Seduced by leaders without integrity

 

The alleged lack of integrity in some of our leaders is flabbergasting.

Phenomenal sums of money keep getting misappropriated. Politicos from all sides of the divide are regularly hauled to court, or have a laundry list of accusations hurled at them for corruption and misuse of power.

Some have been found guilty, yet wantonly parade around claiming that they are victims of political assassination. Others fight on, and cling to power and position by arguing selective political persecution.

Literally every few days, there are breaking stories of recorded conversations, shady videos, opaque transactions, connections with underworld mobsters, collusions with corrupt civil servants, and so on.

But, isn’t integrity non-negotiable?

Don’t you expect every transaction in life to be forged on the bedrock of honour?

You want to always deal with ethical people, and more significantly, at work, you want to be directed by leaders who demonstrate high integrity. You know that if your boss acts with integrity, you will be treated correctly.

Integrity begins right at the top. If your company has an ethical management team, it becomes easier to attract talented professionals.

This philosophy then permeates every interaction, and ensures the development of a culture that places the highest value on integrity.

As a business owner and employer, I always want to hire people who demonstrate integrity and who conduct themselves with decency in their daily interactions with co-workers, customers, and stakeholders.

But in our nation’s leadership, we seem to fall for the same players with the same narrative, and ultimately, we become prey to the same insecurities.

When scrutinising leadership, you have to separate the results from mere opinions.

Most people I know, view their own opinions and sentiments as absolute fact. But really, these are just expressions of their personal values or beliefs.

When you are fed a steady diet of corrosive views by charismatic leaders, or if you are made to fear a specific or even an imagined consequence, systematically over time, you will get indoctrinated into making their warped views central to your belief structure.

Perhaps, this sort of destructive brainwashing explains why many countries in the world seem to be so poorly governed purely on dodgy or unreasonable prejudices.

But at workplaces, things seem to be different. Business owners need results.

I primarily get hired to turn companies around because there are low employee engagement levels due to bad leadership.

People often join companies with great enthusiasm only to quit because of their leaders.

I personally know many participants in my training programmes who will even take a pay cut if they could just get rid of their manager.

The “Edelman Trust Barometer 2021” reveals that after a year of extraordinary turbulence with the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, systemic racism, and political instability, there is widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world.

So, we want people with principled behaviour and a strong sense of integrity in our work life.

But then why do we keep getting seduced by leaders without integrity?

In a book titled “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?, Thomas Chamorro-Premuzic offers some insights you might find interesting. His core premise is that we are all not serious about integrity.

People profess banalities about integrity but when they vote, they prioritise other traits. And his research shows that many of the qualities that attract us in leaders are actually entirely opposite to integrity.

We have a tendency to gravitate towards charismatic and magnetic personalities. These characters usually have huge egos, and captivate us with their megalomaniacal visions and grandiose ideas.

Yes, of course it’s perfectly plausible for a charismatic leader to be ethical.

But when you choose leaders based on their charm rather than their integrity, or their display of confidence rather than their actual competencies, you really shouldn’t be shocked if they become self-obsessed, once in power.

They will be comfortable with taking advantage of others just to advance their own self-interests. Now, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Another argument is on how people view the notion of leadership itself. It is repeatedly propagandised as the eventual destination that affords power and status.

So, many go for leadership positions just for fame, status, and personal financial gain. They are only interested in their own personal success.

And the more society puts leadership on a pedestal and proclaims that it is about being unselfish, and being people-centric, the more these individuals pretend to have integrity, just to climb the greasy pole.

But most pointedly, we have to realise that we ourselves are regularly flawed.

If we are simply driven by self-interest, when a leader emerges to placate our own needs, we are quick to abandon our principles.

I know that in business, I sometimes find myself tempted by compelling people, and I am just moments away from walking away from my own ethics.

Be clear. If you want better leaders, you must demand a higher level of competence and performance from them. But most of all, you need to get it together, and learn not to act in perpetual self-interest.

Remember this mantra, “…for things to change, I must change first!” - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.