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| bad leaders in history: Bad Leadership Barbara Kellerman, 2004-09-27 How is Saddam Hussein like Tony Blair? Or Kenneth Lay like Lou Gerstner? Answer: They are, or were, leaders. Many would argue that tyrants, corrupt CEOs, and other abusers of power and authority are not leaders at all--at least not as the word is currently used. But, according to Barbara Kellerman, this assumption is dangerously naive. A provocative departure from conventional thinking, Bad Leadership compels us to see leadership in its entirety. Kellerman argues that the dark side of leadership--from rigidity and callousness to corruption and cruelty--is not an aberration. Rather, bad leadership is as ubiquitous as it is insidious--and so must be more carefully examined and better understood. Drawing on high-profile, contemporary examples--from Mary Meeker to David Koresh, Bill Clinton to Radovan Karadzic, Al Dunlap to Leona Helmsley--Kellerman explores seven primary types of bad leadership and dissects why and how leaders cross the line from good to bad. The book also illuminates the critical role of followers, revealing how they collaborate with, and sometimes even cause, bad leadership. Daring and counterintuitive, Bad Leadership makes clear that we need to face the dark side to become better leaders and followers ourselves. Barbara Kellerman is research director of the Center for Public Leadership and a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. |
| bad leaders in history: The Worst Military Leaders in History John M. Jennings, Chuck Steele, 2023-08-21 Spanning countries and centuries, a “how-not-to” guide to leadership that reveals the most maladroit military commanders in history—now in paperback. For this book, fifteen distinguished historians were given a deceptively simple task: identify their choice for the worst military leader in history and then explain why theirs is the worst. From the clueless Conrad von Hötzendorf and George A. Custer to the criminal Baron Roman F. von Ungern-Sternberg and the bungling Garnet Wolseley, this book presents a rogues’ gallery of military incompetents. Rather than merely rehashing biographical details, the contributors take an original and unconventional look at military leadership in a way that appeals to both specialists and general readers alike. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. In other words, this book is a “how-not-to” guide to leadership. |
| bad leaders in history: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, 2019-02-19 Look around your office. Turn on the TV. Incompetent leadership is everywhere, and there's no denying that most of these leaders are men. In this timely and provocative book, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks two powerful questions: Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders? And why is it so hard for competent people--especially competent women--to advance? Marshaling decades of rigorous research, Chamorro-Premuzic points out that although men make up a majority of leaders, they underperform when compared with female leaders. In fact, most organizations equate leadership potential with a handful of destructive personality traits, like overconfidence and narcissism. In other words, these traits may help someone get selected for a leadership role, but they backfire once the person has the job. When competent women--and men who don't fit the stereotype--are unfairly overlooked, we all suffer the consequences. The result is a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom. There is a better way. With clarity and verve, Chamorro-Premuzic shows us what it really takes to lead and how new systems and processes can help us put the right people in charge. |
| bad leaders in history: Leadership Doris Kearns Goodwin, 2019-10-01 From Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, an invaluable guide to the development and exercise of leadership from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The inspiration for the multipart HISTORY Channel series Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. “After five decades of magisterial output, Doris Kearns Goodwin leads the league of presidential historians” (USA TODAY). In her “inspiring” (The Christian Science Monitor) Leadership, Doris Kearns Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights)—to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope. Leadership tells the story of how they all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others. Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader? “If ever our nation needed a short course on presidential leadership, it is now” (The Seattle Times). This seminal work provides an accessible and essential road map for aspiring and established leaders in every field. In today’s polarized world, these stories of authentic leadership in times of apprehension and fracture take on a singular urgency. “Goodwin’s volume deserves much praise—it is insightful, readable, compelling: Her book arrives just in time” (The Boston Globe). |
| bad leaders in history: The Allure of Toxic Leaders Jean Lipman-Blumen, 2006 Toxic leaders, both political, like Slobodan Milosevic, and corporate, like Enron's Ken Lay, have always been with us, and many books have been written to explain what makes them tick. Here leadership scholar Jean Lipman-Blumen explains what makes the followers tick, exploring why people will tolerate--and remain loyal to--leaders who are destructive to their organizations, their employees, or their nations. Why do we knowingly follow, seldom unseat, frequently prefer, and sometimes even create toxic leaders? Lipman-Blumen argues that these leaders appeal to our deepest needs, playing on our anxieties and fears, on our yearnings for security, high self-esteem, and significance, and on our desire for noble enterprises and immortality. She also explores how followers inadvertently keep themselves in line by a set of insidious control myths that they internalize. For example, the belief that the leader must necessarily be in a position to know more than the followers often stills their objections. In addition, outside forces--such as economic depressions, political upheavals, or a crisis in a company--can increase our anxiety and our longing for charismatic leaders. Lipman-Blumen shows how followers can learn critical lessons for the future and survive in the meantime. She discusses how to confront, reform, undermine, blow the whistle on, or oust a toxic leader. And she suggests how we can diminish our need for strong leaders, identify reluctant leaders among competent followers, and even nurture the leader within ourselves. Toxic leaders charm, manipulate, mistreat, weaken, and ultimately devastate their followers. The Allure of Toxic Leaders tells us how to recognize these leaders before it's too late. |
