By Sandra J. Peart, Dean and E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies and President of the Jepson Scholars Foundation
As Aretha Franklin’s health was failing, accolades poured in. Her natural talent and hard work catapulted her to fame and made her the preeminent singer of her time. But she was so much more than that — she was an
Read moreMany leadership scholars argue that people who rely on coercion to obtain results are not leaders but rather despots. Tyrants are not leaders; by definition, leaders are moral. While this taxonomy is useful for examining truly persuasive leadership, it neglects
Read moreMany leaders seek to create factions because it is easier to lead a group of people who are fired up about those outside the group. Think about National Socialism or a leader’s call to fight the enemy. Churchill, Patton—these are
Read moreClose to a decade ago, I published an opinion piece in USA Today: “Ethics in an Uncivil Age” (30 September 2010). At the time, it seemed that we were at a watershed, when incivility was at an all-time high. Of
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