that he went about his business revolved
around cold hard facts, and he seldom used abstract ways of communicating with people.
Thinking: There is much debate on whether Escobar had a thinking or a feeling personality
type, however, much evidence points towards the fact that Escobar used a very objective
manner in making decisions. He was merciless in his business dealings, and employees or
business partners that did not stay true to their words had to face his true wrath, as

“There are mistakes that cannot be forgiven.”

according to Escobar. Moreover, his famous line “Plata o plomo” (take the bribe or take the
bullet to the head), shows that he did not show mercy towards those who stood between him
and what he wanted to achieve. However, there is a softer, more merciful side to Escobar, the
side of him that people adored and looked up to. He was a hero to the poor, referred to as the
“Robin-hood” of Colombia, as he had helped the impoverished people of Colombia by
constructing houses in slum areas and donating his money to various charitable causes. Despite
this, the less sympathetic and impersonal side of Escobar’s personality outweighs the more
merciful and generous side, hence he is a thinker.
Perceiving: Pablo Escobar lived a very spontaneous life. As the “King of Cocaine” at the time,
his life seemed to have a set trajectory, however, he kept his options open, case in point, his
stint in politics. Despite his success in the drug trade, Pablo was open to exploring, and he
entered the political arena when he ran for Congress. His dream had always been to be the
president of Colombia, however that is something he was unable to achieve. This flexibility
and openness to different things shows that Pablo Escobar was on the perceiving spectrum of
the MBTI test.

Character Wheel

For a leader to be considered worth following, there are certain characteristics they must
embody according to the Character Wheel (Exhibit 2). For Pablo Escobar, there are certain
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characteristics that he possesses, however there are many that he is lacking.

Drive: Escobar had possessed the drive to become the richest, most powerful man since his
childhood. He was passionate about what he wanted, and he was ready to make his vision
come true by any means, even if that meant partaking in corrupt activities and even murder.
Collaboration: His extroversion and charismatic personality led him to have assembled a
team of loyal hands, and this devotion extended to the realm of the impoverished masses of
Medellin who looked up to Escobar. However, one of his ways of establishing relationships
was through bribery and threats of violence, which he did often, especially with the police.
Justice: The Robin-hood aspect of Escobar’s character leads us to believe that he was a fair
and equitable man who had the best interests of the overall population of Colombia. His
interest in being socially responsible showed his followers that he was a just leader,
something which they looked up to.
Courage: Escobar was a tenacious leader, a risk taker who fled the clutches of the police
many times over his criminal career. This characteristic led many people to perceive him as
brave and worthy of following.
Transcendence: A transcendent leader, Escobar saw an opportunity in producing and
marketing cocaine at a large scale and took it to the next level by smuggling it to the United
States, gathering many loyal followers and enemies along the way. He had a vision and he
achieved it through sheer determination and excellent entrepreneurial skills. His vision
inspired the people around him, and he completely changed the world of drugs in his time.
Temperance: Pablo Escobar had the ability to remain calm and contained, sometimes even
cheery when the people around him grew unnerved and unstable. He was able to lead his
people with a calm, cool and collected head on his shoulders, as he knew that the
environment in which he conducted business was extremely volatile and complex. His
followers required a temperamental leader, and Escobar delivered.
Accountability: It is safe to say that a lot of the political instability and violence seen in
Colombia in the 80’s was because of the involvement of Pablo Escobar. However, despite the
heinous acts Escobar committed, he was of the view that his involvement in trafficking was
not a bad thing because for him the activity should not be illegal. In an interview with Yolana
Ruiz, a reporter, he said that drug trafficking is illegal at the moment, but it will not be in the
future. In a way, he was rationalizing to himself that his involvement in the drug trade was
not as bad as it was being made out to be. This was his way of shirking responsibility and
denying accountability for his actions and the havoc he had caused in society.
Integrity: A leader that asks their followers to carry out morally questionable acts is a leader
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without integrity. Pablo Escobar had a group of sicarios(hitmen), who he ordered to carry out
terrorist acts and murders. His lead hitman, Jhon Jairo Velazquez Vasquez, had admitted to
killing more than 300 people and being involved in murders of around 3000 people. Escobar
used his power to his advantage and made his sicarios to do his dirty business for him.
Humanity: It goes without saying that despite his apparent compassion towards the poor,
Escobar lacked compassion and forgiveness towards even those close to him. He once caught
a worker at his zoo stealing money, who he tied up and pushed into the pool, and before he
reached the water, he yelled
“This is what happens to those who steal from Escobar!”

