Briefly describe the “Leadership Crisis” to which Wren refers.

Respond to the following two post using what I wrote to reference:

POST 1: Briefly describe the “Leadership Crisis” to which Wren refers.
The “Leadership Crisis” as I understand it is a complex web of ineffective or mediocre leaders in today’s titled positions of power, coupled with a lack of clear standards regarding what constitutes effective leadership and how we “measure, recruit, or reject it.” (Wren, 1995, p. 9), and a dearth of formal training or education on leadership. Burns (pp. 8-10) argues that we know too much about the celebrity related to leaders but very little about the institution of leadership itself. Cronin (pp. 27-32) lambasts higher education in his essay citing ten frequently used reasons for not teaching leadership. Cutuo (pp. 11-17) argues that citizen leaders are a powerful counterbalance to ineffectual leadership in our traditional institutions, but paints a grim picture of the lack of recognition and obstacles for the citizen leader.
What is your opinion about Wren’s “Leadership Crisis” and why?
If a person didn’t know these essays were written two decades ago, they could easily think these words were ripped from the headlines of today. I completely agree with the sentiments here that there is a leadership crisis and I believe that people are hungry for honest, humble, and effective leaders in all strata of society. I am curious to learn more about Servant Leadership and Greenleaf’s thoughts. His statement, “A new moral principle is emerging which holds that the only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader.” (Wren, p. 20). I think regardless of one’s political persuasion, at the heart we all are seeking leaders who are worthy of leading us and to whom we give that power.
If you support Wren’s argument that the United States is in the middle of a “Leadership Crisis,” how did this crisis develop? Do this week’s lecture notes support a more current view of the leadership crisis?
Wren’s essays hinted at the fact that the leader alone does not make leadership. Rather, “…leadership is a complex phenomenon involving the leader, the followers, and the situation.” (p. 41). I found Gallup’s research to be very compelling and I believe it supports the notion that what we (society) believe is leadership and where we look to for sources of leadership are constantly evolving in response to historical events, thinking, and beliefs of that era. I am not sure the crisis has developed so much as it has evolved? For many years it appeared the public believed that those in elected office were examples of leadership. As we all know that belief has sharply declined. What has risen, however, is the belief in small business leaders. One could overlay historical/social/and economic events and beliefs over these statistics and likely paint a picture of how leadership is viewed throughout decades and what we believe constitutes a leader. I could see how this can be construed as a Leadership Crisis as what some of one generation believes to be good leadership can be wildly different from a different generation’s beliefs.

According to Nahavandi (2015), what are some obstacles to effective leadership that may contribute to the crisis?
I feel like what’s underpinning all of the reasons Nahavandi cited (uncertainty, rigid and unforgiving structures, old ideas and simplistic solutions, org culture, and application of research) is constant evolution and change. The fact that the world, society, business, politics, etc. are constantly evolving makes it challenging for effective leadership to be defined and rise to the surface:
Things are changing so fast, individuals and organizations feel there is no time to learn the hard-won lessons of leadership (Uncertainty)
Leaders have failed in the past, and in order to avoid costly failure or simply not believing failure can be fruitful, they become rigid and unforgiving about mistakes. But evolution and progress are founded on trial and error.
Old ideas about leadership are adopted by those organizations and institutions who deny that leadership effectiveness can be defined differently throughout time.
Established and ingrained cultural norms in organizations do not allow for the evolution of leadership effectiveness
and keeping up with, and applying, evolving academic research is a daunting task by leaders whose primary focus is the bottom line and not academic pursuits.
POST 2: Briefly describe the “Leadership Crisis” to which Wren refers.
The leadership crises explained by Wren is about the mediocrity and irresponsibility of leaders/people in power. He states, “the fundamental crisis underlining mediocrity is intellectual” (Wren, 1995, p. 9).
What is your opinion about Wren’s “Leadership Crisis” and why?
In my opinion, I agree with Wren that there is definitely a crisis with leadership. There is a common issue, and that is that not everybody is agreeing on how to measure leadership. As he mentioned, “we cannot agree even on the standard by which to measure, recruit, and reject it” (Wren, 1995, p. 9). For this reason, I believe leadership standards have fluctuated and in reality, are much lower than they should be.
If you support Wren’s argument that the United States is in the middle of a “Leadership Crisis,” how did this crisis develop? Do this week’s lecture notes support a more current view of the leadership crisis?
I agree that “leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth” (Wren, 1995, p. 9). I don’t think that there is one main reason for the leadership crisis, but I believe that one reason for this crisis developed due to the lack of standards. The lecture notes support this idea as each chart declined in numbers throughout the years when it came to the confidence people had in the leaders for different groups/categories.
According to Nahavandi (2015), what are some obstacles to effective leadership that may contribute to the crisis?
One of the biggest obstacles to effective leadership that may contribute to the crisis is the continuous cycle of people following successful leaders rather than effective leaders. It seems as people feel like success is what defines a good leader. However, we need to learn that effective leaders become more productive and ultimately reach their goals. (Nahavandi, 2015).

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