In my opinion, the Allegory of the Cave represents the idea of truth versus habit as a parallel with light versus shadow. Plato is using an extreme metaphor to symbolize how individuals only know about things in life that they have experienced. In other words, we as humans are trapped in what we believe are standard ethics that have been constructed by society. So I asked myself: what does this have to do with leadership? To begin with, I think that a leader must be capable of breaking free from the sheltered perspectives of the cave in order to see the bigger picture of the world. Additionally, a leader should be able to go back into the cave and teach an average person about all of the knowledge that comes with leaving the cave. These two qualities of a leader require skills that could even be argued to be charismatic, as it is not easy to convince a person that everything they have ever known has been incorrect.
On another note, I would like to point out the similarity between the arguments of Gardner and Mabey. Both authors believe that leaders must establish a strong connection to their followers in order to be successful. I was surprised to learn that that a main reason for the stagnation between corporate and governmental bureaucracies is the “assumption by line executives that, given their authority, they can lead without being leaders” (page 186). Garner then goes on to argue that this statement is untrue, that these line executives are given subordinates, but they must earn getting followers. When a person in authority mistakes their position of power for leadership, many problems could arise.
Mabey’s article mentioned the traditional leadership models through explaining the five theories of leadership: trait, organizational, vision, situational, and power. Although each theory has both pros and cons, I believe that the situational theory is very beneficial when it comes to leaders influencing their followers. Additionally, the power theory is interesting because while a leader can use their authority to “empower others,” they are actually just increasing their power base by making their followers more confident in the leader’s ideals.
I agree, I think that it is very important for a leader to be able to break free from their perspective and see what would benefit the greater good. This relates to both articles extremely well because the problem that we are facing with the divide between leaders and followers has to do with the fact that nobody is looking to the bigger picture. People need to stop thinking of their individual needs because in the end, what will benefit the greater good will often benefit them as well.