Jackson Parry - Leadership, Chp 3, 41-60.pdf

Follower·centred Perspectives on leadership 49.:bnonal or strucrural forces . In constructing leader images, they march... leader's characteristics with the performance of the finn.Consequently, the CEO of a successhtl firm will rend to be depicted withpmaive personal qualities, and vice versa.The 'celebrity CEO' phenomenon takes full advanrage of ourw:odencies to rornanricize leadership. In an increasingly complicated and.-personal world, the public face of a charismatic and appealing CEOc:an prove to be a highly effective means for a company to build a sym·WK link or brand with its various stakeholders, such as irs sharchold·ers.. its customers or its suppliers. A 'real' person provides the humanmuch that c:mnot be provided by a me re logo. It is almost impossible to.. think about Richard Branson without thinking about the VirginIsnnd and vice versa. Having a celebrity CEO at the helm can act as adouble·edged sword, however. It is difficul t to maintain confidence in an~ nizat i o n once the influential founde r moves on, as The Body Shopiound when Anita Roddick gave up control of the company. It's evenIIIOre of a challenge when your founder goes to jai l, as was demonstratedWl spectacular fashion with the imprisonment of Martha Stewart.~ emption can be a powerful morivaror as witnessed by the impressivemmaround in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. since he r release.The romance of leadership theory is particula rl y strong indesc ri bi ng a tendency for fo llowers to exaggerate rhe importance andmil uence of the leader in determining a group or organization's per·lOnnance. If things are going well, it's the leader's doing; if things are~mg badly, that is also the leader's doing. The theory also providessome useful insights into how this takes place, with its exposition of~ al construction and social contagion processes. \Vhere the theory ISDOt as strong is in explaining why this happens. The follow ing two theones- psychoana lytic theory and social identi ty theory - provide pointersas to why followe rs might choose to construCt leadershi p in the way:hey have bee n observed to do.pyschoanalylic theoriesunen we addrc!