How Frank or Deceptive(adj.欺骗性的) Should Leaders Be?
People raise questions about the appropriate posture for leaders under conditions in which they themselves may harbor(v.持有)pessimism(n.悲观) about the future. And they call out for more attention to ways in which economics intersects with psychology.
How frank should leaders be? Jim Collins emphasizes the importance of organizations facing "the brutal(adj.残酷的) facts" about causes of mediocre(adj.普普通通的) performance. On the other hand, there may be reasons why good leaders have to have an optimistic bias. As one CEO put it in a meeting last week, "I can't lead from a position of pessimism." Even though CEOs may harbor doubts about the future performance of their organization, how candid(adj.无偏见的，公正的) can they be in expressing those doubts? The ability of a naturally pessimistic (or perhaps more realistic) CEO to adversely affect everything from market reactions to employee morale and motivation may be substantial, thereby creating the wrong kind of self-fulfilling prophecy(一种直接或间接造成它本身成真的预言) .
That is why we might ask whether, when President Franklin Roosevelt said at a particularly dark point during the Great Depression that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," did he really believe that or was he trying to exercise good leadership by creating a positive prophecy by means of some comforting words? We applaud candor(n.坦白) while sometimes penalizing those who pursue it. Exhibit A is President Barack Obama, whose candor (assuming he really believes what he is saying about the potential length and depth of the current downturn) has been rewarded with further deterioration in a number of indicators, not the least of which(最重要的) is the stock market.
What's the fine line that leaders have to walk between transparency and candor on the one hand and the need to create self-fulfilling prophecies and confidence through stories on the other? To what degree do leaders owe it to others in their organizations to mask personal negative feelings in an effort to inspire good performance? How frank or deceptive should leaders be? What do you think?
