Leadership and Moral Authority
Leadership is all about being granted permission by others to lead their thinking – it is a bestowed moral authority which gives the right to organise and direct the efforts of others.
In society today it is democratically bestowed, in history it was bestowed through heredity, revolution or coup d’etat. However it is given, it can be taken away – today mainly through the ballot box or through shareowner or stakeholder action and in the past through deposition, coup, revolution or immediate dismissal. Whatever the method, where those being led and those with an interest in effective leadership were dissatisfied, the moral authority was withdrawn and the leader was leader no more. Moral authority does not come from managing people efficiently or effectively or communicating better or being able to motivate.
You get moral authority by:
• Being authentic and genuine – believing in what you do, showing a willingness to be open to what you don’t know and by expressing your true feelings and emotions.
• Demonstrating integrity – acting ethically, ensuring that your words and actions match; showing that you serve a purpose beyond yourself and through this you build trust. • Having self-belief – being confident and showing conviction in what you do and how you do it; being able to articulate why your vision and your direction is right for the organization and those within it.
• Showing self-awareness – being sensitive to your impact on others and to the emotions and interests of others; recognizing when you are going too far or losing followers.
• Being able to demonstrate a real and deep understanding of the business you are in and through this build confidence.
Leaders fail when they lose the moral authority to lead. They may not leave office for some time after they lose the moral authority, but they fail as a leader once this has gone. In business, in public service or in public life, leaders lose moral authority for three reasons. Either they get found out through behaving unethically; or they become plagued by self-doubt and lose their conviction; or they are blinded by power and act in a way that divorces them from the values of those around them.
It is up to leaders at the end of the day to abide by a moral code. And it is up to us to ensure that the moment we suspect they don’t, we do one of two things depending on where they are: fire them or vote them out.
Excerpt from Cult of the Leader: A manifesto for More Authentic Business by Christopher Bones (Wiley, £18.99). Cult of the Leader was the winner of the CMI Management Book of the Year award 2012