| bad leaders in history: How to Be a Bad Emperor Suetonius, 2020-02-04 What would Caligula do? What the worst Roman emperors can teach us about how not to lead If recent history has taught us anything, it's that sometimes the best guide to leadership is the negative example. But that insight is hardly new. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Suetonius wrote Lives of the Caesars, perhaps the greatest negative leadership book of all time. He was ideally suited to write about terrible political leaders; after all, he was also the author of Famous Prostitutes and Words of Insult, both sadly lost. In How to Be a Bad Emperor, Josiah Osgood provides crisp new translations of Suetonius's briskly paced, darkly comic biographies of the Roman emperors Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Entertaining and shocking, the stories of these ancient anti-role models show how power inflames leaders' worst tendencies, causing almost incalculable damage. Complete with an introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Be a Bad Emperor is both a gleeful romp through some of the nastiest bits of Roman history and a perceptive account of leadership gone monstrously awry. We meet Caesar, using his aunt's funeral to brag about his descent from gods and kings—and hiding his bald head with a comb-over and a laurel crown; Tiberius, neglecting public affairs in favor of wine, perverse sex, tortures, and executions; the insomniac sadist Caligula, flaunting his skill at cruel put-downs; and the matricide Nero, indulging his mania for public performance. In a world bristling with strongmen eager to cast themselves as the Caesars of our day, How to Be a Bad Emperor is a delightfully enlightening guide to the dangers of power without character. |
| bad leaders in history: Stalin's Genocides Norman M. Naimark, 2010-07-19 The chilling story of Stalin’s crimes against humanity Between the early 1930s and his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin had more than a million of his own citizens executed. Millions more fell victim to forced labor, deportation, famine, bloody massacres, and detention and interrogation by Stalin's henchmen. Stalin's Genocides is the chilling story of these crimes. The book puts forward the important argument that brutal mass killings under Stalin in the 1930s were indeed acts of genocide and that the Soviet dictator himself was behind them. Norman Naimark, one of our most respected authorities on the Soviet era, challenges the widely held notion that Stalin's crimes do not constitute genocide, which the United Nations defines as the premeditated killing of a group of people because of their race, religion, or inherent national qualities. In this gripping book, Naimark explains how Stalin became a pitiless mass killer. He looks at the most consequential and harrowing episodes of Stalin's systematic destruction of his own populace—the liquidation and repression of the so-called kulaks, the Ukrainian famine, the purge of nationalities, and the Great Terror—and examines them in light of other genocides in history. In addition, Naimark compares Stalin's crimes with those of the most notorious genocidal killer of them all, Adolf Hitler. |
| bad leaders in history: Think Again Sydney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, Andrew Campbell, 2009-02-03 Why do smart and experienced leaders make flawed, even catastrophic, decisions? Why do people keep believing they have made the right choice, even with the disastrous result staring them in the face? And how can you be sure you're making the right decision--without the benefit of hindsight? Sydney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell show how the usually beneficial processes of the human mind can become traps when we face big decisions. The authors show how the shortcuts our brains have learned to take over millennia of evolution can derail our decision making. Think Again offers a powerful model for making better decisions, describing the key red flags to watch for and detailing the decision-making safeguards we need. Using examples from business, politics, and history, Think Again deconstructs bad decisions, as they unfolded in real time, to show how you can avoid the same fate. |
| bad leaders in history: Transforming Toxic Leaders Alan Goldman, 2009-07-24 Unlike other books written on toxic leaders, this book takes issue with the predominant view that toxic leaders are bad and destructive to their companies. Rather, the author argues that even highly productive leaders have some toxic qualities central to their success story. The book redirects the conversation about toxicity in a more productive direction, as toxic leaders are not just viewed as villains and liabilities, but are also considered as potential assets, innovators, and rebels. Working on the premise that toxicity is a fact of company life, the book provides organizations with a model and blueprint on the advantages to be gained from skillful anticipation, control, and handling of troubled and difficult leaders. In contrast to dysfunctional organizations that ignore toxicity or dwell on the perceived destructive impact of toxic leaders, successful companies come up with resourceful, innovative strategies for turning seeming deficits into opportunities. |
| bad leaders in history: Leaders General Stanley McChrystal, Jeff Eggers, Jay Mangone, 2018-10-23 An instant national bestseller! Stanley McChrystal, the retired US Army general and bestselling author of Team of Teams, profiles thirteen of history’s great leaders, including Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, and Robert E. Lee, to show that leadership is not what you think it is—and never was. Stan McChrystal served for thirty-four years in the US Army, rising from a second lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division to a four-star general, in command of all American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. During those years he worked with countless leaders and pondered an ancient question: “What makes a leader great?” He came to realize that there is no simple answer. McChrystal profiles thirteen famous leaders from a wide range of eras and fields—from corporate CEOs to politicians and revolutionaries. He uses their stories to explore how leadership works in practice and to challenge the myths that complicate our thinking about this critical topic. With Plutarch’s Lives as his model, McChrystal looks at paired sets of leaders who followed unconventional paths to success. For instance. . . · Walt Disney and Coco Chanel built empires in very different ways. Both had public personas that sharply contrasted with how they lived in private. · Maximilien Robespierre helped shape the French Revolution in the eighteenth century; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi led the jihadist insurgency in Iraq in the twenty-first. We can draw surprising lessons from them about motivation and persuasion. · Both Boss Tweed in nineteenth-century New York and Margaret Thatcher in twentieth-century Britain followed unlikely roads to the top of powerful institutions. · Martin Luther and his future namesake Martin Luther King Jr., both local clergymen, emerged from modest backgrounds to lead world-changing movements. Finally, McChrystal explores how his former hero, General Robert E. Lee, could seemingly do everything right in his military career and yet lead the Confederate Army to a devastating defeat in the service of an immoral cause. Leaders will help you take stock of your own leadership, whether you’re part of a small team or responsible for an entire nation. |
