With Great Power: A Post-Heroic Approach to Leadership

Written By Sara Plett

Wonder Woman Illustration by Roy Reyna

Imagine a superhero. She saves the town, single handedly, and possesses powers that make her stronger than the citizens that occupy her territory.

She considers her constituents to be inferior, for her intelligence, bravery, and rationale far surpass theirs. Her accomplishments are hers alone. Her actions are powerful enough to impact everyone within her radius, and whether it be for good or bad, her subordinates will be at the whim of her will.

This concept inspired the term “heroic leadership”. Rather than a courageous savior, within this framework, a “hero” symbolizes a person who interacts with employees in a “unidirectional, top-down influencing process, [with] a clear line of separation between leaders and followers”.(1)

In theory, a heroic leader has superior intelligence, which justifies his position. His leadership style relies on adherence and conformity.(2) He expects workers to automatically comply with his wishes and execute his vision, as he is their source of direction and wisdom. He sees his employees as supporters rather than viewing himself as someone who could offer support. His focus is on production.(3) To him, success is only found in the completion of monetary goals. He depends on being revered as a hero, relying on workers’ indoctrination to maintain his position of authority. He is the most confident, but not necessarily the most competent.

Heroic leadership is the current standard. Three international researchers studied interviews with CEOs published in Harvard Business Review. Their findings: over 90% of interviewed business leaders shared “epic” stories about powerful, heroic individuals on quests. Their stories detailed accounts of lone heroes–who successfully complete goals without aid, therefore “fairly” retaining all of the glory.

The authors argue that HBR “legitimates and condones the practices of a select few business leaders, and thus gives substance and importance to the work CEOs do by shaping managerial culture to celebrate them as its gods and heroes. It offers aspiring members of managerial culture the knowledge they need to one day take the role of hero in the myths that will be retold by the next generation”.(4) Therefore, this figure is significant, as these epics shape leadership practices.

 

“Leadership is not defined by the exercise of power but by the capacity to increase the sense of power among those led. The most essential work of the leader is to create more leaders.” (5)

Mary Parker Follett

 

How effective is heroic leadership in practice?

Scientific literature has been discussing this form of leadership for decades.

Matt Andrews, leadership and government historian, wrote about the nature of the heroic leader. He argues that leaders are “at least as much the product of their contexts as they turned out to be the shapers of such”, meaning that “non-heroes impact heroes just as much as heroes impact them.(6)

This means that leaders are not the individual catalysts of change. Andrews uses Singapore as a historical example. Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore, is often credited with transforming the nation from a developing country into a highly developed one. While it’s true he had a positive impact on the community, Andrews argues that the circumstances had to be right for the prime minister to make a change. Andrews says, “Champions are often more effective where…an appetite and demand exists for change…Where these kinds of contextual factors are lacking, even the most well-intentioned champion will struggle to provide leadership needed for change.”(7)

Academic theorist Robert Bahlieda has similar thoughts, writing, “history was viewed as being created by the actions of great men…[and] the role of all others (and particularly women) was more often ignored, dismissed, or demonized”(8). As a concept, the heroic approach offers an incomplete view of leadership. Heroic leaders cannot drive overarching change alone; it requires the effort of the collective.

Mitch McCrimmon, who has authored three leadership books, argues that heroic leadership has a place and a time. Because post-heroic leadership requires group participation and consensus, it can be a time-consuming process. When decisions must be made quickly, heroic leadership may be at an advantage.

Regardless of their stance, each scholar and writer seems to agree: a society that idolizes its leader as infallible becomes vulnerable to manipulation by someone driven solely by self-interest.

Heroic leadership alone is not working. What’s next?

 

The Move to Post-Heroic Leadership

Post-heroic leadership shifts the focus from the leader to the group.

