Leadership: idiosyncrasies and vulnerabilities

In the study of leadership traits of great or even the not so great men reveals that in variably all of them have some quality habit or characteristic that distinguishes them fromthecrowd. Their respective insignia sometimes get identified with their personality; the 'V' sign by Churchill is almost patented with his heroic role for Britain during the Second World War. These characteristics can be both negative and positive. Many a time, leaders mask their vulnerabilities marked by a particular trait. The desire to appear infallible is so domineering that leaders hide behind a facade of aloofness to cover some weaknesses either inherent in their personalities, or some that are acquired. Emperor Hirohito of Japan, following the defeat in the Second World War became a hermit and made rare appearances before public, for to the Japanese he was 'sun-god', who they believed couldn't be defeated. And a 'sun-god' culturally cannot afford to be visible to all and sundry. It is the distancing fromthe ordinary Japanese that an aura of infallibility was built around his persona.
In his treatise, 'Leaders and Leadership', Emory S. Bogardus states, 'the study of leadership is bifocal, one part of the picture is found in the leader and personality traits... the other in social group. Leadership is found in the group demand for direction in crises. Together personality and group write the story of leadership'.
The anti-leadership traits like indifference, timidity, affectation, egotism, fickleness, stubbornness, to mention a few have been deployed by politicians (leaders) as part of their personality to either advance their power or to hide some weaknesses.
Leadership is not confinedto the political arena alone; there are corporate leaders, social leaders, community leaders, religious leaders etcwho equally use the anti leadership traits to create fear, aura and blind adulation. However for the purposes of this piece and analysis I will restrict to examining political leadership.
Leadership emerges out of purpose, chaos, causes, or through the barrel of gun. Leadership out of expediency is mostly portrayed positivelyto make it look pragmatic but essentially it is devoid and expunged of all principles. The darkest period of the Zia years in our own country's history is a case in point. Self styled as 'righteous leadership' he and his men played havoc with the social and moral fabric of the nation. The price of which we continue to pay as a beleaguered country that has terrorism striking at its roots.
Power is corruptible. It therefore needs and must submit to some higher authority that must necessarily be inclinedtowards morality and is not undone either by the exuberance of success or the fear of failure.
Jean Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, had made an observation that in the absence of a father, the child is pushed to making his own decision of critical impact, that ultimately go towards building the character and personality traits. Such individual, Sartre says, when thrown into the arena to lead, suffer from extreme bouts of loneliness. Historians believe that a good relationship with one parent and a negative relation with another also significantly impacts and influences in the making of person. Josef Stalin's mother loved him to a fault while his father in a state of drunkenness would savagely beat him every day. It therefore is no wonder that Stalin felt no remorse in sending millions to the Gulag in Siberia.
Margaret Thatcher, the Iron lady, did not enjoy a pleasant relationship with her mother. They remained distanced allthrough their lives. Against this, she always looked upto her father; she admired him and would never falter to publicly acknowledge it. Upon her election as PM, she had declared, 'well of course, I just owe everything to my father.'
Those who misuse power are anarchists who according to James Buchanan, 'if there is evil in history, it is the power principle. For this reason, the state and its rulers must be liquidated if needbe by violent means.' Success intoxicates particularly of military might to a level where it misleads leaders to an extent that they begin to look at their soft-inflated ego as the will of nation. Therefore, Alexander, whom history accords appellation of being 'Great' in his state of drunkenness, had ordered the palace of Persepolis, its treasures of literature and Persian culture, to be set on fire. Hitler's massacre in cold blood of millions of Jews, the heart breaking killing fields of Cambodia, under Pol-pot regime and the revolutions in Russia and China with their aftermath of heaped bodies, the cumulative count of human death would numb a mind. Leadership with negative over tones displays callous attitude towards human lives.
If Caesar indulged in machinations to crown himself, Napoleon didnot. 'I found the crown of France lying in the gutter. I picked it up with my sword', said Napoleon Bonaparte.
In contrast, Abraham Lincoln who went on to emerge as one of the few finest presidents of the USA, was a big time loser till he struggled his way through to the White House. But he did zero deployment of negative tendencies. He represents in history as a leader with a unique sense of justice, always willing to pardon in spite of the power to do otherwise. Some leaders mobilise the good in men, others encourage the evil.