| bad leaders in history: Lenin Victor Sebestyen, 2017-11-07 Victor Sebestyen's riveting biography of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin—the first major biography in English in nearly two decades—is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the twentieth century but also a fascinating portrait of Lenin the man. Brought up in comfort and with a passion for hunting and fishing, chess, and the English classics, Lenin was radicalized after the execution of his brother in 1887. Sebestyen traces the story from Lenin's early years to his long exile in Europe and return to Petrograd in 1917 to lead the first Communist revolution in history. Uniquely, Sebestyen has discovered that throughout Lenin's life his closest relationships were with his mother, his sisters, his wife, and his mistress. The long-suppressed story told here of the love triangle that Lenin had with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, and his beautiful, married mistress and comrade, Inessa Armand, reveals a more complicated character than that of the coldly one-dimensional leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. With Lenin's personal papers and those of other leading political figures now available, Sebestyen gives is new details that bring to life the dramatic and gripping story of how Lenin seized power in a coup and ran his revolutionary state. The product of a violent, tyrannical, and corrupt Russia, he chillingly authorized the deaths of thousands of people and created a system based on the idea that political terror against opponents was justified for a greater ideal. An old comrade what had once admired him said that Lenin desired the good . . . but created evil. This included his invention of Stalin, who would take Lenin's system of the gulag and the secret police to horrifying new heights. In Lenin, Victor Sebestyen has written a brilliant portrait of this dictator as a complex and ruthless figure, and he also brings to light important new revelations about the Russian Revolution, a pivotal point in modern history. (With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs) |
| bad leaders in history: A First-Rate Madness Nassir Ghaemi, 2012-06-26 The New York Times bestseller “A glistening psychological history, faceted largely by the biographies of eight famous leaders . . .” —The Boston Globe “A provocative thesis . . . Ghaemi’s book deserves high marks for original thinking.” —The Washington Post “Provocative, fascinating.” —Salon.com Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, offers a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial, compelling thesis: The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis. From the importance of Lincoln's depressive realism to the lackluster leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain, A First-Rate Madness overturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind. |
| bad leaders in history: Fiqh of Social Media Omar Usman, 2020-12-20 Social media and digital technologies have changed our lives and there is no indication that things will slow down. As Muslims, we believe that Islam contains the most perfect guidance for all of mankind to follow. How do we implement that timeless advice in our unprecedented times? That is the focus of the Fiqh of Social Media. I am grateful and appreciative of my friend, Omar Usman, for exhausting available resources; Islamic, psychological, secular, and business, to develop the work you see before you. We have had long discussions pertaining to many of the topics covered in this book. I am confident that you will find this book to be beneficial, and I pray that it inspires more contributions on this topic. -Shaykh AbdulNasir Jangda, Qalam Institute With the time we spend on social media, being mindful of how we use it is crucial. This is a wonderful resource based in prophetic guidance on how to practically use social media in wise and beneficial ways. -Dr. Omar Suleiman, Yaqeen Institute Reading Fiqh of Social Media is like sitting with your best friend from Sunday school and having an intellectual & spiritual conversation about the impact of social media on your life. Omar distills years of research, experience, and thought leadership in an easily digestible book that you can enjoy with a good cup of coffee (and your phone off!) -Mohammed Faris, The Productive Muslim Company The Prophet (s) said, Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say something good or keep silent. The ability to control our tongues, how we communicate with others, is an expression of our faith. Communication has evolved and changed so much that one of the primary ways many of us communicate with others is through social media; hashtags and 280 characters. This is a long-awaited work from my good friend and Hajj companion Omar Usman who has been writing, tweeting, speaking, and teaching about the Fiqh of Social Media for years. This is a valuable work providing guidance on how to use and benefit from social media in a way that conforms to our principles and values. -Shaykh Furhan Zubairi, Institute of Knowledge Ulama of the past have written on the adaab of speech and social interaction. Connecting those guidelines with the modern world of social media has been the need of our time. May Allah reward Omar for taking this task on! -Mufti Hussain Kamani, Qalam Institute This is a must-read for Muslims around the globe. I can't thank Omar enough for this work which forces Muslims to look in the mirror and answer tough questions about how social media has impacted our lives. It questions why we desire to share the most intimate aspects of our lives with strangers from around the world and provides action items to implement. These discussions need to be had within the Muslim community. We have to question how our quality of life has been impacted by the age of hyper-connectivity. Due to the fact that Social Media is the tool for creating social capital, we need to realize that speaking about the harms of constant connectivity takes a lot of courage. Thank you, Omar, for this work. -Shaykh Mikaeel Smith, Qalam Institute |