This lack of humanity and consideration weakens his status as a good leader.
Humility: Pablo Escobar is anything but humble. When surrendering himself to the police, it
was only on his terms of being sentenced to a luxury prison with all the amenities that he was
used to in his normal routine. He lacked modesty and loved to show off his wealth to the
world.

The Dark Triad

The Dark Triad (Exhibit 3) refers to a collective psychological circle of three distinct but
interlinked personality traits, which independently form the basis for human psychology’s
dark and sinister side, Narcissism, Machiavellianism and Psychopathy. To understand the
demon within Escobar, we will be exploring his personality through the lens of the Dark
Triad.
Narcissism: Just like the self-obsessive love of Narcissus, one may argue that one of the most
prominent attributes of Escobar was his sheer narcissism. As a child belonging to a less-
privileged background in the poorest area of Colombia, Escobar never had a happy life. The
absence of material happiness and the desire to make people love him so he could feel
significant in the scheme of things was one of the main reasons he embarked on the route to
crime. As discussed previously, he was obsessed with himself being a champion of the
downtrodden and the savior of Colombia, hence he self-styled himself as a Robin Hood
figure who was the modern-day incarceration of Simon Bolivar (the ancient and mythical
founder of Colombia). There are many famous examples of how he had a large collection of
all the various wanted posters printed with his smiling face on it. The same smiling face was
itself the effect of a narcissistic tendency which led him to get properly dressed up and have
his hair done before taking his criminal mugshot when he was arrested for a few hours early
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on in his cartel days. Another example from his life was how he constructed his home, the
“Hacienda Napoles” as an ode to himself, a temple of his life’s achievements to show the
world how a boy who started off with stealing tombstones and reselling them was now the
richest man on Earth, out of reach of even the world’s biggest superpower. The estate’s
entrance was adorned by the first ever plane he used to fly cocaine into the USA, and the
grounds were full of exotic animals he had imported just to construct a zoo for his children.
Another incredible incident was when he burned thousands of dollars in a night just to keep
himself warm, when normal firewood would have done just fine.

“All empires are created of blood and fire”

Machiavellianism: Ever since his childhood, Escobar was a picture of cunningness, deceit,
and manipulation. He was famous for accumulating numerous followers and associates, only
to have them killed or “sacrificed” when he felt they could be a threat to his influence or
power. Recognizing the importance of America’s enemies, he was the first drug lord to
openly collaborate with communist regimes in South and Central America to set up drug
transit points on the way to mainland USA, in exchange for arms and ammunition to be used
against the USA. When he found out there was critical trial evidence against him being
collected in the Colombian Supreme Court, he had the Supreme Court attacked and burnt to
the ground, just so those few files would be destroyed. The sheer cunningness of this attack
was exaggerated by the fact that he didn’t use his own resources for this attack, and instead
used a communist guerilla outfit M-19 for this, and paid them with both cash and the real
sword of Simon Bolivar, as an ode to the so-called “revolution” he wanted to bring against
the status quo in Colombia. Another example of his cunningness and sheer wit was how he
dissolved Coke (cocaine powder) within bottles of Coke (Coca Cola) for smuggling abroad.

“Sometimes I feel like God…when I order someone killed – they die the same day.”

