In 2010, Dr Holly Andrews, an academic at the Worcester Business School, postulated that there are more psychopaths in the boardroom than there are in hospitals for the mentally unwell. That may or may not be true, but boardrooms certainly have their fair share of narcissists. A smooth-talking narcissist is a magnet for less confident people who have a need to admire and suspend disbelief.
Chief executives are especially prone. Normally, they really want the job and push out anybody else who gets in the way. Of course, the person often comes with a seductive charm, charisma and verbal agility. So, what’s not to like?
In a 2017 article for Board Agenda, an independent resource for the global community of executive and non-executive directors, Dr Katharina Balazs, an associate professor at the Management Department of the European School of Management in Paris, writes that today’s literature on leadership focuses on an ideal leader: “A selfless, authentic, transparent ‘servant-leader’ who only speaks the truth and heroically drives their followers towards the greater goal.”
Yet the reality is rather different, Balazs says. “A majority of the people who actually make it to the top are quite self-serving and Machiavellian, [and are] more focused on spending their time securing their position and income rather than putting the organisation’s interests before their own.”
She goes on: “As a result, they crave power and attention, and exhibit an exaggerated sense of self-importance and entitlement, expecting to be recognised as superior even without achievements that warrant it.” They are, according to Balazs, “preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate”. Some, of course, are unquestionably brilliant.
Most business leaders are not this extreme, although boards probably see some of the characteristics, particularly if a board member has a few years of success first. The point is that Covid-19 has resulted in many more people working from home rather than in the office, and they seem to have managed quite well. But they have discovered that the traditional strong leadership skills of the office don’t necessarily translate into being a good virtual leader. Organisation and competence matter more in the virtual world.
Leadership is not about who talks the most, but rather who is actually getting things done
In a September 2020 article for the BBC Worklife website, author Arianne Cohen writes about this. “The confidence, intelligence and extroversion that have long propelled ambitious workers into the executive suite are not enough online, because they simply don’t translate into virtual leadership. Instead, workers who are organised, dependable and productive take the reins of virtual teams.”
A study published in the Journal of Business and Psychology in June 2020 amplifies this, she says. In choosing a leader, the study finds that teams meeting a person face-to-face opt for someone with the same confident, magnetic, smart-seeming extrovert character that exemplifies conventional organisations. But those who only meet potential leaders online are different. They go for ‘doers’ who tend towards planning, connecting teammates with help and resources, keeping an eye on upcoming tasks and getting things done. In other words, leadership is not about who talks the most, but rather who is actually getting things done.
So how can leaders move from one stake to the other? A McKinsey Quarterly article titled The CEO moment: leadership for a new era outlines whether CEOs can make a series of switches, go halfway, or do nothing. It says that the pandemic is a challenge for CEOs unlike any they have faced before. Not only is there employee disruption, but there are also variants when it comes to customer behaviour, supply chain functions and even business performance.
The authors talk about how CEOs can adapt – learning from other chief executives and being much more open – but they stop short of saying that boards need a different type of leader. They do, however, talk about stakeholder rather than shareholder value, which is quite a move. With the arrival of Covid-19, CEOs have realised that they were bumping up against government, suppliers, employees, and customers almost all the time. Of course they always did this, but this time it seemed much more pertinent with real crises that had to be addressed quickly. They were experiencing the interconnectedness of shareholder capitalism in real time. Maybe that will be a lasting shift. We shall see.
But this article did not really address the issues around what could be a permanent shift to working from home. That may require another book that is, as yet, unwritten.
This article was originally published in the February 2021 flipbook edition of The Review.
The full flipbook edition is now available online for all members.
Seen a blog, news story or discussion online that you think might interest CISI members? Email bethan.rees@wardour.co.uk.