| bad leaders in history: Nero Edward Champlin, 2005-09-30 The Roman emperor Nero is remembered by history as the vain and immoral monster who fiddled while Rome burned. Edward Champlin reinterprets Nero's enormities on their own terms, as the self-conscious performances of an imperial actor with a formidable grasp of Roman history and mythology and a canny sense of his audience. Nero murdered his younger brother and rival to the throne, probably at his mother's prompting. He then murdered his mother, with whom he may have slept. He killed his pregnant wife in a fit of rage, then castrated and married a young freedman because he resembled her. He mounted the public stage to act a hero driven mad or a woman giving birth, and raced a ten-horse chariot in the Olympic games. He probably instigated the burning of Rome, for which he then ordered the spectacular punishment of Christians, many of whom were burned as human torches to light up his gardens at night. Without seeking to rehabilitate the historical monster, Champlin renders Nero more vividly intelligible by illuminating the motives behind his theatrical gestures, and revealing the artist who thought of himself as a heroic figure. Nero is a brilliant reconception of a historical account that extends back to Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio. The effortless style and artful construction of the book will engage any reader drawn to its intrinsically fascinating subject. |
| bad leaders in history: Debating Bad Leadership Anders Örtenblad, 2021-04-02 “This stimulating collection tackles the question that is uppermost in most of humanity's minds and hearts right now. The novel debating approach that is taken generates a rich understanding of the range of ways in which bad leadership is created, manifested and most importantly, remedied.” - Professor Brad Jackson, Waikato Management School, The University of Waikato, New Zealand “In the midst of a world full of incompetent and incoherent leaders this book is exactly what we need: a veritable cornucopia of critical leadership studies.” - Keith Grint, Professor Emeritus, Warwick Business School, UK “While we like to have leaders who guide, looking at the present state of the world, there are far too many leaders who misguide. It makes this anthology on bad leadership more than timely. The various contributors, taking many different perspectives, highlight the ways leaders can go astray. In these very difficult times, this book will be a must read for anybody interested in this subject.” - Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Clinical Professor of Leadership “Debating Bad Leadership, edited by Anders Örtenblad, is a book for this time! The rise of populism and the emergence of so-called ‘strong’ leaders in many countries have created a social, political, and economic climate that begs for closer examination of the origins, characteristics, and forms of, especially, bad leadership. Taking as its starting-point the question of why there are so many bad leaders in the corporate world, the impressive collection of chapters compiled in Debating Bad Leadership canvasses a comprehensive array of issues ranging from toxic, psychopathic, leadership and ethical failure to issues of poor selection, ill-considered recruitment, leader (in)competence, conflicted or weak followership, to the very concept of leadership itself. In debating these fundamental issues, this book illuminates and educates, and offers some remedies, both theoretically and practically. Debating Bad Leadership challenges scholars, students and practitioners of leadership to continue this fundamental discussion, for the benefit of us all.” - Gabriele Lakomski Professor Emeritus, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. In this book, leadership experts explore why there are so many bad leaders, and suggest remedies for how the current situation could be improved. Some of the experts suggest that reasons for why bad leaders are so common are searched for in people: more specifically leaders-to-become, acting leaders or followers. Others suggest that reasons are to be found in the leadership role (or expectations on those having such role), in the lack of support for leaders, or in beliefs about leadership. On the backdrop of their suggested explanations as to why there are so many bad leaders, the experts suggest remedies that could be taken to decrease the number of bad leaders as well as their negative impact. The very presumption that this book rests upon also gets its fair share of critique, by some of the experts. Anders Örtenblad is Professor of Working Life Science at the University of Agder, Norway. He is the editing founder of the book series Palgrave Debates in Business and Management. |
| bad leaders in history: The Art and Adventure of Leadership Warren Bennis, Steven B. Sample, Rob Asghar, 2015-04-06 For the first time, a top leadership scholar and a top leadership practitioner explore the true duties, demands, and privileges of leadership. Intellectual sparks flew when Warren Bennis, the “father” of modern leadership studies and Steven B. Sample, one of the most accomplished university presidents in recent history, came together for candid explorations of the forces that shape successful leaders and unsuccessful ones. The Art and Adventure of Leadership, their final collaboration, reveals the profound insights that the authors gained together over the 16 years in which they co-taught one of the most popular leadership courses in America. Here, each brings his own distinct vantage point as they address the mechanics and mysteries of leadership. The result is a unique examination of the journey of great leaders from momentary setbacks to ultimate success. It offers profound lessons on what determines the difference between failure and redemption for leaders. And it illuminates important and overlooked dimensions of great leaders ranging from Winston Churchill to Steve Jobs. Together, they explore why: A mature leader must grasp when it’s healthy to risk failure, and when failure can’t be tolerated at any cost Leadership isn’t for everyone and requires a particular set of skills and competencies that are often glossed over in most management literature To succeed in an uncertain and fast-changing world, a shrewd leader must understand which aspects of human society change—and which aspects never change A mature, wise leader must seek a balance between high-minded ideals and the gritty realities and compromises that leaders face in their daily lives Above all, meaningful leadership remains a matter of character With incredible insight, this book examines why George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other giants were able to recover from failures, learn resilience, and prepare themselves for their moments of destiny. In so doing, it demonstrates and helps cultivate the leadership skills that you need to create your own most meaningful legacy. The Art and Adventure of Leadership is a unique look at leadership, and a critical resource for the leaders of tomorrow. |