Psychopathy: The sheer level of Escobar’s violence and anarchy reminds us that he was a
man who was psychopathic in every sense of the world. Escobar, as the self-proclaimed
renaissance leader of modern-day Colombia, firmly believed that the system was broken and
would never accept an outsider like him, who did not “belong” to old money. This was one of
the defining reasons of what made the sensitive and chubby child Pablo into the widely
feared and horrific drug kingpin Escobar. In one example, he imported snow white birds from
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Europe so that they would remain stationary on a solitary tree in his garden giving the
impression of moving snow, but when they didn’t, he had them all shot. Another even more
horrific example was when he personally went to congratulate a youngster for making him
proud by agreeing carry out a task for him (to unwillingly bomb a commercial flight the next
day), but after the bombing had the youngster’s wife and baby brutally killed to eliminate
witnesses to the bombing. He gave perhaps the ultimate example of his uncontrollable rage
when he had the Presidential favorite, Luis Galan, killed days before the election just because
he openly threatened to extradite Escobar to the USA. Perhaps one of the most psychotic
examples of Escobar’s behavior was when he received a single bullet from the leader of the
Search Bloc, Colonel Carillo, out to kill him with a promise that he would be killed with that
bullet. Any man with a balanced personality would have ignored the threat, given that he had
already killed thousands in cold blood, but what did Escobar do? He ambushed Colonel
Carillo’s team in Medellin, killed off each one of his team members one by one, and in the
very end, took the same bullet Carillo threatened him with, put it in Carillo’s own gun, and
killed him with it point blank.

Escobar’s Motivation

What was Pablo Escobar’s motivation? Was it the money? Was it the power? Or a sense of
altruism? To answer these questions, we need to understand whether Escobar was intrinsically
or extrinsically motivated as a leader. Escobar grew up in a lower-middle class family in a
country full of turmoil and instability, and as a teenager “he was driven and ambitious, telling
friends and family that he wanted to be President of Colombia someday.” He had high intrinsic
motivation to turn his life around and bring good to the people of Colombia. He was motivated
to bring change in his own life and the lives of others, and that is what initially pushed him to
leave his downtrodden life behind. However, given the unstable environment he grew up in,
that meant a life of crime. As he grew up and gained more power through his drug trade, his
intrinsic motivation slowly developed into extrinsic motivation. His motivation was quickly
being influenced by external factors; money, power and fame. His motivation was no longer to
improve lives, it was now the need to make more and more money, and feel more and more
important. He lived off of the devotion of his followers and the unfortunates of Colombia who
he helped through his charitable actions. The only reason he initiated these charity programs
was to gain more power and support to fuel his selfish motives; to gain more power and more
money.
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Sources of Power

One wonders, what is it that makes people subservient to another individual? What makes an
individual gain this ability over another individual? Sociologists John French and Bertram
Raven conducted a groundbreaking study over power where they dissected power into six
“Sources of Power” (Exhibit 4) which they hypothesized were the root causes which exploited
human psychology to extort influence and power over an individual. We shall discuss these six
sources of power in the context of Escobar’s abilities of power influence over his people.
Coercive Power: This is the sinister ability to inflict forceful negative repercussions of any
form onto the intended individual because of non-compliance. This type of power is intended
towards people who would willingly never comply to the powerful individual’s desires and
wishes. This is the power most associated with Escobar as envisaged by his infamous war
slogan “Plata o Plumo” which simply gave the oppressed individual the chance to either
comply and gain riches, or dissent and be killed. One very important aspect of coercive power
is the need for it to be unquestionable, why is why Pablo was known to set public examples of
his commitment to come through on his threats. An example of this was when he had an entire
commercial airplane blown up over El Dorado, killing 110 people, just because it had one
informant against Escobar on-board. Another sinister example of this was when he had the pet
cat of a DEA agent hunting him violently killed in his own home to remind him of how
vulnerable he was in front of Escobar’s power.
Reward Power: An anti-climax to the coercive power source is the reward power source. It
can be argued that one of the key reasons for Pablo’s overwhelming power was his uncanny
ability to blend coercive and reward power to suit his objectives. Coercive power was the first
step in controlling an individual, which was followed by reward power to gain unquestionable
loyalty from that individual. Across his life, we find numerous examples of an elaborate
rewards and recognition system in place throughout his cartel to foster loyalty and obedience.
One infamous example is of how during his war against the Colombian government, a formal
register system was in place throughout his cartel in which members were paid fixed amounts
in return for killing government officers based on their rank and the bullets used. Other than
money, Pablo was an expert of reading people and understanding their deepest desires. This is
visible in his non-monetary rewards, such as giving orphaned teenagers of Medellin pistols
from his own hand and anointing them his “brothers” who would rule and govern Medellin on
his behalf. This act of taking society’s most desolate individuals and rewarding them by giving
them self-respect, a sense of ownership of something big and a purpose in life was a
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masterstroke in earning loyalty from his followers.

