Leadership-Interview-Transkript - Sozialpsychologie - Goethe ...

know, growing up, we had a small business. And if you own a small business, if you don’t
work – you don’t make any money. I got used to work seven days a week. I got myself
through college and then worked there full time after graduation. I routinely worked seven
days a week throughout all the year. Whenever a client wanted to record at the studio, I would
be there. And most musicians like to record at night! So I would be there until the end of the
day. I think another thing that becomes really important from a leadership standpoint is the
idea of self-confidence and self-efficacy. Cause a lot of times you’ll have to be confident in
yourself, and then you have to convince other people to be confident as well. That’s a real
challenge. For whatever reason, they were able to impart to me this idea that I was extremely
confident, even in the absence of direct evidence that I should be so confident. There is some
kind of functional value from a leadership standpoint from being really, really confident in
yourself, because you often have to take risks, and you often have to espouse a vision that
people can see. If you express that confidence in what you do, then other people begin to
believe you. And then, a third thing that they really helped me to understand is the idea of
being independent and being entrepreneurial. Having a small business is a challenge, and I
think that served me well again. I think part of the leadership part is to have that confidence in
your own independent voice. And to be able to, when bad things are happening, to be able to
say ‘now, this is really what we should do’ and to be able to stand on your ground. Integrity
and trust, those are key attributes to be a good leader.
Rolf van Dick: I mean, what you described sounds like the family business and your parents
had to strive surviving in this business, but it also seems related to what you need as a
researcher, you need – or you do have a lot of autonomy, flexibility, you need to be
entrepreneurial, think about topics and you have to be hard working, of course. But would it
have equally suited you for a career, say, in a more bureaucratic organization, like in military
or civil service somewhere?
Frederick Morgeson: I think, maybe not in some highly bureaucratic organizations. Surely,
the work ethic and the self-confidence part, but not so surely the entrepreneurial and the
independence is what a lot of big organizations are looking for. Some are, of course, because
there are businesses about creating and innovation. So I think, one of the things I tell my
MBA students when I teach them is that you have to find, what your own unique sort of
leadership story is, and then o be able to articulate that. And then you’ll find the fit between
who you are, so you have to have some knowledge of who you are, but also what the
organization is. And to seek to find organizations that fit your own personal value system and
your own strengths. I work at university, which is a very bureaucratic organization, but in a
way that I can still be isolated from that kind of bureaucracy.
Rolf van Dick: Do you think in your context or in other contexts, there are specific times,
circumstances, situations, when leadership is needed more than in others?
Frederick Morgeson: Yeah, I think leadership is needed in times of crisis. I think leadership
is needed when there’s change. But the challenge is, that if you’re very successful, you’re the
least likely to change. And this is true for organizations. So, one statistic that I like is how
many fortune 100 companies stay on the list over time, and one analysis suggested – over a 20
year period – only about 30 of the 100 companies stayed on the list of the largest 100
companies of the world, suggested that with 70 companies, something somehow happened!
You’re in an environment that’s dynamic, and you need to be constantly adapting to that
environment. And then, most organizations don’t. I think you become a victim of your own
success, right? You’re not able to see that things are changing or if you see it you’re not able
to give up that source of your strength.