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Cult Leaders - Intermediate Business Lesson
Cult Leaders - Intermediate Business Lesson
Cult Leaders - Intermediate Business Lesson
2 Key words
a. Write the words from the box next to the definitions below. Check your answers and your
understanding of the words by using the same word to complete the example sentence
below each definition. Then read the complete article to see how each of the key words is
used in context.
authentic authority embrace inspire leadership middle managers
skills.
2. people who are in charge of parts of an organisation and have less authority than the most senior
managers
While there are more digital currencies available, not everyone has
them.
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all-powerful
challenges culture critics empower governance
8. something that needs a lot of skill, energy and determination to deal with
11. a set of ideas, beliefs and ways of behaving of a particular organisation or group of people
12. someone who does not like something and states their opinion about it
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ANDREW EDGECLIFFE-JOHNSON
1 Bill George thinks that we can attribute everything 7 The “adulation” of CEOs was already a problem
from George Floyd’s murder to Vladimir Putin’s back when Jack Welch was running General Electric,
invasion of Ukraine to failed leadership. That is a George notes. (David Gelles, a former FT colleague,
provocative assertion from the former Medtronic chief has accused the once-lionised Welch in a recent book
executive turned Harvard Business School professor of “breaking capitalism” in his 20-year tenure.)
who has spent 20 years advising everyone from
8 George worries about “cults” forming around business
CEOs and generals to ambitious middle managers
leaders, especially when it comes to founders such as
on how to lead. Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. “Leaders get caught
up in money, fame and power,” he warns.
2 George, who has sat on the boards of Goldman
Sachs and ExxonMobil (among others), has just 9 We are fascinated by corporate leadership. But does
put out the latest in a series of books in which he that obsession come at the expense of corporate
has tried to guide those in authority to embrace governance, the less exciting business of ensuring
“authentic leadership” to inspire and empower those that there are checks on any one individual’s power in
they oversee. a company, and different, challenging opinions around
the boardroom table?
3 In True North: Emerging Leader Edition, he and
co-author Zach Clayton call on a new generation 10 Governance is the G in ESG, but it is hard to argue
to find their “North Star” — their purpose — and to that environmental, social and governance investing
bring values and moral courage to the challenges has killed off the cult of the CEO.
they face.
11 The age of ESG has certainly pushed boards to
4 It is the kind of thing that countless careerists review their composition and monitor a wider array of
browsing airport bookstores will lap up, and from risks. But it has not changed the imbalance of power
which many more will recoil. There’s a market between directors and the chief executive.
for quotes from Gandhi, Churchill and basketball
12 Particularly in the US, too many CEOs also
coaches, or diagrams of suited figures climbing chair the board, letting them pick the supposedly
mountains while arrows point to words such as independent directors who will determine their pay
“crucibles”, but they are not everybody’s cup of tea. and their longevity.
5 What is notable about George, though, is how alert 13 Board members, in turn, still spend too much time
he is to the downsides of putting managers on worrying about earnings, George argues. They should
mountaintops. After a recent conversation with him, instead be asking more questions about company
what stuck with me is the need to give as much culture, what employee and customer surveys are
Intermediate
thought to how to build effective governance in showing, and whether the CEO is surrounded by
organisations as we do to what makes an individual a “yes men”.
leader worth following.
14 George was once threatened by a Theranos
6 George agrees without hesitation, for example, executive after he questioned Elizabeth Holmes’s
that our obsession with leadership risks creating leadership before the collapse of her blood-testing
all-powerful bosses unchecked by meaningful company. It reminded him of the dangers of leaders
governance. having too few “truth tellers” on their teams.
Continued on next page
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15 The prolific publisher is arguably a contributor to our 18 It is too much to ask for George’s prescription to
leadership obsession but George is also a critic of prevent the next police killing or revanchist war. But
corporate megalomania. His studies of other CEOs there are lessons in it for CEOs, boards and the
persuaded him that their performance deteriorated people who advise them.
after the first decade, so he set himself a firm 10-year
limit while at Medtronic, and he thinks many boards 19 There is also a reminder that leaders who stay too
have been too weak in enforcing such limits. long may be driven as much by insecurity as by
megalomania. Asked about how difficult his peers find
16 We also need diverse boards with strong lead it to stop being the boss, George returns to the image
directors (including former chief executives) who pay of the executive mountaineer.
attention to whether their CEO is listening to critics
and developing the next tier of executives, he argues. 20 “I think for a lot of CEOs you’ve reached the mountain
Authentic leaders do matter to organisations — but top, you’re at the pinnacle of your power and it
so do structures that prevent them from believing the looks like a long way down the other side. It looks
sycophants or staying too long. like a cliff.”
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a. Are these sentences True or False according to the information in the article? Tick (✓) the
sentences that are true and correct or rewrite any that are false.
1. Bill George thinks that we can attribute most social problems to failed leadership.
2. George worries that business leaders are so idolised that certain “cults” have formed
around them.
3. Board members are more worried about employee happiness and customer satisfaction
than earnings.
4. George was once threatened by a company executive after he questioned their boss’s leadership.
b. After reading the article, complete the summary with words from the box. There are three
extra vocabulary items.
authority cults empowering governance inspiring
independent leadership power yes men
around famous business leaders and that some chief executives have too much power. Many CEOs
are surrounded by 4. “ ” and not enough “truth tellers” and critics. They
when these are necessary. He also thinks that many leaders stay too long because they love the
6. it gives them.
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4 Business language
a. Find these phrasal verbs in the article and match them to their meanings.
6. be driven by f. be motivated by
b. Complete the questions with some of the phrasal verbs from task a. Then discuss
the questions.
5 Discussion questions
• Do you think most CEOs and founders have too much power?
• Do you agree with the writer that business leaders should not become cult figures?
In a horizontal or flat structure, there are only a few layers of management. This usually makes communication
Intermediate
better and quicker, and employees can be more independent. They may feel more motivated, but there aren’t
as many opportunities for them to move up in a flat structure.
A hierarchical or vertical structure is the opposite of a horizontal structure and has many more layers
of management.
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b. Choose a company you know or would like to work for. Research the following:
In your opinion, would the company benefit from a restructuring in management? Why (not)?
c. Produce a poster, an infographic or presentation slides with your findings and present it to
the group.
Intermediate
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Key:
a. This task can be divided up among students who can 1. e 4. c
then share their answers with students who did the 2. a 5. d
other half of the task. 3. b 6. f
Key:
1. brings out
2. aspire to
3. prevent … from
5. Discussion questions
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