The Leader’s Light or

Shadow
The Leader’s Shadows

• These dilemmas involve issues of power

Types of Bad Leaders
• Incompetent
– Lack motivation or ability to sustain effective action
• Rigid
– Unyielding, unable to accept new ideas, etc..
• Intemperate
– Lack self-control and enabled by followers
• Callous
– In uncaring or unkind; ignores needs of followers
• Corrupt
– Lie, cheat, and steal; put self interest ahead of public
interest
• Insular
– Draws clear boundaries between welfare of organization
and outsiders
• Evil
– Use power to inflict severe physical or psychological harm
Behavioral and Personal
Characteristics of Toxic Leaders
• Destructive behaviors • Toxic qualities
1. Leaving followers 1. Lack of integrity
worse off 2. Insatiable ambition
2. Violate human rights 3. Enormous ego
3. Create dependence 4. Arrogance
4. Play to basest fears 5. Amorality
and needs of 6. Avarice (greed)
followers
5. Stifle criticism 7. Reckless disregard
for costs of their
6. Mislead followers actions
7. Subvert ethical 8. Failure to understand
organizational problems
processes 9. Incompetent in key
8. Fail to nurture leadership situations
followers, including
successors
9. Make themselves
indispensible
Casting Shadows

• Toxic (poor) leaders cast shadows

– Negatively impact followers

• Four predominant
– Power
– Privilege
– Mismanaged Information
– Irresponsibility
Shadow of Power

• Leadership cannot exist without power

• Is the foundation for influence attempts
• Abuse of power is all too common in
organizations
• More we have, more likely others will comply
• Types of power
– Coercive power: based on penalties and punishment
– Reward power: depends on delivery of something of
value
– Legitimate power: resides in position, not the person
– Expert power: based on characteristics of person
– Referent power: based on admiration one has for
another
• Draw on more than one source of power
Shadow of Privilege
• Leader excess is not a new • Leaders enjoy greater privileges
phenomenon than followers
• Old Testament prophets railed
against the political, religious, and • Greater the power, greater the
social elite condemning them for
hoarding wealth, feasting while the
rewards
poor went hungry etc… • Link between power and privilege
– Abuse of one leads to abuse of
other
• “Woe to those who devise • Questions to consider:
wickedness and work evil on their
beds! When the morning dawns, – How many additional privileges
should leaders have?
they perform it, because it is in the – What should be the relative
power of their hand. They covet difference in pay and benefits
fields and seize them, between workers and top
and houses, and take them away; management?
they oppress a man and his
house, a man, and his
inheritance.” Micah 2:1-2
 Shadow of Mismanaged Information

• Deny having information in their possession

• Withhold information followers need
• Use information solely for their benefit
• Release info to wrong people
• Violate privacy rights of followers
 Shadow of Irresponsibility

• Leaders held accountable for everyone in

organization
• Determining extent is far from easy
– Do employers owe employees a certain degree of
job security?
• Leaders act irresponsibly when:
– Fail to make reasonable efforts to:
• Prevent followers misdeeds
• Ignore or deny ethical problems
• Do not shoulder responsibility for consequences of
directives
• Deny duties to followers
• Hold followers to higher standard than themselves
The BIG Question
• Why is it, when faced with the same
ethical challenges, some leaders cast light
and some cast shadows?
The Dark Side of Followership

• Followers walk on the

dark side when they
fail to meet their own
moral responsibilities
– Challenge of obligation
– Challenge of
obedience
– Challenge of cynicism
– Challenge of dissent
– Challenge of bad news
Unhealthy Motivations

• Leaders must pay attention to their

motivations
– WHY??
• Leaders project shadows out of their inner being that
produce unethical behaviors

• 7 internal monsters
– Insecurity
– Battleground mentality
– Functional atheism
– Fear
– Denying death
– Evil
– Selfishness
Insecurity

• Leaders are often deeply insecure

• Mask feelings of inner doubt
• Leaders are inextricably bound to what
they do
• Use followers to serve selfish interests
Battleground Mentality

• Often use terms like wins and losses,

allies and enemies
• They do battle with the competition
• Acting competitively becomes self-fulfilling
prophecy
• Can be counterproductive
Functional Atheism

• What is it?
– Leaders belief that they have ultimate
responsibility for everything that happens in
organization
• “I have to make it happen”
• Symptoms include:
– High stress
– Broken relationships and families
– Workaholism
– Burnout
– Mindless activity
Fear

• What type of fear drives leaders?