Legitimate Power: Pablo derived legitimate power from two main avenues. The majority stake
was through his head of the Medellin Cartel, which even though illegal, was a major influence
in the Medellin Valley and more likely a “source of pride” for the poor, deprived people of
Medellin and its surroundings. Being the head of the organization, which single-handedly put
Medellin on the socio-political map of Colombia, Pablo held an unparalleled power among the
people. It was this power which led Pablo to formalize himself even further when he entered
politics and became a Member of Parliament. This newly-created political clout further
cemented Pablo’s legitimate power scope as it made him further oblivious and ignorant of the
law of the land and in his mind gave him legitimacy in his quest to bring a socio-political
change in Medellin as per the wishes of his people, in the way of his choosing.
Referent Power: In the case of Pablo, over the period of his life he created a persona for
himself of a man of the people who was taking on the status quo as a champion of the poor and
downtrodden people of Colombia. He was famously known as “El Paisa Robin Hood” (Robin
Hood of Paisa) by his adoring followers due to his ever expanding philanthropic and socio-
cultural causes, such as the free building of society homes for the poor, sponsoring of local
football teams and the construction of schools and free clinics. The people knew his source of
income yet they believed it was justified as he was just taking back the money “stolen” from
them by the imperialist powers of Colombia and the international community and spending it
on his people. This was reflected by the illogical fascination the youth of Medellin had with
becoming soldiers of Pablo, to emulate their bold and fearless leader.
Expert Power: In the case of Escobar, as a man who had known no life other than that of
smuggling and trafficking, decisions regarding his vast empire were second nature and no one
had any reason to ever question him. This power was openly visible in the form of the hundreds
of small cartels and factions of various illegal trades who deferred all their key decisions to
Escobar and did not embark on any venture without his blessing and patronage. Pablo
surprisingly had immense pride in his role as a patron of all sorts of small businesses and trades,
in return for periodic royalties as a gesture of loyalty to him.
Informational Power: Pablo recognized the vital need of to create an elaborate network of
spies and informants which stretched across both South and North America. There was nothing
which happened in Colombia that Pablo didn’t know about, as reflected by the army of
government officials, politicians, judges, journalists and influential members of society who
were always lining up outside his home to pay homage to their patron. There is no bigger
example of this than how he successfully managed to escape authorities for a decade, always
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by no more than an hour’s escape in time. In this game of infinite chess, Pablo controlled both
the board and the pieces.

Campbell Leadership Descriptor

The Campbell Leadership Descriptor (Exhibit 7) is a famous evaluative model used to

adjudicate upon 9 major and diverse characteristics and abilities necessary to exude efficient
and exemplary leadership. We will try to analyze Escobar’s strengths and weakness with
regards to each characteristic and how they contributed individually and collectively to make
the man both the most hated and the most loved personality in Colombia. A detailed scoring
model along with comparative scoring against a select cohort of leaders is attached in the
Appendix (Exhibit 8).
Vision: A leader is characterized by having acute awareness about the past from which he
came, the present in which he lives and the future which he wants to achieve, and it is this
very journey from start to end that a leader visualizes and maps internally before he can lead
his followers on the path less followed in the direction of a better tomorrow. Ever since he
was a child born in poverty, Escobar had a vision to leave behind all his depravity and
become a man the world knew. He was known to visualize goals and objectives which his
followers initially thought were impossible in that day and time, but eventually realized the
significance of. In an interview, Escobar’s son shared how his father used to give him his
own example of having the vision of making the Escobar name famous across the world and
leading the people of Medellin to a revolution against the status quo. It can be said that it was
this vision that the people around Escobar bought in and dedicated themselves towards, and
their sense of depravity and oppression by the elite of Colombia further fueled their resolve to
support Escobar in his vision to change their lives, by hook or by crook. Escobar realized this
vacuum in his peoples’ lives and fully exploited it by giving them a vision that they could
make the purpose of their lives, while becoming the disposable soldiers he needed.
Management: It is the job of a leader to manage the myriad of humans under him and to
synergize them effectively so they can contribute to the common goal, without suppressing
the individuality that each person lives upon. Pablo was especially effective at people
management. This was largely since he always had a knack of reading people and
understanding what their hopes and dreams were. Due to this, he could easily manage all his
subordinates by giving them individually what they wanted, either money, fame, power, or
respect. An example of this was how many of his loyal lieutenants did not demand any
monetary compensation in return, and just asked for additional responsibilities from Pablo to
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prove their worth to Pablo.

