In C. Richard Panico’s article “Naked Leadership: Lead to Win Hearts and
Minds,” Panico argues that leaders must be willing to invest themselves and become
“naked” to the organization. In this paper, I will “dress up” some of the ideas in Panico’s paper by discussing of some of the academic research and issues related to his ideas. The relationship between academic and practitioner literature on leadership is symbiotic. In leadership studies, most researchers either use surveys to test their theories in business organizations or they try out their ideas in laboratory settings on college students. The popular literature on leadership usually comes from practitioners like Panico who develop their ideas from personal and professional experiences. …show more content…
In their classic article, “The Romance of Leadership” James Meindl and his colleagues call this the “romance of leadership.” They describe it this way:
One of the principal elements in this romanticized conception is the view that leadership is a central organizational process and the premier force in the scheme of organizational events and activities. It amounts to what might be considered a faith in the potential if not in the actual efficacy of those individuals who occupy the elite positions of formal organizational authority.(Meindl,
Ehrlich, and Dukerich 1985)
Meindl et al. (and numerous subsequent studies), examine how the media and academics portray leaders. They found that both groups attribute to leaders larger than life abilities to influence the fortunes of organizations. This was especially true with very successful or very unsuccessful organizations. People like the heroic idea of a leader because it supplies an easy way to make sense of what goes on in complex organizations. If a company fails, it is much easier to blame the leader than other factors.
Meindl et al. note that it can be dysfunctional for employees to hold a romanticized view of their leader’s ability to foresee events and control
Minds,” Panico argues that leaders must be willing to invest themselves and become
“naked” to the organization. In this paper, I will “dress up” some of the ideas in Panico’s paper by discussing of some of the academic research and issues related to his ideas. The relationship between academic and practitioner literature on leadership is symbiotic. In leadership studies, most researchers either use surveys to test their theories in business organizations or they try out their ideas in laboratory settings on college students. The popular literature on leadership usually comes from practitioners like Panico who develop their ideas from personal and professional experiences. …show more content…
In their classic article, “The Romance of Leadership” James Meindl and his colleagues call this the “romance of leadership.” They describe it this way:
One of the principal elements in this romanticized conception is the view that leadership is a central organizational process and the premier force in the scheme of organizational events and activities. It amounts to what might be considered a faith in the potential if not in the actual efficacy of those individuals who occupy the elite positions of formal organizational authority.(Meindl,
Ehrlich, and Dukerich 1985)
Meindl et al. (and numerous subsequent studies), examine how the media and academics portray leaders. They found that both groups attribute to leaders larger than life abilities to influence the fortunes of organizations. This was especially true with very successful or very unsuccessful organizations. People like the heroic idea of a leader because it supplies an easy way to make sense of what goes on in complex organizations. If a company fails, it is much easier to blame the leader than other factors.
Meindl et al. note that it can be dysfunctional for employees to hold a romanticized view of their leader’s ability to foresee events and control