This chapter indicates that although there are times when leaders must have a mutal relationship with their subordinates, it is necessary for them to stand above firmly and stay unaffected by emotions.
However, I attended a psychological seminar today which took the opposite stand towards leadership.
The professor handeling the talk session -Kazunori Hahsimoto- does counceling sessions for both people of Fukushima and corporate leaders. During his seminar, Hashimoto pointed out that both the evacuees of Fukushima and corporate leaders shared a common trait. They were stubborn and unwilling to express their doubts and worries towards others. Hashimoto exclaimed that leaders, in particular, should be a person who can show his/her weaknesses to the people they lead, so that the subordinates can be frank about their own problems. Being able to talk to one's boss, said Hashimoto, is necessary to keep an organization working.
I cannot say at this moment which leader figure is the ideal; the benevolent, firm leader from RW, or the vulnerable and wavering leader from Hashimoto's opinion. I hope this conflict of two leader visions get resolved in the future chapters.
I am wondering if vulnerable and wavering might be overstating what Hashimoto-san was saying. I can imagine he was making the point that good leaders need to be accessible and good listeners, and not afraid to admit they don't know all the answers, but vulnerable and wavering is hard to imagine as a positive leadership trait.
ReplyDeleteActually I was wondering if what Perkins says in Ch.2 is really correct. Certainly, leaders should be reliable, but not all successful leaders are unaffected by emotions or unwilling to expose their thoughts and feelings. I agree that it is better for them to expose their weaknesses at some point. However, the balance between firmness and frankness is very significant yet very hard to determine.
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ReplyDeleteI'm sure that there is no definite leadership model that matches every person indefinitely.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if you could go over the balance between firmness and frankness like Kenta is saying sometime during class.
Or I'd probably ask Junko-san about it.