| bad leaders in history: Leadership in War Andrew Roberts, 2019-10-29 A comparison of nine leaders who led their nations through the greatest wars the world has ever seen and whose unique strengths—and weaknesses—shaped the course of human history, from the bestselling, award-winning author of Churchill, Napoleon, and The Last King of America “Has the enjoyable feel of a lively dinner table conversation with an opinionated guest.” —The New York Times Book Review Taking us from the French Revolution to the Cold War, Andrew Roberts presents a bracingly honest and deeply insightful look at nine major figures in modern history: Napoleon Bonaparte, Horatio Nelson, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, George C. Marshall, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Margaret Thatcher. Each of these leaders fundamentally shaped the outcome of the war in which their nation was embroiled. Is war leadership unique, or did these leaders have something in common, traits and techniques that transcend time and place and can be applied to the essential nature of conflict? Meticulously researched and compellingly written, Leadership in War presents readers with fresh, complex portraits of leaders who approached war with different tactics and weapons, but with the common goal of success in the face of battle. Both inspiring and cautionary, these portraits offer important lessons on leadership in times of struggle, unease, and discord. With his trademark verve and incisive observation, Roberts reveals the qualities that doom even the most promising leaders to failure, as well as the traits that lead to victory. |
| bad leaders in history: Forged in Crisis Nancy Koehn, 2017-10-03 Presents a portrait of five extraordinary figures--Ernest Shackleton, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rachel Carson--to illuminate how great leaders are made in times of adversity and the diverse skills they summon in order to prevail. |
| bad leaders in history: Genghis Khan and the Mongol War Machine Chris Peers, 2015-03-31 The military might, tactics, and philosophy of Khan is explored in this “fine read” and “useful source for Mongolian . . . and medieval studies in general” (De Re Militari). As a soldier, general, statesman, and empire-builder, Genghis Khan is a near-mythical figure. His remarkable achievements and his ruthless methods have given rise to a monstrous reputation. But who was the man behind the legend? As historian Chris Peers shows in this concise and authoritative study, Genghis Khan possessed exceptional gifts as a leader and manager of men—ranking among the greatest military commanders in history. But he can only be properly understood in terms of the Mongol society and traditions he was born into. Here, the leader’s world is explored—from the military and cultural background of the Mongols, to the nature of steppe societies and their armies, and their relation to other peoples and cultures. The book also looks in detail at the military skills, tactics, and ethos of the Mongol soldiers, and at the advantages and disadvantages they had in combat with the soldiers of other civilizations. For anyone who wants to go beyond the myth of the man who almost conquered the world and learn the real life story behind it, this comprehensive study offers a fascinating perspective on Genghis Khan as a man and a general, and on the armies he led. |
| bad leaders in history: Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? A Better Way to Evaluate Leadership Potential Jeffrey Cohn, Jay Moran, 2011-05-17 Silver Medal Winner, Business and Leadership, 2012 Nautilus Book Awards Almost 70% of Americans believe that we are suffering from a crisis of leadership, but rather than asking, why are leaders failing, we need to ask, Why aren't we choosing better leaders? Ever wonder what goes on behind closed board room doors when organizations pick their top leaders? It can be a contentious, secretive, even brutal process. Most of our leaders look good on paper—they have charisma, credentials, and confidence—yet they lack the real qualities that are necessary to succeed. In Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders?, Cohn and Moran share the same insights and ideas they use to help organizations make better choices. Revealing seven essential attributes of all great leaders, they offer a fresh and powerful evaluation technique anyone can use to assess leader potential. Through dynamic, first-hand accounts from the business world, entertainment, sports, politics, education, and philanthropy, the authors offer the ultimate insider access and reveal how top organizations find and choose the best talent. Offers multiple ways to evaluate leaders, and how these 7 leadership attributes combine to create the best (and worst) in leaders Features interviews with with Mike Krzyzewski, Coach, 2008 US Men's Olympic Basketball team, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; George Steinbrenner, Scott Davis, CEO of UPS; Peter Loscher, CEO of Siemens; Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic; Hollywood movie directors, and many others Includes academic study and field training at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, INSEAD, and IMD for developing future leaders. Fresh and compelling, Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? shows how great leaders can be spotted and why they succeed – and is soon to the definitive resource guide for about choosing better leaders. |