In doing so, authors Charles C. Manz and Hendry Sims argue that leaders become stronger, as they can now utilize the knowledge and skills of many.(9) Applying the strengths and ideas of each worker prepares organizations to succeed, with this research study finding that agile cultures increased company commercial performance by nearly 300%.(10)

At their core, “post-heroic leaders are facilitators”.(11) They utilize team strengths by asking strategic questions: “what support do you need?”,“what are your biggest challenges?”, and “what is missing from our process?”. Rather than amplifying their own solution, the post-heroic leader knows how to ask questions to extract the team’s. It is a humble approach that requires the acknowledgement that others may have better ideas. In the words of John Hagel III, “good leadership is about asking good questions”.

A post-heroic leader’s emphasis is on growing people rather than producing money.(12) Manz and Sims argue that we must “transcend the notion of leaders as heroes and focus instead on leaders as hero-makers”.(13) In this philosophy, the leader exists to support the efforts of the team, and not the other way around.

JW Rayhons put it simply: “You don’t work for me, we work together. We work with each other.”

 

…Comes Great Responsibility

Leadership often requires a mix of approaches.

A strict post-heroic leadership style may work in theory, but in practice, each company has different needs. Regardless of the specific leadership ideology or trend, it seems that leadership is slowly but surely moving away from an autocratic style and toward an egalitarian one.

Where a heroic leader receives sole credit for the efforts of many, a post-heroic leader understands and celebrates the value and work of the team. Leadership author Simon Sinek states: “Good leaders share the credit when things go well and take responsibility when things go badly.”(14)

 

Citations:

(1) SOBRAL, FILIPE, and LILIANE FURTADO. “A Liderança Pós-Heroica: Tendências Atuais e Desafios Para o Ensino de Liderança.” Revista de Administração de Empresas 59, no. 3 (June 2019): 209–14. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0034-759020190306.

(2) Charles C. Manz and Henry P. Sims, “Superleadership: Beyond the Myth of Heroic Leadership,” Organizational Dynamics 19, no. 4 (March 1991): 18–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(91)90051-a.

(3) Joyce Fletcher, “The Paradox of Post Heroic Leadership: Gender Matters,” Center for Gender in Organizations , 2003.

(4) Mary Jo Hatch, Monika Kostera, and Andrzej K. Koźimiński, “The Three Faces of Leadership:: Manager, Artist, Priest,” Science Direct, 2006, https://www-sciencedirect-com.uccs.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0090261605000665.

(5) Rbudd, “Dr. Carolan McLarney: Mary Parker Follett on Leadership,” Dalhousie University, March 27, 2018, https://blogs.dal.ca/cege/2018/03/27/dr-carolan-mclarney-mary-parker-follett-on-leadership/.

(6) Matthew Andrews, “Going beyond Heroic-Leaders in Development,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2281322.

(7) Matthew Andrews, “Going beyond Heroic-Leaders in Development,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2281322.

(8) BAHLIEDA, ROBERT. “IDEOLOGY, LEADERSHIP, AND CAPITALISM.” Counterpoints 524 (2018): 49–104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45177706.

(9) Charles C. Manz and Henry P. Sims, “Superleadership: Beyond the Myth of Heroic Leadership,” Organizational Dynamics 19, no. 4 (March 1991): 18–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(91)90051-a.

(10) Agile Business, “State of Agile Culture Report 2023,” Agile Business Consortium, 2023, https://www.agilebusiness.org/resource-report/state-of-agile-culture-report-2023.html.

(11) Mitch McCrimmon, “Is Heroic Leadership All Bad?,” Ivey Business Journal, 2010, https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/is-heroic-leadership-all-bad/#:~:text=Heroic%20leaders%20use%20the%20power,for%20the%20groups%20they%20manage.

(12) Joyce Fletcher, “The Paradox of Post Heroic Leadership: Gender Matters,” Center for Gender in Organizations , 2003.

(13) Charles C. Manz and Henry P. Sims, “Superleadership: Beyond the Myth of Heroic Leadership,” Organizational Dynamics 19, no. 4 (March 1991): 18–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-2616(91)90051-a.

(14) Simon Sinek, “Best Quotes by Simon Sinek All in One Place,” Simon Sinek’s Optimism Company, 2023, https://simonsinek.com/quotes/.

Sara Plett
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