Customer Reviews

Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters (Leadership for the Common Good)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We live in a time where the news is filled with countries, corporations, and other organizations that are failing to perform as they should. Ms. Kellerman has analyzed several of these and identified fundamental seven types of leadership that are prone to failure.

INCOMPETENT: The leader and at least some followers lack the will or skill to sustain effective action.

RIGID: The leader and at least some of his followers are stiff, unyielding, and unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information or changing times.

Intemperate: The leader lacks self-control and is aided and abetted by followers who do not intervene.

CaALLOUS: The leader is uncaring or unkind, he ignores or discounts the needs of the rest of the organization.

CORRUPT: These people lie, cheat, or steal. They put self interest above all else.

INSULAR: They disregard or at least minimize the health and welfare of those outside the small center group.

EVIL: Some leaders and at least some followers commit atrocities.

In each of these catagories, she identifies leaders that illustrate her point. This leads to an understanding of why such bad leadership is harmful to the organization, and if the organization is the political leadership of a country, it is bad for the world.

It's not clear what we're supposed to learn from this book. As other reviewers have observed, Kellerman identifies five categories of bad leadership -- but they're ad hoc, arbitrarily derived groupings. Therefore we can't identify systematic causes of bad leadership, which would lead to meaningful prescriptions.

Kellerman uses a broad definition of leadership that encompasses corporate leaders appointed by a board, elected leaders, founders of companies (like Martha Stewart), and self-appointed crazies like Jim Jones. Can we really load all these forms into one category -- and still come up with meaningful conclusions?

As others have noted, Kellerman's bias raises questions about credibility. She faults Bill Clinton for lack of leadership in three separate arenas -- more than any other "leader" in the book. Yet Clinton's health care "failure" can be partly attributed to a huge spending campaign by insurance companies, which she does not mention. His lack of action in Rwanda pales next to foreign policies by leaders who extended wars for political reason and ... well' we won't even go there.

As for the Lewinsky affair, Kellerman writes (p 35) that "tolerance for moral fallibility, even if evident only behind closed doors, has been low." Really? Many American leaders (JFK, LBJ, and others) have had rather varied experiences behind closed doors. Some countries remain baffled by the American concern with our leaders' "moral fallibility." And is Confucius really the appropriate source to cite when discussing modern leaders and their morals? Why not a historian or political scientist?

On page 43, Kellerman refers to Martha Stewart's "charges stemming from insider trading," noting that Stewart can be "mean." Stewart's legal position has been extremely controversial. Several legal scholars have questioned the decision to charge Stewart with lying to federal officials even when she was innocent of the insider trading charges. And where does Kellerman learn about Stewart's leadership style? The references cite popular trade books including an "unauthorized autobiography."

Ironically, one of Kellerman's prescriptions for dealing with "bad leadership" includes "Develop your own sources of information." That's a good idea for authors, too.

Other prescriptions are vague, such as "ensure punishment fits the crime." Who's to decide what fits the crime? Does the public gain from incarcerating a white collar criminal? And who decides what's a crime in the first place? Many reports of misconduct sound like horror stories -- but often the laws are ambiguous and enforcement becomes a showcase for a particular government agency.

"Good" and "bad" aren't always easy to identify and I'm not convinced these simplistic dichotomies are the most useful for education, policy, and yes, even leadership. A book published by HBS press should embody more scholarship and less hype.

"Bad Leadership" lists 7 characteristics of bad leadership and gives examples of each. Some examples don't clearly reflect the bad quality being highlighted (e.g. the IOC chairman mentioned as incompetant seems more corrupt and insular). The 7-10 page descriptions of each bad leader are interesting, but rather than focusing on the leadership flaws/failings, the author merely gives a "Reader's Digest" summary of each leader.

However, the worst criticism I have for the book is its extreme redundancy. Every chapter describes the "bad followership" involved, which can be summarized as "Don't follow bad leaders". The author also spends many pages discussing how difficult it is writing such a book.

I hope someone else writes a good book on bad leadership/bad followership, as I find this topic very intriguing. Unfortunately, there seems very little insightful thinking involved in this book, and the fact that this was allowed to be published in this state is a perfect example of "Bad Followership".

I bought this book after hearing Kellerman give a lecture recorded on NPR. Her speech, based on her book Bad Leadership, was precise and purposeful. Not surprisingly, the book contains her precise language and her purpose, which is to show us how leadership, even when in the hands of well-intentioned people, can go wrong. She first argues that too many of us, inundanted with optimistic, often business-oriented books about leadership, assume, erroneously, that leadership is somehow synonymous with goodness and virtue. To the contrary, Kellerman argues, leadership goes wrong more often than not. In what appears to be a reverse pyramid from benign to malignant, Kellerman catalogs the seven deadly sins of leadership: 1. incompetence 2. rigidity 3. intemperance 4. callousness 5. corruption 6. insularity 7. evil.

She gives historical (Hitler) accounts and more contemporary (Rudolph Giuliani, Howell Raines) to illustrate her definitions of bad leadership.