| bad leaders in history: The Myth of the Strong Leader Archie Brown, 2014-04-08 From one of the world's preeminent political historians, a magisterial study of political leadership around the world from the advent of parliamentary democracy to the age of Obama. All too frequently, leadership is reduced to a simple dichotomy: the strong versus the weak. Yet, there are myriad ways to exercise effective political leadership -- as well as different ways to fail. We blame our leaders for economic downfalls and praise them for vital social reforms, but rarely do we question what makes some leaders successful while others falter. In this magisterial and wide-ranging survey of political leadership over the past hundred years, renowned Oxford politics professor Archie Brown challenges the widespread belief that strong leaders -- meaning those who dominate their colleagues and the policy-making process -- are the most successful and admirable. In reality, only a minority of political leaders will truly make a lasting difference. Though we tend to dismiss more collegial styles of leadership as weak, it is often the most cooperative leaders who have the greatest impact. Drawing on extensive research and decades of political analysis and experience, Brown illuminates the achievements, failures and foibles of a broad array of twentieth century politicians. Whether speaking of redefining leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Margaret Thatcher, who expanded the limits of what was politically possible during their time in power, or the even rarer transformational leaders who played a decisive role in bringing about systemic change -- Charles de Gaulle, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela, among them -- Brown challenges our commonly held beliefs about political efficacy and strength. Overturning many of our assumptions about the twentieth century's most important figures, Brown's conclusions are both original and enlightening. The Myth of the Strong Leader compels us to reassess the leaders who have shaped our world - and to reconsider how we should choose and evaluate those who will lead us into the future. |
| bad leaders in history: Overcoming Bad Leadership in Organizations Derek Lusk, 2022 Overcoming Bad Leadership in Organizations brings together the foremost experts on the dark side of leadership to offer groundbreaking insights to leaders, talent management professionals, and psychologists. The goal is to confront reality head on, to shed the idea that leadership is always good, and in this space increase our understanding of the perils of dysfunctional leadership. |
| bad leaders in history: True North Groups Bill George, William W. George, Doug Baker, 2011-09-05 True North Group is a small, diverse collection of individuals who meet on a regular basis to explore their lives and develop their self-awareness, self-compassion, authenticity, and EQ. This book demonstrates why these small groups are the vital link to both leadership and personal development. |
| bad leaders in history: Joseph Stalin Helen Rappaport, 1999-12-13 To get to the top, Joseph Stalin outmaneuvered Lenin, Trotsky, Kirov, and a legion of equally ruthless revolutionaries. This accessible and easy to read reference work reveals the more personal side of the Machiavellian mastermind, who not only orchestrated the Great Terror but also forged the USSR into a world power. Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion offers balanced coverage and makes use of new information from Soviet archives, while at the same time avoids mind-numbing communist jargon and terminology. Also included are scores of rare illustrations, some never before published in the West. |
| bad leaders in history: The Opposable Mind Roger L. Martin, 2009-07-07 If you want to be as successful as Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, or Michael Dell, read their autobiographical advice books, right? Wrong, says Roger Martin in The Opposable Mind. Though following best practice can help in some ways, it also poses a danger. By emulating what a great leader did in a particular situation, you'll likely be terribly disappointed with your own results. Why? Your situation is different. Instead of focusing on what exceptional leaders do, we need to understand and emulate how they think. Successful businesspeople engage in what Martin calls integrative thinking, creatively resolving the tension in opposing models by forming entirely new and superior ones. Drawing on stories of leaders as diverse as AG Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Meg Whitman of eBay, Victoria Hale of the Institute for One World Health, and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Martin shows how integrative thinkers are relentlessly diagnosing and synthesizing by asking probing questions including: What are the causal relationships at work here? and What are the implied trade-offs? Martin also presents a model for strengthening your integrative thinking skills by drawing on different kinds of knowledge including conceptual and experiential knowledge. Integrative thinking can be learned, and The Opposable Mind helps you master this vital skill. |
| bad leaders in history: Historical Dictionary of Mongolia Alan J.K. Sanders, 2017-08-25 This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Mongolia covers the people and organizations that brought Mongolia from revolution and oppression to independence and democracy, and its current unprecedented level of national wealth and international growth. This is done through a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,200 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Mongolia. |
| bad leaders in history: The Dictator's Handbook Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith, 2011-09-27 Explains the theory of political survival, particularly in cases of dictators and despotic governments, arguing that political leaders seek to stay in power using any means necessary, most commonly by attending to the interests of certain coalitions. |
| bad leaders in history: Indispensable Gautam Mukunda, 2012 The author helps readers figure out which leaders matter, why, and when - and what lessons they can learn from those who do matter. Leaders from politics and business are profiled, they include: Abraham Lincoln, Neville Chamberlain, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Jamie Dimon, Al Dunlap, Sir Jacky Fisher, and Judah Folkman. |
| bad leaders in history: IBM and the Holocaust Edwin Black, 2021-05-15 |
| bad leaders in history: Extreme Ownership Jocko Willink, Leif Babin, 2017-11-21 An updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life. Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin’s SEAL task unit faced a seemingly impossible mission: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories in SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, they learned that leadership—at every level—is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training that helped forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After departing the SEAL Teams, they launched Echelon Front, a company that teaches these same leadership principles to businesses and organizations. From promising startups to Fortune 500 companies, Babin and Willink have helped scores of clients across a broad range of industries build their own high-performance teams and dominate their battlefields. Now, detailing the mind-set and principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult missions in combat, Extreme Ownership shows how to apply them to any team, family or organization. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic such as Cover and Move, Decentralized Command, and Leading Up the Chain, explaining what they are, why they are important, and how to implement them in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership revolutionizes business management and challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win. |
