Leadership

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International Journal of Public Leadership

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13/1

ARTICLE NO: 591202 ARTICLE TITLE: Leadership, “communityship,” and “the good folk” AUTHORS:

Henry Mintzberg and Cam Caldwell

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IJPL 13,1

Leadership, “communityship,” and “the good folk” Henry Mintzberg

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Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and

Cam Caldwell Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, Indiana, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify critical challenges to public leaders in troubled times, based on the experience and thoughts of an accomplished and world-renowned academic in the field of strategy and leadership. The authors have also included it on the original paper, which is attached. Design/methodology/approach – A semi-structured interview was conducted based on a series of questions that are considered pertinent to the challenges facing public leaders. Findings – The key findings suggest that individualism and egos are too dominant, that there is an absence of effective ethical leadership which, together, overshadows the need for community action. Originality/value – This summary of the short interview provides a unique insight into the challenges facing public leadership. Keywords Leadership, Communityship, Good folk Paper type Viewpoint

International Journal of Public Leadership Vol. 13 No. 1, 2017 pp. 1-5 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2056-4929 DOI 10.1108/IJPL-12-2016-0053

From time to time, IJPL publishes interviews with leading scholars as a complement to original research articles. The interviews we publish are intended to afford readers brief insights into the concepts and theories that these scholars have championed, and the issues and opportunities that are concerning them today. In this issue we feature an interview conducted by Dr Cam Caldwell (CC), Purdue University Northwest, USA, with Dr Henry Mintzberg (HM), who is the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1968. Dr HM is an internationally renowned Academic and author on business and management and has written 20 highly regarded books and more than 180 scholarly papers on management, leadership, and strategy. Two classic texts include: Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations and Strategy Safari. CC is the Guest Editor of a forthcoming IJPL Special Edition focusing on Ethical Leadership in the 21st Century. He interviewed HM concerning his insights about leadership in November, 2016. CC – Today’s leaders face a crisis of confidence, whether in government or in business. What do you think has caused this problem in every level of society? HM – The primary source of the problem is ego. We have too many self-selected and self-serving leaders who assume they have leadership qualities but they do not truly experience those leadership qualities. Boards pick people who impress themselves, but that aren’t necessarily liked or respected by people in their organizations. For example, when John R. Bolton was appointed US Ambassador to the United Nations he was described as “a kiss-up and kick-down kind of guy.” I think we are getting too many of those types of leaders. I think the accent on leadership puts the emphasis on single individuals. Every time we say “leader” we mean one person. Regardless of the degree that a leader empowers others, we typically have one person in mind. I have the belief that when we use the term “leadership” we need to use the word “communityship” in the same sentence.

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The emphasis should be on the group or the community, rather than an emphasis on a particular individual. CC – We live in a world in which leaders are under intense scrutiny and are held accountable to high ethical standards. What do you think leaders of today need to do to earn and retain public trust? HM – First of all, I disagree that today’s leaders are being held accountable to a high ethical standard. Our expectations are so low right now for so many leaders. In principle, we may hold them accountable to a high ethical standard but too many of us are fed up with what we are getting. CC – At an Academy of Management Conference in Hawaii, you asked how many fail to meet what you labeled “The Bill and Barbara Test.” You explained that you asked two practitioners to review examples of those articles and indicate whether you thought they had practical value for practitioners. In your view, is the academic community still writing about topics that are often theoretical with little practical value, or has that trend reversed? HM – Bill and Barbara were two practitioners with significant management responsibility at the National Film Board of Canada. They had dinner with me because Barbara wanted to ask me about leadership. I gave them papers presented at that conference and they were shocked at what was being put forward as research. Has that changed? I am not sure. I don’t think so. I think too much academic research fails that test. I think academic research should have to go through a review from intelligent practitioners before it is qualified to be published in academic journals. There are plenty of intelligent practitioners who can assess academic papers. CC – In your book, Managers not MBAs, you advocated that academics need to reevaluate the role and purpose of MBA programs and universities. What role should universities play to address the issue of unethical leadership in the public and private sectors? HM – I do not think most MBA programs help. They give people the false impression that IF they sit still for two years they are prepared to be leaders. Universities need to begin by getting their own ethics together. Harvard University was promoting a pledge a few years ago, asking its MBA students to sign a pledge promising to be ethical. Can anybody possibly believe that ENRON’s Ken Skilling would not have signed that pledge when he was a student at Harvard? The idea of such a pledge strikes me as absolute sheer silliness. Business schools can get their own act together by facing the fact that they are producing people, too many of whom are causing havoc in organizations. Their graduates are not prepared to manage and they think they are. We did a study of nineteen people on the list of Harvard’s Super Stars as of 1990. Eleven years later we evaluated the record of those nineteen Harvard graduates. Ten were total failures – some were fired by their board or bankrupted their company. Four others were questionable. Five were successful and seemed clean. We published the results in Fortune magazine. Nobody blinked. Nobody responded. People just ignored the results totally. Anyone in academia ignoring those results has the ethical responsibility to address that outcome. And I think we would get a similar result today for graduates ending up in top executive positions. So that’s the ethical responsibility of today’s universities. CC – From your perspective, what universities are currently addressing the needs of providing a proper academic background for preparing ethical practitioners? HM – I can only answer for the universities with which I am now working. McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management is currently partnering with the Management School of Lancaster University, the FGV School in Rio de Janeiro, Renmin University in Beijing, and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

