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Leadership Go Wrong

In: Business and Management

Submitted By ritahuang1315
Words 866
Pages 4
Enron, Hurricane Katrina Examples of Leadership Gone Wrong

Poor crisis leadership was on display after Hurricane Katrina and during the financial crisis

The New Orleans masses who huddled in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, the Enron retirees who lost their life savings, and the laid-off workers buried under the economic ruin of financial companies all live with a simple truth. Just as spectacularly as great leadership can spark success, failed leadership can bring down cities, businesses, and economies.

The collapse of major financial companies starting with Bear Stearns, the stunningly botched reaction to Katrina, the inept federal response to tips about Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and the financial sleight of hand that brought down Enron are only the latest examples of leadership failure. "We keep making the same stupid mistakes, generation after generation," says William Baker, who holds a doctorate in industrial psychology and is the journalist in residence at Fordham University.

Many of the most stunning leadership disasters have common ingredients, such as executives who lack integrity and build organizational cultures where dissent isn't heard. "Leadership is not position. It's moral authority. Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect," says Stephen Covey, author of several bestselling books on leadership and self-improvement, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Baker, author of Leading With Kindness, agrees that massive failures often can be traced back to leaders who don't listen.

The financial meltdown, which started with risky financial deals and ended with millions of everyday people losing jobs or homes, was an example. "When the Mercedes was coming right up to the cliff, there were plenty of people who knew. They were either afraid

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