– Chaos
– Unknown
– Change
– Fear itself
• What results??
– Stifle dissent and innovation
– Emphasize rules and procedures instead of
creativity
– Consolidate their power instead of sharing it
• How would this unhealthy motivation in
leaders affect heath care organizations?
Denying Death

• Leaders do not:
– want to face fact
that projects and
programs should
die if no longer
viable • Need more leaders
– face fact that they like IBM founder
may have made Thomas Watson
mistakes – What he said
• Fear negative
evaluation and • How would having
public failure leaders like this
transform health care
as an industry?
Evil

• Not as common, but must be aware of

• Lot of inner demons lurking in leaders
– Jealousy, envy, rage
• Some people are driven by force more
powerful than anxiety or fear
– EVIL
• Insecurity and desire to vanquish enemies
leads to shadows being cast
Selfishness

• Self-centeredness
manifests itself through:
– Pride, greed, and
narcissism
• Proud of themselves
and their
accomplishments
• Lack empathy for others
• Focus on defending
their turf and
maintaining their status
• Do not cooperate with
others to serve common
good
• Ignore creative ideas
and valuable data
 The Warped Mind of Leaders

• Insatiable desires of out-of-control leaders has less to do with money and more
to do with the following:

– Poor self-image: low self esteem, want to put past behind them (Martha Stewart)
– “I Deserve It” myth: leader should get all credit for organization’s success (Jack Welch)
– Unchecked fantasies: desires are not controlled by harsh reality facing their followers
(Jim Jones)
– Society’s blessings: leaders can do whatever they want as long as they produce
– Competitiveness gone awry: leaders compete with peers for higher and higher salaries
– Lonesome soldier syndrome: leaders find it hard to make friends because they fear
others are only attracted to their power
– Boredom: leader’s do not know what to do next; new challenges can place in moral
jeopardy
– Power corrupts: leaders lose sight of what is rightfully theirs and what isn’t
Leaders and Decision Making
Biases
• Ethical miscues by leaders can be
determined by the way in which decisions
are made

• Three theories
– Of the world
– About other people
– About themselves
 Theories of the World

• Ignore low probability events when could have serious consequences later
• Limit search for stakeholders and thus overlook needs of important groups
• Ignore possibility that public will find out about an action
• Discount future by putting immediate needs ahead of long term goals
• Underestimate impact of a decision on a collective group
• Failure to acknowledge and confront risk
• Framing risk differently from followers
• Blaming others when larger systems are at fault
• Excusing those who fail to act when they should
Theories About Other People

• Believe that their group is normal and

ordinary (good guys) whereas others are
strange and inferior (bad)
• Give special consideration and aid to
members of the in-group
• Judge and evaluate according to group
membership (stereotype)
When Leaders Rate Themselves
More Highly Than Others
Do You Consider Yourself Dumb?

• During a Democrat fundraising event in Massachusetts, Obama "faulted the economic

downturn for Americans' inability to 'think clearly‘ “
– Barack Obama, October 18, 2010

• "Democrats aren't running on the administration's accomplishments like health-care and

financial-regulatory overhaul and the stimulus because it's just too hard to explain. “
– Joe Biden, October 14, 2010

•
Theories about Themselves

• Rate themselves more

highly than other people
• Underestimate the
likelihood negative things
will happen
• Believe they can control
random events
• Overestimate their
contributions to
organizations and society
• Overconfidence (which
prevents from learning
more about a situation)
• Conclude that normal
rules and obligations don’t
apply to them
Effect of Toxic Leadership on
Followers

• Followers have deep seated psychological

needs and fears that make them seek
leaders
– Need for parent figures
– Exchanging freedom for security
– Need to feel chosen
– Need for community
– Fear ostracism, isolation, and social death
– Sense of personal weakness and
powerlessness
Toxic Leadership in Health Care

• Immediate leader at every level of a

healthcare organization who determines
results
• Most frequently cited reason employees
are unhappy and quit is their immediate
leader
• Healthcare organizations are moving to a
focus on leadership as the means to drive
success
What Type of Leadership is
Required?
• Transactional “The greatest among you
Leadership shall be your servant.
– NO Whoever exalts himself will
• Transformational be humbled, and whoever
Leadership humbles himself will be
– NO exalted .” (Matthew 23:11-12)
• Servant Leadership
– YES
• WHY??
– influences, models,
supports, and
encourages people
to serve others first

Suigii, The Missing Piece, 2007

 The Missing Piece

• Jesus provides the example of true servant leadership

and humility by washing His disciples' feet
• These two traits are crucial in a leader’s daily life.
• We still struggle with making our lives be a daily
testimony for others to witness.
• The missing piece of this puzzle is to actually put it into
action servant leadership and humility
• Daily put into practice the example Christ set before us.

• How will this impact the future of health care?

• YOU are the missing piece!!