Leadership without Ethics: Why Hitler was no Authentic Leader

One reason for the numerous misperceptions about Authentic Leadership is that people think they know what it entails. Most have a faint idea of authenticity (the ascription used most often is “being yourself”) and assume it refers to leaders acting according to their inner self. Some might expand by saying authentic leaders act upon their inner values in a consistent manner. But this leads immediately to the most often quoted objection: “if authentic leaders are those whose actions are aligned with their beliefs then Adolf Hitler was a very authentic leader.”

People who say that invariably assume that:

1.      Authenticity equals Authentic Leadership

2.      Authentic Leaders can be authentically unethical/immoral/evil

 

Both statements are incorrect.

 

The authentic person is the foundation for an Authentic Leader, however the interactive nature of a leadership role adds several dimensions to the pure self-referential aspect of ‘self’.  Authentic leaders do not live in a glass bubble in which they decide what their personal commandments are going to be (this would represent the ‘authentic person’ only). They are leading others after all, and they conceive the input for their decision making processes through a complex analysis of their group’s situational needs, followers’ opinions and emotional states. Before we ask what values authentic leaders follow, we need to ask how they arrive at the motives and beliefs as basis for action. Yes, Authentic leaders have their own paradigms  but they integrate opinions, thoughts and emotions from others. They are open and transparent towards their subordinates, which includes admitting to mistakes in an appropriate manner, and cooperation for the achievements of the group.

ad 1.      Authentic Leadership is more complex than authenticity alone. Through the social aspect of their role, authentic leaders focus on authentic relationships between themselves and their associates based on trust and integrity. Their values are other-directed and adaptive to the needs of the situation and their followers.

 

(Hitler, in turn was a charismatic narcissist, which means that he was in love with his own ego whilst attracting people like light attracts moths. He exclusively focused on his own selfish agenda instead of the needs of his people and was therefore neither an authentic person nor an authentic leader. )

 

Second, Authentic leadership is an extension of Burn’s original concept of “Transformational Leadership”, where the transformational leader is "high on moral character, as leading on end-values of justice and liberty”, seeing “leadership as distinct from mere power-holding and as the opposite of brute power". Most scholars agree that the concept of an Authentic Leader who is ethically neutral or even evil is illogical because of the leader’s high levels of self-awareness of means and ends. The idea of a leader who is self-reflecting and has the ability to gaining a true understanding of himself and his impact on others, is inconsistent with a low level of moral development.

ad 2.      Authentic Leaders cannot be understood without a moral connotation due to their high level of self-awareness. This awareness of her feelings, thoughts and motives lead to ethical reasoning and self-regulatory processes. Authentic Leaders have the ability to both focus on results whilst adhering to ethical standards.

 

(Hitler’s lack of ethical reasoning goes back to his low self-awareness, empathy and interest in others. He was unethical in thoughts and actions, exploiting the situation of his followers in the most brutal manner to reach his goals.)

 

Authentic leaders per definition are not unethical because their very nature involves a complex understanding of their moral responsibility as leaders. Other counter-arguments to the question of morality in Authentic Leadership include references to research about the connection between authentic leadership and positive emotions, follower’s attributions and Leadership Development Levels.

To say that Authentic Leaders can be authentically evil is a very narrow, simplistic view of that concept; it misses the point, changes its meaning, and picks at one of many characteristics of Authentic Leaders. The notion of an Authentic Leader who is self-aware, open with his followers, unbiased in her understanding of the world and morally sound might be incomprehensible for many.

These leaders nevertheless exist.

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