She concludes by prescribing corrective measures. Her book is invaluable in that for us to fully grasp good leadership we must first comprehend its antithesis. A negative definition of leadership in all of its facets is a necessary nudge in the right direction.

We get to review a lot of books on leadership. After a while, they all seem to be echoing each other. But once in while one comes along that says something different and worthwhile learning. This is one of those books!

Leadership is not all 'goodness and light.' It has it's dark side, with a big range of gray-zone inbetween. Finally, here is a book that explores the dark side. It's not the only one to ever do so, but it sure is one of a rare species.

The author identifies seven dark-side types. Very briefly, these are: 1. Incompetent: lacks the will or skill (or both) to sustain effective action with regard to at least one important leadership challenge; 2. Rigid: stiff and unyielding-unable or unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information, or changing times; 3. Intemperate: lacks self-control; 4. Callous: uncaring or unkind-ignores or discounts the needs, wants, and wishes of others, especially subordinates; 5. Corrupt: lies, cheats, or steals-puts self-interest ahead of the public interest; 6. Insular: minimizes or disregards the health and welfare of "the other"-that is, those outside the group or organization for which they are directly responsible; and 7. Evil: commits atrocities. The Kellerman explores each of these types in considerable depth.

The author places bad leadership along two axes, ineffective and unethical, to clarify the word "bad." Kellerman argues that effective and unethical can be joined. A final chapter takes on the challenge of how bad leadership can be stopped, or at least slowed. Kellerman suggests:
* 12 ways for leaders to strengthen their capacity to be both effective and ethical, and
* 8 ways they can work optimally with followers.

She also puts forth 11 ways that followers can fight the good fight against bad leaders and work with each other and their leaders. This chapter is definitly a feel-good wrap-up; it is the light at the end of a very dark tunnel...a brief chapter, but packing a to-the-point, up-beat punch.
Great book!

This is a valuable addition to the leadership literature in an area not frequently addressed. Kellerman begins by asserting, in opposition to some authors on the subject, that leadership can be values-neutral. That is, leadership may be used to serve bad causes as well as good while still remaining "leadership." She also suggests, less controversially, that some individuals in leadership positions do not do it well. She develops these ideas of unethical and inept leadership with very specific and (primarily) recent examples from government, business and nonprofit organizations. By structuring her observations into seven categories she constructs a typology of leadership failure that is, so far as I am aware, unique. Her insights can not only help us to recognize bad leadership when we encounter it as followers, they can help us deal with it more effectively. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the study and practice of leadership.

The book stands out because it forces you to take a look at the dark side of leadership. It is about leadership in and of itself. The book has an entirely unique perspective on leadership. She looks at all leaders and how they measure up as leaders. Even if society views them as a bad leader she takes that and builds on some of their strengths as a leader, their weaknesses and not necessarily their intent. The actual process of leading is the focus. She also looks at the followers and their role in leadership. This I think is also unique to leadership. It is important to analyze the followers and how they can affect the leader. In looking at the dark side of leadership we are able to become better leaders and/or followers.

Harvard University's Kellerman presents an amazing, research-focused vivisection of the many faces and roles of bad leadership, offers reasons for their occurrence, and exerts a clarion call for identification and eradication of same.

Kellerman identifies seven specific types of poor leading:
1) Incompetent: lacks the will or skill (or both) to sustain effective action with regard to at least one important leadership challenge
2) Rigid: stiff and unyielding; unable or unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information, or a changing of the landscape
3) Intemperate: lacks self-control
4) Callous: uncaring or unkind; ignores or disregards the needs, wants, and wishes of others, especially subordinates
5) Corrupt: lies, cheats, or steals; puts self above any other interest
6) Insular: minimizes or disregards the health and welfare of anyone outside the group or organization for which they are directly responsible
7) Evil: outright disregard for even the human worth of others; egregious inhumanity.

As is common with Harvard B-School releases, the book is brilliant, innovative and analysis heavy. Prescriptions for change are succinct-- if you find this, kill it off-- yet limited in use: once found and destroyed, what do I do next?

Innovative and unflinching, it will be nevertheless most accessible to scholars and the scholarly among business leaders: a more populist rendering of the same discoveries, and prescriptions for improvement, would lift it far above the norm.

Coke Newell, MSPR, consultant and author, "Journey to Edaphica"

This book promises much but delivers little. Barbara Kellerman describes seven random 'categories' of leadership plucked from who knows where (she doesn't say), demonstrating a total inability to exercise conceptual rigour as well as a fondness for her own imaginings. The book is repetitious, full of waffle and padding, and relentlessly superficial. And it is biased.

The glibness of her political analyses and the personally vindictive nature of her criticism of various public figures based on a concoction of little more than rumour and gossip is dismaying. She has added nothing to the sum of human knowledge - except an awareness of her own prejudices.

If you really want to know more about leadership - this is not the book for you.

This was very interesting and a fairly easy read. Looks at leadership away from the stereotypical definition of good. Adds to a big picture I had not seen anywhere before. Should be required reading for all management to help them see the bad guys they often miss or intentionally overlook in their organizations.