Political Leadership Class Notes

WEEK 1- Leadership: Its Definition, Nature, and Origin

Definitions:

• "Leadership is "the tapping of existing and potential motive and power bases of followers by leaders, for the purpose of achieving intended change." (Burns Leadership book, p. 448)
• "Leadership is the process of persuasion or example by which an individual [or leadership team] induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his followers."- Howard Gardner, cited in Melvin Holli's The American Mayor book, p. 127.
• "The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers."- Garry Willis, cited in Holli book, p. 128.
• "A leader is a man [sic] who has the ability to get people to do what they don't want to do and like it."- Harry Truman, cited in the Garder book, p. 127.
• Leadership is "convincing others- and often yourself- that you have the answers to overcome long-standing obstacles takes a combination of confidence, insight, and sheer bravado. Finding ways to prevail, while bringing others along with you..." (Stacey Abrams book, p. xxiv)

James MacGregor Burns Leadership book provides a functionalist view of leadership. It can be transactional or transforming. "The transactional leader tends to be managerial in style, generally exchanging substantive and symbolic rewards for the loyalty of his followers." This "depersonalizes leader-follower relations into a bureaucratic exchange..." "Transforming leadership is a higher type and involves a leader-follower interchange in which the leader elevates the moral and civic level of his followers and is in turn elevated by them. This reciprocal emotional link between leader and followers presumably brings about enduring transformations in the society." (Holli book, p. 129, all quotes). Many organizational leaders (university leaders, political party leaders, elected officials) are viewed as transactional leader. Transforming leaders are rare, and examples may include FDR with his New Deal and George Washington as the first U.S. President. President Biden quickly met with prominent historians, who advised him on how to be a transformational leader, which may have led him to try to accomplish too much and too soon.

Trait theory of leadership seeks to identify specific attributes that generally explain effective leadership. Some of those traits appear to be (the first six are from the Holli book, p. 132):

• Vision- FDR's New Deal, Ronald Reagan's anti-communism. Having Strong Beliefs on important matters may be related to this; Churchill was strongly opposed to appeasement policy towards Hitler before World War 2, and then he strongly opposed any surrender by Britain; New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani believed in government serving the people's interests rather than those working in the government (health care, education).
• Optimism- Reagan's view of U.S. as a shining city on a hill.
• Intelligence- Clinton, Obama, Kennedy.
• Self-confidence- Trump.
• a Desire to Lead- most Presidents who enter the arena.
• an ability to Develop Trust relationships with followers- FDR's New Deal program attracted blue collar workers, the elderly. Trump's rallies connect with many working-class people.
• Energy- often fueled by physical fitness activities, which can show good character- Theodore Roosevelt, Kennedy, Obama.
• Preparation is important- read, study, work hard (Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Rudy Giuliani books cite it; Churchill wrote many books)
• be Accountable. Take charge, take responsibility, admit mistakes. Barbour talks about someone having to be in charge. Giuliani talks about both he and all of his subordinates being accountable, all of the time. President Truman's motto was "the Buck Stops Here."
• Be visible, active, present. Barbour was active during Katrina, Giuliani was active during 9-11 terrorist attack (attended many funerals), Churchill repeatedly visited the war front.
• Hire a good team, delegate authority and responsibility.
• Share the Credit- Barbour stresses this. Reagan's slogan was: "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he does not mind who gets the credit." (Cited in Barbour's America's Great Storm book, p. 208).

Social versus task oriented leaders. A social leader shows "concern for followers, build relationships with interpersonal warmth, and expressed interest in the feelings of members of the organization." A task leader was more goal oriented and "stressed getting the job done, even at the expense of follower feelings." (Holli book, p. 133) Many organizations today combine both of these leadership orientations.

Sources of leadership (quotes are from Stacey Abrams book, Minority Leader). Mississippi-born Stacey Abrams was Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2018 and 2022, Democratic state house leader, Truman Scholar, Rhodes Finalist, Yale Law School graduate. Book was written for fellow women, people of color, LGBTQ, poor, millennials, but her advice is applicable to everyone. Abrams created a voter registration and mobilization effort in Georgia that culminated in the state voting Democratic for President and for both U.S. Senate seats in 2020, a rarity in modern Southern politics. Important points:

· "Trinity for Success: go to church, go to school, and take care of one another" (p. xv). "We had little money, but we read books..." (p. xv) Her brother whom she loved was a prison inmate.