Empowerment: Pablo was very empowering as he readily gave control to those who earned
his trust. He was famous for delegating tasks to his cartel members and defending them
publicly with full determination even if they messed up, even though he was even tougher on
those members in person. Another key example of this was how he empowered his close
corporals and gave them sweeping operational control of his organizational matters, including
the critical and top-secret cash laundering operations he had in place. Everyone in his cartel
felt like they were direct representatives of Escobar and doing everything on his behalf. This
action of making his people think they were important in the bigger scheme of things made
all of them perform at their best for Escobar.
Diplomacy: When any leader is at the head of a people organization, it is natural that there
will be friction and arguments amongst the public. However, it is a leader’s responsibility to
ensure that this healthy friction does not lead to outright anarchy within the organization at
the expense of its long-term stability and objectives. Pablo was considered a grand master of
diplomacy by both his supporters and enemies alike. He always maintained an excellent
relationship with journalists across the region so that he could have a strong representation in
the public sphere. He also bought off many influential lawyers, politicians, and government
servants when he declared war against the Colombian government so that he could maintain
inside pressure on the government and have a constant flow of information. Escobar was
notorious for setting up associateships with many influential drug lords so that he could keep
an eye on their operations in case they grew significantly to threaten him and eliminate them
before their power grew.
Feedback: Escobar was never a leader who was open and receptive to feedback of any kind.
He expected blind loyalty from his followers, and any questioning or doubt of any kind was
treated as treachery and punished with death. It was widely known that any cartel member
who publicly or privately (if caught) commented on the cartel’s operations or decisions,
would be publicly executed, and hung up for everyone to see. However, it is said that Escobar
did trust and listen to two people when it came to his affairs: his mother and his cousin.
Entrepreneurialism: Pablo was nothing if not the most genius entrepreneur the world had
seen for decades. Starting from his initial cocaine smuggling in the wheel cavities of cars,
buying small planes to directly fly undetected into USA, buying small islands in the Atlantic
Ocean to act as waypoints for his drug shipments, and eventually diversifying his business
into legitimate businesses to launder his money, Pablo built his entire criminal empire on the
back of a shrewd business mind with a special talent for recognizing and capitalizing on
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previously unknown opportunities.

Personal Style: Escobar had a vibrant and influential personality which naturally attracted
people towards him. He rewarded loyalty and commitment, and punished treachery and
dissent. This balance of justice was a firm principle which made his followers believe in his
message and willingly give up their lives for it. It was a known fact that youngsters in
Medellin would line up the streets where he went to kiss the hand of their patron and get his
blessing. Escobar, in return, would always make sure to remember every single cartel
member’s name and their family details so he could make them feel like he related to them on
a personal level. This was an act which increased their unquestionable loyalty for him.
Personal Energy: Pablo positioned himself as a crossover of an almost mythical
revolutionary leader, an anti-establishment rock star and a re-incarceration of Robin Hood.
This persona was vital in energizing and motivating the crowds of people who loved and
adored him because they thought of him as a messiah in their desperate lives who had come
to save his people. His son recollects how Escobar used to give fiery speeches wherever he
went with a common theme of bringing change, defeating the status quo, and rebuilding
Colombia. It was this intoxicating energy which made sure that he was surrounded by loyal
supporters even till the moment he was finally killed.
Multicultural Awareness: The ability to understand key differences among multiple cultures
and groupings is vital for a leader so he can prevent any internal exploitation of the fault-lines
that lie between them. A good leader recognizes this potential for collective greatness and
weakness for collective disintegration and makes sure his team is aligned strongly to achieve
their goals while utilizing their respective differences. Pablo, however, was notorious for his
racial discrimination against communities other than his beloved Medellin. He was also
staunch in his social stratification thoughts, and never open to racial/social integration. He
was also openly critical of other Caucasian races and their “disgustful cultures”, such as
Mexicans and Brazilians.