| bad leaders in history: Heroic Leadership Chris Lowney, 2009-04-30 Leadership Principles for Lasting Success Leadership makes great companies, but few of us truly understand how to turn ourselves and others into great leaders. One company—the Jesuits—pioneered a unique formula for molding leaders and in the process built one of history’s most successful companies.In this groundbreaking book, Chris Lowney reveals the leadership principles that have guided the Jesuits for more than 450 years: self-awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism. Lowney shows how these same principles can make each of us a dynamic leader in the twenty-first century. |
| bad leaders in history: A Necessary Evil Garry Wills, 2013-05-28 In A Necessary Evil, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry Wills shows that distrust of government is embedded deep in the American psyche. From the revolt of the colonies against king and parliament to present-day tax revolts, militia movements, and debates about term limits, Wills shows that American antigovernment sentiment is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of our history. By debunking some of our fondest myths about the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and the taming of the frontier, Wills shows us how our tendency to hold our elected government in disdain is misguided. |
| bad leaders in history: Leaders and Their Followers in a Dangerous World Jerrold M. Post, 2004 Post is a pioneer in the field of political-personality profiling. He may be the only psychiatrist who has specialized in the self-esteem problems of both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.--The New Yorker Policy specialists and academic scholars have long agreed that for U.S. leaders to deal effectively with other actors in the international arena, they need images of their adversaries. Leaders must try to see events, and, indeed, their own behavior, from the perspective of opponents.... Faulty images are a source of misperceptions and miscalculations that have often led to major errors in policy, avoidable catastrophes, and missed opportunities. History supplies all too many examples.--from the ForewordWhat impels leaders to lead and followers to follow? How did Osama bin Laden, the son of a multibillionaire construction magnate in Saudi Arabia, become the world's number-one terrorist? What are the psychological foundations of man's inhumanity to man, ethnic cleansing, and genocide? Jerrold M. Post contends that such questions can be answered only through an understanding of the psychological foundations of leader personality and political behavior.Post was founding director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior for the CIA. He developed the political personality profiles of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat for President Jimmy Carter's use at the Camp David talks and initiated the U.S. government's research program on the psychology of political terrorism. He was awarded the Intelligence Medal of Merit in 1979 for his leadership of the center.In this book, he draws on psychological and personality theories, as well as interviews with individual terrorists and those who have interacted with particular leaders, to discuss a range of issues: the effects of illness and age on a leader's political behavior; narcissism and the relationship between followers and a charismatic leader; the impact of crisis-induced stress on policymakers; the mind of the terrorist, with a consideration of killing in the name of God; and the need for enemies and the rise of ethnic conflict and terrorism in the post-Cold War environment. The leaders he discusses include Fidel Castro, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and Slobodan Milosevic. |
| bad leaders in history: Accidental Presidents Jared Cohen, 2020-01-28 This New York Times bestselling “deep dive into the terms of eight former presidents is chock-full of political hijinks—and déjà vu” (Vanity Fair) and provides a fascinating look at the men who came to the office without being elected to it, showing how each affected the nation and world. The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington. Eight men have succeeded to the presidency when the incumbent died in office. In one way or another they vastly changed our history. Only Theodore Roosevelt would have been elected in his own right. Only TR, Truman, Coolidge, and LBJ were re-elected. John Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died 30 days into his term. He was kicked out of his party and became the first president threatened with impeachment. Millard Fillmore succeeded esteemed General Zachary Taylor. He immediately sacked the entire cabinet and delayed an inevitable Civil War by standing with Henry Clay’s compromise of 1850. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded our greatest president, sided with remnants of the Confederacy in Reconstruction. Chester Arthur, the embodiment of the spoils system, was so reviled as James Garfield’s successor that he had to defend himself against plotting Garfield’s assassination; but he reformed the civil service. Theodore Roosevelt broke up the trusts. Calvin Coolidge silently cooled down the Harding scandals and preserved the White House for the Republican Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Harry Truman surprised everybody when he succeeded the great FDR and proved an able and accomplished president. Lyndon B. Johnson was named to deliver Texas electorally. He led the nation forward on Civil Rights but failed on Vietnam. Accidental Presidents shows that “history unfolds in death as well as in life” (The Wall Street Journal) and adds immeasurably to our understanding of the power and limits of the American presidency in critical times. |
| bad leaders in history: Leading from the Middle Scott Mautz, 2021-05-18 The definitive playbook for driving impact as a middle manager Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization delivers an insightful and practical guide for the backbone of an organization: those who have a boss and are a boss and must lead from the messy middle. Accomplished author and former P&G executive Scott Mautz walks readers through the unique challenges facing these managers, and the mindset and skillset necessary for managing up and down and influencing what happens across the organization. You’ll learn the winning mindset of the best middle managers, how to develop the most important skills necessary for managing from the middle, how to create your personal Middle Action Plan (MAP), and effectively influence: Up the chain of command, to your boss and those above them Down, to your direct reports and teams who report to you Laterally, to peers and teams you have no formal authority over Anyone in an organization who reports to someone and has someone reporting to them must lead from the middle. They are the most important group in an organization and have a unique opportunity to drive impact. Leading from the Middle explains how. |