· Have a positive attitude- "no matter how little we had, there was always someone with less..." (p. xvi)

· Set high expectations. Show self-confidence, speak with authority.

· Take the initiative. At Spelman College she organized a phone-in protest of local television coverage of violent protesters, was invited on a talk show, then criticized the black mayor (Maynard Jackson) who downplayed the city's problems. He then hired her as a research assistant for the Mayor's Office of Youth Services for Atlanta. Thus, she now got an inside look at how government worked. She also was upset by a tuition increase, so she just walked into a Board of Trustees meeting; the university President let her stay, so she learned about complex university finances.

· Be ambitious. Always "do something that moves you forward at a constant pace." (p. 25)

· Be yourself. Rather than being vocal and extreme as Minority Leader, Abrams worked with Republicans to prevent Hope program cuts from hurting those having trouble with standardized tests. She would read and study at her desk and talk to members at other times, and would ask tough questions of speakers. She learned the house rules and delayed bills on a deadline date, which killed some controversial GOP bills.

· Accept internships, even if unpaid or unimportant work. Do more than expected of you, and you can translate it into a full-time position (p. 63-67).

· Talk to the support staff, like secretaries. They know the secrets of your organization.

· Respect your coworkers. As Atlanta’s deputy city attorney who was hired from the outside, the other lawyers resented her at first. She deliberately would not sit at the head of the table, and she would walk to their offices instead of summoning them to hers (p. 81).

· Have "situational mentors," not just one (p. 88). Respect the valuable time of your mentors.

· "Be fearless in asking for money." (p. 93) She learned this by working with university President, an opportunity she got from a student government post. Use a finance team or committee, not just big individual donors.

· Admit mistakes. As a firm lawyer, she made a mistake in an IRS case, and told the firm partner immediately.

· Delegate work to those better qualified; it frees up your time.

Two prominent political science theories that relate to leadership are now discussed. Presidential Character examines a leader's childhood, personality traits, and how active they are in the job and how much they like the job. Groupthink examines how leaders go about making important decisions, and how they can make mistakes.

PRESIDENTIAL CHARACTER book by James David Barber
Two dimensions used to classify Presidents: activity in the job--active versus passive; attitude toward the job--positive versus negative. Classification scheme yields four groups of Presidents:
Active-positive--most psychologically healthy type, high energy level due to healthy personality, openness to other points of view, self-confidence, high personal efficacy, positive childhood experiences that built that personality. Genuinely enjoys the job. Examples are: FDR and Kennedy.
Active-negative--most psychologically defective personality, has a high energy level and works hard as a way of filling psychological inadequacies. Negative childhood experiences caused lack of self-worth, seeks to build self-esteem through hard work. Compulsive character, does not enjoy the work, which is seen as a burden. Examples are: Wilson, Hoover, Johnson, Nixon.
Passive-positive-- enjoys the job, but doesn't work very hard. Often becomes a captive of the people around him. Harding, Reagan.
Passive-negative--doesn't enjoy the job, sees it is a duty to perform, doesn't work very hard. Example is Eisenhower.
Controversies: classifying Carter and Ford as active-positives, as well as Truman.
How would you classify Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton, Obama, and Trump?

GROUPTHINK book by Irvin Janis.
American foreign policy disasters: Bay of Pigs; Korean War, and Chinese entry; Vietnam War escalation; Pearl Harbor. Why did they occur?
Causes of Groupthink. 1) Decisionmakers are a cohesive group; that group is insulated; group lacks impartial leadership; similar social background and ideology of group members. 2) Provocative Situation: high stress from external threat, with little hope of better solution than the leader's; low self-esteem caused by recent failures, hard current decision, moral dilemmas that violate ethical standards.
Symptoms of Groupthink, which is Concurrence-Seeking. 1) Overestimation of Group: Invulnerability illusions; Belief in group's inherent morality. 2) Closed mindedness: collective rationalizations; Stereotype Out-Groups. 3) Uniformity pressures: self-censorship, direct pressure on dissenters, illusion of unanimity.
Defective Decisionmaking Symptoms: 1) incomplete survey of alternatives; 2) incomplete survey of objectives; 3) failure to examine risks of preferred choice; 4) failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives; 5) poor information search; 6) selective bias in processing information; 7) failure to work out contingency plans.
Result: Low Probability of Successful Outcome.
Avoiding Groupthink: Cuban Missile Crisis. Devil's advocate, leaderless groups.
Other examples of Groupthink: MSU Policies and Priorities process; Clinton sex scandal? Bush Iraqi war?