Why Leaders Fail and What It Teaches Us About Leadership

In Why Leaders Fail and What it Teaches Us About Leadership Willem Fourie helps us make sense of leaders’ failures and why our expectation of leadership infallibility is misguided Whereas some leadership failures can be rectified, others lead to the failure of teams, organisations or institutions. Using cutting-edge research and reflective practices, Fourie explores leaders’ failure at these personal, interpersonal, group, organisational levels and beyond. He explores five factors that cause leaders to fail Ignorance of personal weaknesses The pretence that they know everything Overconfidence in their influence over others Destructive bias Bad fit in their organisation The author shows that our heroic bias – the expectation that leaders should be exceptional, charismatic individuals with a higher level of agency than other people – in many contexts increases the chances of leaders failing. The book offers readers with the tools to understand and respond to leader failure, distilled into seven lessons for post-heroic leaders. This is an ideal book for students and researchers in leadership, leadership development and management as well as professionals seeking to enhance their leadership skills. Cover Endorsement Page Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapter 1 Introduction Heroic personality traits and leader failure Monopolised influence and leader failure Destructive ingroup bias and leader failure Defective organisational culture and leader failure Misjudged risk and leader failure Notes Chapter 2 Heroes and failure What is the heroic bias? We expect transformational leaders to be heroic The heroic bias is dominant in the public imagination Even heroes fail What is failure? Who decides what counts as failure? Typologies of failure Leaders cannot be blamed for all failures Questions for reflection Notes Chapter 3 Leaders as individuals: Heroic personality traits and failure What is the difference between personality, virtues and vices? Do virtues and vices differ across cultures? Virtues have dark sides too The Dark Triad is a particularly bad mix of vices Do not be fooled by narcissistic leaders Psychopathic leaders ultimately disempower followers Machiavellianism is more bad than good Overconfidence is a warning sign Can leaders’ personality traits be changed? Humility and self-compassion are part of the solution Questions for reflection Notes Chapter 4 Leaders and followers: Monopolised influence and failure What is the difference between power and influence? Why do we overestimate leaders’ influence? Followers limit leaders’ influence Their organisation also limits leaders’ influence When does influence corrupt leaders? What happens when leaders have too much influence? There are ways leaders can distribute influence How should leaders convert their power into influence? Questions for reflection Notes Chapter 5 Leaders and groups: Destructive bias and failure What is bias? Bias influences everything we do Can leaders do anything about their followers’ biases? Leaders can help shape their followers’ identity Promoting superordinate identities is one way of reducing bias Acknowledging multiple identities is another way of reducing bias Crossing boundaries reduces the negative effects of bias Crossing boundaries is tricky In some settings intergroup contact combats bias effectively How practical and generalisable is intergroup contact? What can leaders do to promote intergroup contact? Questions for reflection Notes Chapter 6 Leaders and the organisation: Defective culture and failure What is organisational culture? Do high- and low-performance cultures exist? How are organisational culture and failure linked? How do organisations fail? Why do good leaders end up in failing organisations? What should good leaders in failing organisations do? How can leaders change failing organisational cultures? Questions for reflection Notes Chapter 7 Leaders and their environment: Misjudged risk and failure What is risk? What counts as disastrous risks? The Matthew effect A leader’s status increases the chance of failure There is a link between a leader’s motivation and the misjudgement of risk Risk is gendered Courage helps leaders deal with risk How is courage put into practice? Divergent risk preferences are an asset Questions for reflection Notes Chapter 8 Lessons for post-heroic leaders (and followers) On post-heroic leadership Lesson 1: Accept your fallibility Lesson 2: Embrace your boundedness Lesson 3: Cultivate a realistic self-perception Lesson 4: Make space for followers Lesson 5: Allow dissent Lesson 6: Cross group boundaries Lesson 7: Practise courage Final thoughts Notes Index "In a world too accustomed to the "Hero's Journey" as entertainment, we need some better from our leaders in practice. Skerlavaj nicely lays out a more impactful map for today's leaders, one where the entire organization is an active, necessary part of the journey" - Prof. Spencer Harrison, INSEAD, France. This pioneering new book sets out to categorize context, process, and outcomes of post-heroic leadership. Complexities of modern business environment along with fundamental functioning of human psychology require us to make a paradigm shift in the way we perceive and practice effective leadership. The author argues that in order for businesses to succeed in the times to come, leaders need to move away from ego-centered leadership toward post-heroic leadership - a leadership that emphasizes servant and shared practices, puts task and collective front and center and leaders' ego in the background. Providing a deeper understanding of the post-heroic leadership across industries and disciplines, the book starts by elaborating on the zeitgeist and need for a new type of leadership. It highlights the process and elements of post-heroic leadership in action, such as post-heroically leading change, developing culture of trust with feedback, and sustainable and responsible post-heroic leadership. Finally, the book focuses on the outcomes of post-heroic leadership, including resilience and innovation. Featuring mini-case studies from leaders in healthcare, family entertainment, ICT, haute cuisine, and manufacturing to name a few, this book provides a thorough understanding of this new wave of leadership and a platform for further research. Miha Škerlavaj is Vice Dean for Research and Professor of management at the School of Business and Economics, University of Ljubljana, and Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at BI Norwegian Business School. He is valued Teacher, Workshop Facilitator, and awarded Researcher who published in prestigious international research journals including the Academy of Management Journal, the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, the Leadership Quarterly, and the Human Resource Management. His research received attention in global media such as The New York Times. He has extensive practical experience through workshops, trainings, and consulting assignments throughout the world. Prof. Škerlavaj teaches Ph.D., EMBA, executive, and master of science programs and regularly facilitates workshops with practitioners on organizational development and change, leadership development, culture, human resource management, creativity, and innovation management