***Trigger warning***
This blog post speaks about suicide. If this makes you uncomfortable, I understand if you’d refrain from reading. Thank you.
During the course of our learning, I have considered the multiple facets of being a leader. From our lesson on the trait approach, we learned about the darker side of leadership, the personality traits that do not equate one with being a strong leader. I could not help but to think of the truly dark side of leadership, I’m talking about cults. The particular cult I had been thinking about was the topic of conversation in a podcast I’ve been listening to, entitled Heaven’s Gate, which, as you may have inferred, is about the Heaven’s Gate cult. The demise of the Heaven’s Gate cult ended in suicide for thirty-nine members, including their leader, Marshall Applewhite. Although, to an average person, the idea of being in a cult seems outlandish, Applewhite and his partner Bonnie Lu Nettles had grasped certain aspects of leadership that were rather appealing to certain individuals. Using the skills approach, in particular the three skills model, I will show how individuals such as Nettles and Applewhite could lead a group of lost followers to certain death.
The first set of skills necessary to the three-skill approach are technical skills. A technical skill can be any proficiency in a certain type of activity (Northouse, 2016). While a technical skill could include knowledge of using actual technology, such as company-specific software, it could also mean being proficient in filling out tax forms or balancing a cash drawer (PSU, 2018). In the early 70s, Applewhite suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital in which Nettles worked as a nurse (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Nettles was very much interested in astrology, even writing an astrological chart in the local newspaper (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Nettles met Applewhite by reading his astrological chart, saying that their paths were aligned, and that their meeting was foretold by extraterrestrials (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Nettles’ technological skill of being able to read the stars is key to the beliefs of the Heaven’s Gate cult. As stated in our textbook, leaders who have great technical skills are important for lower and middle levels of management (Northouse, 2016). Technical skills are the means to produce any actual product a team is supposed to produce (Northouse, 2016). With her skills of star-reading, Nettles was able to produce the “facts” and predictions of which the Heaven’s Gate followers relied on.
Human skills are the next set of skills of the three-skills model. According to Northouse, human skills reflect one’s ability to work with people (2016). With the formation of Heaven’s Gate, Applewhite determined that his and Nettles’ followers should leave behind all their possessions and never speak with their families again (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Applewhite was a rather strict leader and persuaded his followers to lead an ascetic lifestyle (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). What made Heaven’s Gate different from other cults was that those who knew they weren’t able to follow the lifestyle were encouraged to leave (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Heaven’s Gate followers saw Applewhite as a teacher, and they wanted to make him proud, and show how loyal they were to him, which follows the definition of human skills, of which the leader can make their ideas fit with the ideas of other individuals (Northouse, 2016). Using his human skills, even if the predictions made by Nettles proved to be false, Applewhite was able to make sure they didn’t lose followers by telling them they had been tested by extraterrestrials (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Applewhite was able to encourage Heaven’s Gate members to rely on him and Nettles for housing, clothing, and food (Heaven’s Gate members gave their income to Applewhite and Nettles), as well as familial support (Heaven’s Gate members were encouraged to leave their families). This fits the criteria of human skills as well because Applewhite determined the needs of his followers, and filled the gaps wherever necessary.
The final skill of the three-skills approach are conceptual skills, or to work with ideas and concepts (Northouse, 2016). These skills are essential in order for an organization to have a plan or a goal (Northouse, 2016). At the beginning, Heaven’s Gate was not a suicide cult. It wasn’t until after the natural death of Nettles that Applewhite became fixated on the idea that death would take him and his followers to the “Next Level,” (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). The Next Level meant that he and his followers would be taken to another planet to reach Heaven (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). The main reason this idea came about was because of the Hale-Bopp comet, which was approaching Earth; Applewhite thought the comet was a sign from Nettles, that she was riding the tail of the comet and that death would be the best path to reach her (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). Applewhite used his conceptual skills to show his followers that suicide was the best path to become enlightened (Heppermann & Washington, 2017). The reason the followers of Heaven’s Gate did not think Applewhite was insane or evil in telling them that suicide was the only option is because Applewhite used his conceptual skills to determine a new goal for the Heaven’s Gate cult.
Using the skills approach, Applewhite and Nettles used their conceptual skills, technical skills, and human skills to lead the Heaven’s Gate cult. Although we hope that leaders have our best intentions in mind, we unfortunately have to keep in mind our own safety and levels of comfort. A leader is not always going to be the most helpful, altruistic person in a group, but the person who has the most valued skills in a group. In the Heaven’s Gate cult, Applewhite and Nettles had the skills necessary to lead a group of people who simply wanted to belong, who wanted to get something more out of life. It is our job as a society to become masterful in our own skills to become better leaders, and shut down bullying, manipulation, and violence.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE Publications.
Pennsylvania State University. (2018) PSYCH 485: Leadership in Work Settings. Lesson 4: Skills Approach. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1925331/modules/items/23786510
Hepperman, A. & Washington, G. (2017). Episodes 1-10. Heaven’s Gate. Podcast retrieved from https://www.heavensgate.show
kmm6507 says
The dark side of leadership is such a fascinating subject to me, so thank you for introducing me to a new podcast!
While Applewhite’s conceptual skills were a key part of transitioning the mission of Heaven’s Gate, I would argue that his social perceptiveness and social performance were equally important (Northouse, 2016, p. 50). Applewhite would have had to understand his followers, anticipate their reaction to the change, and mitigate their concerns just to maintain order amongst his followers. I was not able to find any articles about Marshall Applewhite using violence, threats, or physical coercion to convince his followers to take their lives. Assuming that is true, Applewhite must have possessed a high level of social judgment skills.
As you pointed out, a huge difference between Heaven’s Gate and other cults is the dismissal of those who were “unable to follow the lifestyle.” Any understanding of an outside or conflicting viewpoint is unusual from a cult leader. Jim Jones and David Koresh both considered criticism or defection to be severe betrayal. Perspective taking, one of the social judgment skills outlined in our text, is defined as “being sensitive to other people’s perspectives and goals (Northouse, 2016, p. 49).” The Heavens Gate website, which is surprisingly still active, even includes a section called “Why It Is Difficult to Believe or Accept Us (TELAH Services).”
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications Inc.
TELAH Services. (n.d.). Do’s Intro: Purpose – Belief. Retrieved from Heaven’s Gate: How and Why It May Be Entered: http://www.heavensgate.com/misc/intro.htm