|
|
The Coercive LeaderThe Coercive LeaderObservations can lead to many valuable conclusions about the leadership styles from various people. In the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to observe an individual, who is a big wheel in the industry in which he operates; famous for the many successes he had through the years, yet, at the same time, infamous for a number of scandalous practices that would raise many an eyebrow. However, it should be stated right away that those who achieve much will always sow as much hatred and spite as they will admiration and glory, so I tend to disregard negative comments about an established, and obviously hard working person before forming my own opinion. That being stated, one might thus conclude that the note on which I start reviewing any leader is the honorable part of his or her reputation. The rest of the picture to be formed I prefer to leave up to my own observations of this person. Back to the here reviewed individual: although perceived from a not so far distant, I was able to analyze this person’s leadership style, and draw some important conclusions about his ways of staying in control. First of all, this leader has a strategy of ensuring that those he incorporates in his “in-group” are absolutely loyal to him: one small sign of discontent, and one word of dissatisfaction uttered by an in-group member toward anyone outside or inside of the group, gets penalized with measures varying from severe self-esteem damage through mental torture, to abandonment of the in-group member who dared to exceed his or her boundaries. No wonder that the followers of this leader, all individuals with high career aspirations and the conviction that this almighty leader could make or break them in a heartbeat, are swiftly learning the drill: either put up or shut up; never say a word to anyone, because everything might be used against you; and try to make yourself as small and invisible as possible if you want to remain in grace. Another important trait that this leader has demonstrated is, creating the myth among his close followers that he has the ability to read people from the start, and that everything he predicts turns out to be true. So, if this leader forecasts that a certain new member of the team should not be trusted, because this person - due to his or her astrological sign, heritage, color, religion, education, or simply his or her way of walking or talking – will turn out to be a traitor, it will come out. No wonder, if you think about it. For what does this leader do? He executes the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy, starting with scrutinizing the black sheep’s every move, and then making sure that every word spoken by this person gets interpreted as negative and, thus, exactly in-sync with his predictions. Such a black sheep, then, gets mortified, and either resigns or becomes permanently terror-stricken by the leader. While this all takes place, this black sheep does nothing but serve as an example to the rest of the in-group illustrating that the “oracle” - the omnifarious, omnipotent leader - has again demonstrated his gift of foreseeing other people’s characters. And so, by regularly allowing and subsequently slaughtering a handpicked black sheep in the in-group, this leader maintains his legacy. The in-group of this coercive leader, is also worth a few lines of review: it consists, without an exception, of individuals who are all brainwashed in such a disheartening and humiliating way, that it seems as if they sold their soul in order to obtain the dream he predicts to be able to realize for them. They are unconditionally loyal to him and only him, and don’t hesitate to put one another down in their daily reports to him. It are exactly these daily reporting sessions, which he prefers to call socializing gatherings, that form this leader’s strategy toward preventing the in-group from becoming powerful: he keeps them dispersed, and plays them out to one another. There is no unity among them. They keep an alert eye on each other, and will inform the leader immediately if one mentions something that could even slightly be interpreted as disloyal. They don’t necessarily do this to be vexatious toward each other, but more because they fear that, if the leader finds out that they had overheard this negative comment from their buddy without reporting it, they would also fall out of grace, and let me tell you: that’s a cold place to be if you are stripped entirely from your heart, your mind, your soul, your self-confidence, and your sense of individuality. Moreover, the members of this leader’s in-group have been taught that it’s an honor to be around the leader as often as possible. They have therefore learned that lovers, family, and other personal interests come in a distant second place, way behind the wishes and demands of the leader. One may wonder why, if all the above is true and known; people still choose to work with such an individual? Maybe because there are more people who prefer to do what I described in the beginning of this write up: give a person the benefit of the doubt, and assume that the negative of what is written and said about this person comes forth out of jealousy and inability to become part of the in-group. Another reason may be that, by the time these in-group members find out what they have gotten themselves into, it is too late to step out: the cost of exiting is too high to pay, because the leader will break them forever and make sure, where, when, and how he can, that they will never get an opportunity again to make a career in any other way. And lastly, there is always the fact of the legacy of this leader: he can make people great, and every in-group member perceives that as a point of higher importance than the humiliation of being stripped from one’s individuality. And so the ball keeps rolling... Dr. Joan Marques Burbank, 15 May, 2005 About the author: Joan Marques emigrated from Suriname, South America, to California, U.S., in 1998. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, a Master's in Business Administration, and is currently a university instructor in Business and Management in Burbank, California. Look for her books "Empower the Leader in You" and "The Global Village" in bookstores online or on her website: http://www.joanmarques.com
|
|
