Just Some Musings on . . . Leadership Studies Post-Trump
The readings on Trump and leadership undertaken for these blog posts prompted me to reflect on my 15 or so years of teaching leadership in university graduate programs. I determined that the topics important to examining Trump within the context of leadership did not relate well to much of the program content and readings in the leadership programs. The topics significant to examining Trump as a leader seemed not to the part of mainstream leadership studies (leadership research and leadership development programs) in my teaching experience. I am not suggesting that mainstream leadership studies do not cover these topics, just that they are more peripheral than central in my experience.… Read the rest
Are You a Caring Leader? (1)
Are you a caring leader? If so, do you care about? Or do you care for? Or do you care with? Can a caring leader be an effective leader? Is the idea of a caring leader incompatible with leading formal organizations, especially businesses? Is an ethic of care viable in our current society and polity?
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted me to examine the nature of caring leadership. Unlike other adjectives, like heroic, or authentic, or transactional, or transformational, one seldom sees the adjective caring modifying the noun leadership. Even the adjective relational, as in relational leadership, does not approach the nature of caring leadership although relationships are very important to caring.… Read the rest
Care Ethics and Business Management (2)
Are you a caring manager? Do you work for a caring company? This post may help answer these and related questions. It follows the first post, which outlined the ethics of care.
The relationship between business management and care ethics goes back a relatively long time but in a relatively silent way. The early, and to this day probably the most significant context, for care ethics in business focuses on stakeholder theory within the more general context of corporate governance.
Introduction
Care ethics challenges the neoclassical understanding of business. Friedman promulgated the principle that business organizations should focus solely on increasing shareholder value.… Read the rest
COVID-19: “A Blessing from God”
President Trump on Wednesday, October 7 released a direct-to-camera video address to the nation in which he called getting the coronavirus “a blessing from God.” His comment coincided with my reading a paper by Ceri Hughes. Hughes analyzed 175 Trump speeches and about 30,000 Trump tweets for use of religious language. Hughes surprised me when I learned that his earlier research determined that Trump used both general religious terms and “God terms” at a significantly higher rate than all his predecessors from and including Franklin Roosevelt.
In his current paper, Hughes suggests that “Trump appears to use religious language in a strategic manner in two central ways.… Read the rest
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