Foreword (Barbara Kellerman, USA)
Preface by Anders Örtenblad
1. Background and introduction: Why a book on explanations for the occurrence of so many bad leaders?
Anders Örtenblad
The introductory chapter gives a background to why there is reason to discuss why there are so many bad leaders. It starts off by defining "bad" as well as "leader", some arguments in support of that there in fact are many "bad" leaders. Thereafter, the remaining chapters of the book and introduced and presented. They are connected to a few basic "leadership assumptions". Finally, a few explanations to why there are so many bad leaders that are not dealt with elsewhere in the book, are briefly suggested.
SECTION I. INSUFFICIENT LEADERSHIP EDUCATION
A basic assumption here is that better/good leadership can be learnt. This section contains chapters that focus on insufficient leadership education as the main explanation as to why there are so many bad leaders, and - thus - offer explicit or implicit suggestions for improving the situation that are in line with more/better leadership education.
2. For the cause of bad leaders, look to bad schooling
Robert Sternberg
The causes of bad leadership, like the causes of any complex phenomenon, are themselves complex. But if one wants to understand at least some of the causes of bad leaders, look to bad schooling. Bad schooling is a proximate cause through which are channeled numerous distal causes. First, economic inequality, which has been rising in much of the world, leaves people desperate for solutions: Why are they poor when their neighbors are rich? Why are their economic outcomes worse than their parents"? Why are they poorer than they were ten years ago? There are multiple sources of income inequality, such as increasingly capitalistic societies, increasing automation of lower level jobs, increasing outsourcing of jobs, and increasing sending of jobs abroad where they can be done more cheaply. But to recognize these complex causes requires critical thinking, and schools are doing a poor job of educating students for critical thinking. Instead, schools are placing inordinate emphasis on memorization of often useless facts. Populists, often would-be autocrats, take advantage of the lack of critical thinking on the part of their constituencies and seek easy targets to blame, such as immigrants (legal and illegal), members of certain religious or ethnic groups, or members of another political movement. People fall for populist arguments, and vote the populists in. Second, schools fail to teach students wise thinking, whereby they seek a common good for all, not just better outcomes for themselves. Populists appeal to the selfishness that is inherent in all of us: "You are being hoodwinked and we are going to decimate those who are hoodwinking you." So the people vote for someone who will take care of them, even if it means treating members of other groups badly. Third, schools put undue emphasis on cognitive simplicity rather than cognitive complexity. Real-world problems are complex. They usually do not admit of simple answers. Populist arguments appeal to the lowest common denominator and are based on simple sound bites rather than complex rationales. So the populists redefine complex problems to be simple, like the true-false or multiple-choice thinking of so many school tests, and people fall for it. Finally, schools do not encourage creative thinking, the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that might encourage fresh answers to old problems. People see the old solutions do not work, and instead of seeking new and creative solutions, they turn to the old solutions that have failed time and again, such as blaming anyone for their woes
About the Author: Anders Örtenblad is Professor of Working Life Science at the School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal The Learning Organization, and the editing founder of the book series Palgrave Debates in Business and Management.
