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Leadership Analysis
Nai-Chun Hsu
British Columbia Institute of Technology
LIBS 7010, Set F
March 3, 2009
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The main theme of the article “Leadership Theory and Human Nature” by Mostafa Rejai
and Kay Phillips is to illustrate the leadership revolution before and after World War 2 and the
human nature concepts associated with it. The authors suggested that the introduction of
democracy plays an important role in the leadership revolution and that leadership is necessary
because of bad human natures.
Rejai and Phillips constructed the article in two parts. They started the first part by
defining leadership. “Leadership refers to life experiences and life chances that (1) imbue a
person with a vision and a set of goals, (2) endow that person with the skill to articulate the
vision and the goals in such a way as to attract a significant following, (3) provide that person
with the skill to specify the means and to organize and mobilize the followers toward the
realization of the vision and the goals, and (4) give that person sufficient understanding of the
followers in order to devise and pursue goals that are rewarding to both the leader and the
followers” (page 1). The reason why this concept was used by the authors is because it contains
neutral values that apply to leadership theories presented by people from different background,
politics and beliefs.
Rejai and Phillips then examined and compared their leadership concepts to the ones
presented by other famous leadership philosophers such as Erikson and Machiavelli. The results
showed that the prewar leadership theories contained only the first two or three concepts
introduced by Rejai and Phillips. The prewar leaders used force or bribery to mobilize their
subjects and manipulation and persuasion to deceive them. For example, in “The Prince”,
Machiavelli stated that “One must know how to colour one’s actions and to be a great liar and
deceiver. Men are so simple, and so much creatures of circumstance, that the deceiver will
always find someone ready to be deceived.” (57 Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Penguin
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Classics). Machiavelli suggested that a wise prince should appear to have all the good leadership
qualities while maintaining a flexible disposition which allows him to do evil if necessary.
Machiavelli’s theories covered the first three concepts introduced by Rejai and Phillips but not
the last one. This is because his leadership theories devised and pursued goals that can only
reward the leaders but not the followers. The postwar leadership theories, on the other hand,
contained all four concepts introduced by the authors. Because of the spread of democracy,
postwar leaders not only need to have visions but also the ability to allow the followers to enjoy
working toward the goals. Rejai and Phillips included James MacGregor Burns’ work
“Leadership” (1978) and Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus’ leadership strategies (1985) to support
their theories.
Rejai and Phillips’ studies also correspond to the leadership theories presented by an
ancient Chinese warrior-philosopher Sun Tzu. In “The Art of War”, Master Sun suggested that
“So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain
victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.” (94. Sun Tzu. The
Art of War. Transl. Thomas Cleary. Shambhala Boston & London 2005). A wise leader should
have the ability to access the situations and adapt to them according to the needs. This idea also
applies to Rejai and Phillips’ studies. Although the prewar leaders did not have all the concepts
introduced by the authors, they were still good leaders. This is because according to the situation
back then, when the people were not that well educated and had no knowledge of democracy,
leaders could be successful and effective without practicing Rejai and Phillips’ concepts. They
did just enough to be good leaders for the time being. In today’s world, however, leaders do need
to have all the concepts introduced by the authors because people are more educated and have
more human rights (in most part of the world, at least). This is just like what Master Sun
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suggested because there is no universal law but only adaptability for governing and leading
people.
The second part of the article focused on discussing human nature and leadership
developments. Rejai and Phillips examined human nature concepts covered by Plato, Augustine
and Machiavelli. The authors agreed with all three leadership philosophers that human nature is
evil and self-destructive. Because of this, leadership is discovered and practiced to prevent or
slow down the process of human self-destruction. In “The Prince”, Machiavelli suggested that a
prince should have the ability to act like a lion or fox depending on the situation. A leader needs
to have the prowess to gain respect from the people and the enemies. A leader also needs to
practice the art of deception to avoid being trapped by his or her promises. The reason behind
this is because “If all men were good, this precept would not be good; but because men are
wretched creatures who would not keep their word to you, you need not keep your word to
them.” (57 Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Penguin Classics). In order to organize and govern
beings with ill characteristics, the leader sometimes needs to turn himself into evil. Leadership
theories have been developed through observing human nature and history. Because of the greed,
selfishness, destruction and corruption, human nature is often viewed negative. However, one
should not forget that human nature is actually two sided. Most of the people practice evil human
nature everyday to stay safe or competitive. But when the situation is pushed to the extreme,
people will eventually have a chance to practice the good human nature that hides deep in them
(for example, some parents are willing to sacrifice everything for the well being of their
children). Effective leaders should, therefore, practice different leadership skills to deal with
different evils or angels inside men.
From the above analyses one can see that democracy does play an important role in the
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revolution of leadership theories. The prewar leaders did have visions but often lacked the
practice of leader-follower interaction. The postwar leaders, on the other hand, usually practice
all four concepts introduced by Rejai and Phillips because they need to adapt to the modern
society where people are more educated and understand the meaning of democracy. By
examining Rejai and Phillips’ work, we can also conclude that human nature is the base of all
leadership theories. Whether or not human nature is evil is a matter of personal opinion and
belief. But one thing for certain is that leadership is discovered and developed to improve human
lives based on different human behaviors.