· strong leaders ·
I've just finished reading the current Quarterly Essay - "Exit Right - The Unravelling of John Howard" by Judith Brett. A friend suggested I might enjoy it (hi Jeremy!).
Judith makes some interesting comments about leadership in her essay:
We might choose our leaders through hard-fought verbal conflict, but the capacity to defeat an opponent is not all we want from a leader. We also want good policy, solutions to urgent problems, and the foresight to prevent future ones. And we want compassion, and the capacity to resolve conflicts rather than escalate them. The personal qualities for such tasks are very different from those required to win an election and sometimes the desire to win can overwhelm the other things a leader might do.
Judith also notes in her essay that John Howard's style of leadership was the "Strong Leader" (as opposed to the "Group Leader" or the "Inspiring Leader"). This leadership style meant that it was difficult for John Howard to adapt to situations, and that made it difficult for him to work towards solving some of our most pressing issues:
The issue of global warming calls, above all, for co-operation, an open inquiring mind and new ideas. It does not lend itself to Strong Leadership's politics of conviction and control ... Strong Leaders limit the policy options and prevent solutions.
Ian McAuley has written an excellent review of the essay for the Centre for Policy Development. He notes that the essay uses John Howard as a case study for how a "Strong Leader" might lead, and that this style is not ideal for social issues such as climate change, reconciliation and health care. He says:
... a process which engages with the community, which explains the difficult tradeoffs facing the people, and which acknowledges the possibility of pain, is more likely to result in enduring change.
So ... it seems using a conciliatory, dialogue-based approach rather than a radical, closed-minded one is more effective if you really want to change the world. This is the same approach that the Sydney Leadership program teaches ... it's going to be a very interesting year :)
Wednesday February 27, 2008
Categories: Book-Review Leadership
Commenting is closed for this article.
Glad is was relevant. I also see from his speech in the US yesterday that Howard has maintained his ‘strong leadership’, saying of his conversatism that it is a ‘battle of ideas’…
— Jeremy 7 March 2008 #