Great leaders promise to change the world. They claim to have the vision and the values to transform our lives. But again and again they fail to deliver professionally and personally. They fall short of their promises through lack of agency or incompetency, and fail us morally, by hypocritically holding others to ethical standards that they flout themselves.
But do we really know what we want from a leader? Should we admit that we, their followers, are at fault for demanding perfection from them at all times? Is it time that we stop asking leaders to be virtuous and allow them to stand above the rest of us, aloof and powerful, so long as they get the job done? Or should we continue to insist that leaders should be relatable as well as competent?
Pulitzer prize winning historian Joseph J Ellis, CEO of Havas and author of No Bullsh*t Leadership Chris Hirst, and chief executive of the cross-party think tank DEMOS Polly Mackenzie debate Leadership, Hypocrisy and Power.
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