PWR Model

Priorities: The first steps of PWR model starts by setting up the priorities. A leader is the one
who knows his priorities well and has the nerve to stick to them no matter how the
circumstances change. Leader always holds his ground and has the strong will to achieve his
goals. Every decision has implications and a leader always make decisions by keeping in
mind his priorities. When it comes to Pablo Escobar, the whole world thinks that Pablo
Escobar’s religion was money and that was his top priority as well. However, that is certainly
 16

not the case. Pablo Escobar’s top most priority was his family, most importantly his mother,
his loving wife and his children. In an interview, his son claimed that Pablo Escobar torched
two million dollars, just to keep his family warm and to save his daughter from hypothermia
while they were living in a hideout. Apart from this, Pablo was also concerned about the poor
people of Colombia. Coming from a humble background himself, he knew the challenges
faced by the poor people, that’s why he wanted to serve the poor people of the nation and
wanted to uplift them. He made houses, hospitals, stadium, and schools for the betterment of
the society and to help the poor people earn money for themselves.

“I can replace things, but I could never replace my wife and kids.”

Who Does What: The second stage of this model is related to delegation. One of the most
important role of a leader is to delegate by defining roles and instilling sense of responsibility
amongst his team. Clearly defined goals lead to efficient and better performing teams.

Pablo Escobar always relied on his team and each individual in his team was extremely loyal
to him. Pablo used to take constant feedback from his team and everyone had a clear role. His
cousin Gustavo who was his right hand used to take care of the all the finances and overall
business. Blackbeard, was also an important man to Pablo, who was his accountant and used
to launder money for him. Before, doing something big, Pablo used to gather his team
together to motivate them and tell them about their roles.
Relationship Management: Building relationships is the most important thing for a leader.
Building a strong relationship strengthens the trust people have on their leader. A good leader
is known to build good relationships and capitalizes on them when necessary. Ability to build
and relationships and maintain them for long term is one of the success factors of a leader.
Pablo Escobar maintained strong relationship with his people. He used to sit with his team,
have food and drink with them and take care of them. Pablo was also good at making
relationships, he was constantly in contact with the people who were in police, government
institutions or other classified agencies, who used to provide him with information. This thing
became the reason for him to be always one step ahead of the DEA and the government, who
were trying to catch him and his people. He was also known for making his enemies his
friends. Pablo also had a good relationship with the leftist groups in Colombia who were
mostly against all the drug traffickers. In 1985, one of the leftist groups called M-19 attacked
 17

the Supreme Court of Colombia with the support of Pablo Escobar and destroyed all the
evidence against Escobar that was placed inside the Palace of Justice (Exhibit 5).

HER Model

Humility is synonymous to modesty. It is defined as ‘the quality of having low self-

importance’. Pablo Escobar lacked humility. He was a very assertive and pompous
individual. He considered himself very important and he used to destroy anything that tried to
come into his way. He was very stubborn is nature and used to do whatever he wants.

“There are two hundred million idiots, manipulated by a million intelligent men.”

Empathy is ability to put yourself in someone’s shoes and understand the vicissitudes of
different nature. It helps you connect with others and relate your feelings and emotions with
them. A person like Pablo Escobar who was once the most successful drug lord of the world
and the dangerous individual on the planet happened to possess empathy in himself. Pablo
Escobar was considered the ‘man of people’. Pablo Escobar was a poor guy with money and
he knew the problems of poor class and wanted to help them. He used to listen to them and
used to provide them with money, which is why he was referred to as “El Paisa Robin Hood”.