Physical attributes also contribute towards personality development both negatively and positively. De-Gualle with his imposing height said less because he could literally 'look down' upon his adversary, while Napoleon who barely was five feet tall had to 'look up' to his opponents. Napoleon's short stature and general lack of other physical endowments contributedheavily towards his mental makeup. Later, almost a century later, Hitler remained a silent admirer of Napoleon. Hitler was comparatively short stature. This feeling of inadequacy gave impetus to negative tendencies to be ruthless. Napoleon was a master crafter of engaging at the level of emotions and sentiments. It is said that when a colleague of his commented that Napoleon creates honours muskets, trumpets, honorary bastions, all baubles of vanity, he was infuriated. He proclaimed 'it is with baubles that men are led. Do you think you could make menfight by analytical argument? Never. That is good for scholar in his study.' Leaders to mask their lack of qualities believe in treating men with acknowledgements. Reward and flatter them.
There is pride in humility. Most leaders fail to accept this sublime principle of human engagement. Hitler had charisma built out of fear; he believed in intimidation and domination. Whilst in conversation he would stare at people and would tirelessly make sure not to display blinking eyes; for to him, it meant acceptance of lack of confidence. His fearsome charisma only developed further by his military conquests. Sir Ian Kershaw, the official biographer, described his state of mind by 1936 as one of 'narcissistic- self glorification'. Hitler had adopted an aura of unapproachability; pretending again to be infallible. He would with precision avoid anything that was unpopular or could make him appear as vulnerable. He never wore glasses in public, for he believed it would alter his superman image amongst the masses.
Contrastingly, Churchill had complete disdain for how he looked or what clothing he would wear; a total refusal to looking good with a decent physical appearance. Hitler detested smoking whilst Churchill and Stalin were barely seen without their character representative cigars between their fingers.
Winston Churchill emerged as a strong war time leader. In an environment of peace he found no role for himself. His rhetoric skills mobilised people and upped their morale during the war. On a personal front he had tense relations with his off-springs and could find peaceful refuge only by hunting and painting. Hitler's regimented behaviour and longer hours at the office developing his political career gave way to idiosyncratic tendencies and personally indulgent life.
Franklin Roosevelt emerged with a stronger personality after a long struggle with polio. FDR however was very conscious to not let anyone see his pain or struggle, again the vulnerability was too risky to be made a matter of public debate.
Winston Churchill in his biography of John Churchill had written that famous people were usually the outcome of an unhappy childhood. The stern compression in circumstances, the twinge of adversity, the spur of lights and thoughts in early years are needed to evoke a ruthless fixity of purpose and tenacious mother wit without which great action was seldom accomplished. Ironically Churchill attended several schools and never could adjust hence had an unhappy and isolated childhood. Hitler too known for lack of any academic achievement led an undisciplined school life. Mao covered for his lack of schooling by meeting all foreign visitors in his study/library surrounded by books lying all over the place; he however later in life became a voracious reader- intellectual. Zhou en Lai was known for his very warm and longdurations handshakes. Pakistanis haven't forgotten how he refused to let go of Begum Nusrat Bhutto's hand upon arrival at Beijing airport alongside ZAB. His warm handshake was done to cover the fact that his left hand was totally paralysed to a degree that it actually appeared to have stuck to his body. He had no movement in his left hand. So to prove his strength he held firm handshakes. Vulnerability masked!
Richard Nixon in his book 'The Leaders' mentions that Nikita Khrushchev invited him to dine in the informal sitting of his dacha on the outskirts of Moscow and this was during the height of the Cold War, Nikita while cooking for Nixon would narrate jokes and laugh and follow that up with a punch in his stomach. Initially, the force applied in the punch thought Nixon was accidental but when it was being oft repeated, he realised it was deliberate and then Nixon decided to narrate a joke or two and severely punched Nikita hard in the stomach; only then did Nikita check himself. Here was a leader settling his score with his opponent rather crudely. Nikita's act of banging her shoe at the rostrum in the United Nations general assembly was reflective of an erratic and idiosyncratic personality.
Personally I experienced attention of power in the 6th grade at school, when as class monitor the class teacher asked me to mark test papers of my class mates in the 'match the following test'. To quote Jeffery Archer, 'I was allowed to ring the school bell for five minutes until everyone was in assembly.' It was the beginning of power.
Leadership and its related idiosyncrasies, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and all formats of lack of quality traits shall always remain inseparable.