| bad leaders in history: Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present Ruth Ben-Ghiat, 2020-11-10 What modern authoritarian leaders have in common (and how they can be stopped). Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the strongman playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin—enabling her to predict with uncanny accuracy the recent experience in America and Europe. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future. For ours is the age of authoritarian rulers: self-proclaimed saviors of the nation who evade accountability while robbing their people of truth, treasure, and the protections of democracy. They promise law and order, then legitimize lawbreaking by financial, sexual, and other predators. They use masculinity as a symbol of strength and a political weapon. Taking what you want, and getting away with it, becomes proof of male authority. They use propaganda, corruption, and violence to stay in power. Vladimir Putin and Mobutu Sese Seko’s kleptocracies, Augusto Pinochet’s torture sites, Benito Mussolini and Muammar Gaddafi’s systems of sexual exploitation, and Silvio Berlusconi and Donald Trump’s relentless misinformation: all show how authoritarian rule, far from ensuring stability, is marked by destructive chaos. No other type of leader is so transparent about prioritizing self-interest over the public good. As one country after another has discovered, the strongman is at his worst when true guidance is most needed by his country. Recounting the acts of solidarity and dignity that have undone strongmen over the past 100 years, Ben-Ghiat makes vividly clear that only by seeing the strongman for what he is—and by valuing one another as he is unable to do—can we stop him, now and in the future. |
| bad leaders in history: Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Kim Scott, 2017-03-14 A high-profile business manager describes her development of an optimal management course designed to help business leaders become balanced and effective without resorting to insensitive aggression or overt permissiveness-- |
| bad leaders in history: Toxic Leaders Marcia L. Whicker, 1996-04-16 Drawing on her extensive experience and research in various types of organizations—business, political, even religious organizations—Dr. Whicker looks closely at three distinct types of leaders which she categorizes as trustworthy, transitional, and toxic leaders. In a clear and readable style she describes leadership subtypes for transitional and toxic types: the absentee leaders, the busybodies, controllers, enforcers, streetfighters, and the bullies, all of whom are dangerous to their organizations and are directly responsible in many cases for an organization's decline. Whicker makes clear, however, that there are ways to protect oneself from such leaders, and shows exactly what these strategies are. A compelling, anecdotal, authoritative analysis for anyone in any organization who has ever wondered why did the boss do that — and why to me? As Dr. Whicker sees it, trustworthy leaders are good, moral, green light leaders. They can trusted to put the goals of the organization and the well-being of their followers first. Organizations with trustworthy leaders at the helm have a green light to advance in productivity, growth, and progress. Three types of trustworthy leaders are consensus builders, team leaders, and commanders. Transitional leaders are self-absorbed, egotistical, yellow light leaders. They are focused on the approval of others and concerned with their personal role as leaders. Organizations headed by transitional leaders have a cautionary yellow light to growth, and lurch along at the mercy of the ebb and flow of external currents and trends. Three types of transitional leaders are absentee leaders, busybodies, and controllers. Toxic leaders are maladjusted, malcontent, and often malevolent and malicious. They succeed by tearing others down. They glory in turf protection, fighting, and controlling others rather than uplifting followers. They are red light leaders who destroy productivity and apply brakes to organizational progress. They have a deep-seated but well-disguised sense of personal inadequacy, selfish values, and cleverness at concealing deceit. Three types of toxic leaders are enforcers, streetfighters, and bullies. This book gives the reader strategies for surviving transitional and toxic leaders and for restoring organizational health. |
| bad leaders in history: Hitler and the Nazi Leaders John Lattimer, 2001 The testament of an eyewitness who literally sat face-to-face with the prisoners in their cells at Nuremberg, Hitler and the Nazi Leaders is nothing less than a unique historical document challenging long accepted assumptions about the real motivations behind some of Adolf Hitler's most fateful decisions. Dr. Lattimer's portraits of his patients contain insights into the private world and medical condition of Hitler himself, as revealed by his minions incarcerated in Nuremberg's Palace of Justice. The book also features 400 unusual photographs such as Hitler's carefully darned socks, Eva Braun's dresses, and the interior decor of the Fuhrer's Alpine Berghof with an actual pictorial record of the defensive smoke screen that could cover the entire valley at Berchtesgaden in fifteen minutes. |
| bad leaders in history: The Human Factor Archie Brown, 2020 The Human Factor tells the dramatic story about the part played by political leaders - particularly the three very different personalities of Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher - in ending the standoff that threatened the future of all humanity |
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La Banque africaine de développement (BAD) est l’institution mère du Groupe. L’accord portant création de la banque a été adopté et ouvert à la signature à l’occasion de la Conférence de …
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Au cours des années, la BAD n’a cessé d’intensifier ses activités de renforcement des capacités statistiques dans les pays africains, motivée par la nécessité de disposer de données fiables …
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IDEV, ou l’Évaluation indépendante du développement de la Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD) est une fonction indépendante avec pour mission de renforcer l'efficacité du …
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