Resilience is defined as someone’s capacity to endure difficulties. Growing up in a poor

family, Pablo faced many difficulties but he still managed to become the richest man of the
world of his time and the most successful drug trafficker of the world. Despite being rejected
from the political class of his country he kept on fighting and working towards his dream of
becoming the President of Colombia one day (Exhibit 6).

“I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States.”

Maxwell’s Five Levels of Leadership

Position: Pablo Escobar achieve this first level of leadership very early on in his life. He
always yielded significant power in Medellin based on his cartel’s influence. He
complemented this hard power by spending money on the people and their welfare, and this
soft power created a dependence on him by the people. They were willing to accept his
leadership in return for his influence and patronage.
Permission: Pablo was always a man of the people. From the start of his ascent to power, he
 18

had established a persona for himself as a revolutionary, Robin Hood figure who would take
on the status quo and change the lives of his people. Due to this the people wanted to follow
him and accepted him as their de facto leader in the fight of Medellin vs the System.
Production: Pablo Escobar was a determined and obstinate person, bending people to their
knees against his strong will. His track record of always fulfilling his commitments and
championing the anti-State movement was coupled with his never-ending line of victories
against the government and the influx of billions of dollars into Medellin, which were also
distributed amongst the people. This led to the creation of an aura of invincibility regarding
Escobar, due to which the people were ready to accept him as their leader because they didn’t
think he would ever be defeated.
People Development: Pablo Escobar demanded extreme loyalty and showered gifts and
admiration upon those who gave it. He entrusted his closest people with many operational
commands and responsibilities and was known to let them inside his personal circle, doing
tasks directly for his family. He was an expert in giving people a purpose in life and enabling
them to achieve it by being loyal soldiers of Pablo in return for enormous wealth and power.
Pinnacle: This stage is the most elusive for any leader and there are only a handful of
examples of leaders who successfully transcended all stages to become pinnacles and
institutions in their own regards. Pablo, because of being a leader for only a specific set of
people which may be called a cult, never had sufficient reach or influence in peoples’ lives to
become a pinnacle. He did empower his subordinates within his organization, but in the end,
there was a limit to that empowerment as we saw in the last days of his life when his paranoia
made him kill his closest soldiers. Soon after his death, Escobar became nothing more than a
demonic myth in the long old history of Colombia, with the stamp of a common outlaw,
albeit a rich and successful one (Exhibit 8).

“There can only be one king.”

 19

Appendix

Exhibit 1

ESTP
Extraversion Sensing Thinking Perceiving

Leave options
Focus on
Talkative, Make decisions open, rules and
reality,
outgoing, fast- in impersonal deadlines
attention to
paced way, value viewed flexible,
facts & details,
environment, justice, enjoy make things up
practical ideas,
think out loud, finding flaws in as they go,
describe things
centre of arguments, spontaneous,
in specific,
attention level-headed enjoy new
literal ways
situations
 20

Exhibit 2

Transcendence

Courage Drive

Accountability Collaboration

Character
Wheel

Justice Humanity

Temperance Humility

Integrity

Exhibit 3

Dark Triad

Narcissism Machiavellianism Psychopathy

Exhibit 4

Sources of
Power

Coercive Reward Legitimate Referent Expert Informational

 21

Exhibit 5

PWR
Priorities

Who does
what

Relationship
Management

Exhibit 6

HER
Humility

Empathy

Reselience
 22

Exhibit 7

Vision Entrepreneurialism Personal Style

Management Feedback Personal Energy

Multicultural
Empowerment Diplomacy
Awareness

Exhibit 8

Pablo Escobar Nelson Mandela Joseph Stalin Che Guevara

Vision Very High Very High High Very High
Management High High Low Medium
Empowerment Medium Very High Very Low Very High
Diplomacy High High Low High
Feedback Very Low Very High Very Low High
Entrepreneurialism Very High Very High High High
Personal Style Very High Very High Very High Very High
Personal Energy Very High Very High Very High Very High
Multicultural Awareness Very Low Very High Very High Very High
 23

Exhibit 9

5 Pinnacle

4 People Development

3 Production

Permission
2
Position
1
 24

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