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I would have to be in other universities to know what they are really doing. Some are doing the right things, but I wouldn’t know it. I can tell you that the programs we have developed are specifically directed at practitioners who are in practice and spend at least half of the time reflecting on their own experiences and sharing with each other. I think that’s what should be happening. CC – Who are the leaders who you would cite as modeling ethical leadership today? HM – I would start with Pope Francis. I would go next to Justin Trudeau – so far, so good. I think Obama, leaving aside his politics, is considered by most Americans to be a good person and his ratings are high. His appointments have been stellar and there are no scandals that I know about him. I would include Angela Merkel, the current Chancellor of Germany. She has managed to survive years of power without scandals or anything indecent. After that, it is hard to find people. All around there are horror stories. CC – Recent trends suggest that large multinational corporations are seeking to avoid playing the role of “being part of the solution” in solving some of the major world problems facing future generations. Are there companies that you would cite as good examples of Corporate Social Responsibility that should be emulated? HM – Many companies claim that they are being part of the solution – and some really are. Whether they are or not, I can’t tell. For example, Walmart may be saying “We are greening our paper usage” or something but they are also busting unions. So, I can’t judge. I will say one thing, though. There is push-back from some American corporations about Trump’s proposal to go back on climate change efforts in the United States. They are saying, “No. We are well along on this effort and want to continue.” That’s responsible and I applaud the ones that are taking that position. CC – One of the strategic problems facing the world is to address environmental, economic, political, social and other sustainability issues in which both the US and China are major contributors to those problems yet not always willing to be part of the solution. What can the academic community do to shed light on those issues to identify feasible solutions to the status quo? HM – I just finished a blog about what people can do. That blog can be found at: www. mintzberg.org/blog (See “We couldn’t vote […]”) People both inside and outside of the United States need to address those issues. CC – What world problems do you consider to be the most troubling for future generations? HM – One is obviously the inequality in wealth in society and the effects that globalization has had on that issue. Another is the bullying by some of the great powers. For example, Russia has blocked the ability to productively deal with Syria. CC – What does “Make America Great Again” mean for the rest of the world with Trump as President? HM – The imbalance of power is a major world issue. The UN Security Council should be called “The War Council” because its five members all have nuclear capability and all have histories of bullying of one kind or another. And the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are the five largest exporters or armaments in the world. That’s a “War Council” and we need a “Peace Council.” Global warming and climate change also needs to be addressed. CC – Looking at the values of today’s Millennials, many skeptics are concerned about the value-based issues facing tomorrow’s generation. What do you think is necessary to focus tomorrow’s leaders on the ethical responsibilities required to create a “tipping point” for meaningful change?

HM – First of all, leaders must see themselves as “members of communities.” I am concerned that leaders focus on what they are going to do themselves when the problems that need to be faced require a community solution. Individualism and egos are running rampant. Community action is really key. “The Good Folk” have to act. By that I mean the people who genuinely care about the issues we face have to act. I would suggest that we need to be more concerned with what “The Good Folk” need to do than with what leaders need to do to solve the problems we face.

Corresponding author Cam Caldwell can be contacted at: [email protected]

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