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Everything we bash Donald Trump for is actually what we seek in leaders. (2015)

“…we should take a hard look at our own behavior; how we are complicit in producing leaders of precisely the type we say we don’t want.”

Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford University.
Fortune 7 August 2015

“(A) topic that’s vitally important to individuals who want to thrive in today’s intensely competitive work world (is) the enormous disconnect between the leadership prescriptions regularly offered … by the enormous leadership industry, and what social science and everyday observation suggest is the best path to individual success. For the most part, real-world success comes from behaviors that are precisely the opposite of typical leadership prescriptions.

“… Trump actually embodies many of the leadership qualities that cause people to succeed – albeit they are pretty much the opposite of what leadership experts tout.

“…Numerous studies show that narcissism, not modesty, and self-confident, even overconfident, self-presentation lead to leadership roles.

“…Telling the truth is (another) overrated quality for leaders. Leaders lie with more frequency and skill than others.

“…another trait I see among the most successful (is) not admitting to setbacks and presenting a positive spin on every aspect of one’s career.

“…we should take a hard look at our own behavior; how we are complicit in producing leaders of precisely the type we say we don’t want.”

Read the full article here: Everything we bash Donald Trump for

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  1. Geoff Marlow says:

    If Pfeffer’s definition of ‘leadership’ is synonymous with Machiavellian scheming in which the ends (“winning at all costs”) justify the means (“anything goes”) then he has a point – and Trump is the perfect poster child.

    For those with a more enlightened view of leadership as the capacity of a community to create a better future for itself and others, then characters (or is that ‘caricatures’?) like Trump do not even belong at the printers – except perhaps to set up the orange colour balance.

    There’s something fundamentally wrong when a country as developed and teeming with talent as the USA can only offer its traditional conservative voter base the likes of Bush, Christie, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Fiorina and The Donald.

    • Daedalus admin says:

      Thanks Geoff – just saw this. That particular Post has sparked a huge discussion on LinkedIn which has grown increasingly heated and distant from our topic, so I’ve stayed well away!