The Corruption of Leadership

Historically, the idea of a leader is something that has always been painted in a positive light. From the early kings of civilization to the president and world leaders we have today, leaders have signified strength and a symbol for unity of the people. Hence why they are usually referred to as “Pillars of the Community” because they figuratively hold the community up. However, much like many abstract ideas, the idea of leadership is neither a good or bad idea it purely comes down to how it is applied. In the Northouse text, Burn’s in 1978 defined leadership as “the reciprocal process of mobilizing by persons with certain motives and values, various economic, political, and other resources, in a context of competition or conflict, in order to realize goals independently or mutually held by both leaders and followers” (Northouse, 2021, pg. 42). Taking this definition in the context of a leader like Adolf Hitler you start to notice connections.

Breaking it down he is stating that a leader with their own distinct motives and values mobilizes economic power, political power, and other resources in a concerted effort to realize goals held either purely by the leader or by both leader and follower. Adolf Hitler was originally an inspiring artist who joined the Nazi political party to rise to a place of significant political power. He had his own motives for wanting to gain political power but he grew up during an era where his country experienced it’s worst economic period in history and after studying leaders like Ghandi he understood the power that an idea can have on a group of people. Yet, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, Hitler “showed traits that characterized his later life: loneliness and secretiveness” (Britannica.com, 2021) from an early age. These are typically not traits associated with a leader and especially not someone who was later classified as having “charismatic personality and dynamic leadership [style]” (Britannica.com, 2021). So how did Hitler become so popular?

Like I previously mentioned, Hitler was known to be an extremely charismatic figure inspiring loyalty in the droves of followers that were part of the Third Reich. He was able to mobilize Germany’s economic, political, and other resources by becoming a key member of the party and using political propaganda to become the face of influence for the masses . Originally, many of Hitler’s associates were threatened by his quick rise in power and tried to “curb his enthusiasm” but he threatened to resign from the party and as the party depended heavily on him to organize publicity and secure funding they were incredibly reluctant to let him go and as such gave him unchecked power in the party (Britannica.com, 2021). What is interesting is that his personal ambition slowly became the ambition of the country due to his overwhelming charisma. Looking at footage from speeches given during the Hitler regime it is clear he is an extremely expressive figure who uses pathos as his primary form of persuasion. He was extremely proficient at sparking emotion and even just watching footage of his speeches you can see how easy it might have been to get swept up in his narrative.

Now, when I say Hitler is charismatic it was not the be-all end-all to how he rose to power. It would be extremely easy to write off the numerous factors that came together as something as simple as “he is a charismatic leader” but it’s more complicated than that. However, his charisma did have a large, LARGE effect on how his popularity skyrocketed. In a study conducted by Jung and Sosik (2006) the findings helped classify traits that charismatic leaders have; these traits are “self monitoring, engagement to impression management, motivation to attain social power, and motivation to attain self-actualization” (Northouse, 2021, p.82). Many of these traits can be seen in Hitler, primarily the last two. Hitler’s motivation to obtain social power was relentless to the point that it scared his own party into trying to shut him down (Britannica.com,2021). Hitler had also always been strongly motivated to discover his passion, first in art and then in the political sphere. In each sphere, he expressed many aspirations and a desire for power and social standing (Britannica.com, 2021). Even going so far as to write a biography called “Mein Kampf” which in German translates directly to “My Struggle” in an effort to further self-actualize. Understanding the traits behind his powerful sense of charisma can help us better understand how leaders are given power and whether they deserve the power they are given. Or are they able to seize power by convincing enough people to follow them?

Finally, I wanted to end on a personal note and take a more informal stance. Looking at powerful leaders throughout history many have understood the power of symbols. The swastika, for instance, is a symbol associated with Nazi Germany which has come to represent hate, zealotry, and bigotry worldwide. However, much in tune with the theme of this blog post the symbol was itself corrupted and stolen from another country entirely. The swastika is originally an Indian symbol that was associated with thoughts of “well-being” and peace. Hitler, somewhere in his life, fell in love with this symbol and perverted it’s nature to represent a unifying symbol for his followers. Hitler fully understood that the symbol would become synonymous with his regime and would provide him even more power and influence. He was giving them something to be a part of, empowering them when they were at their weakest. He made them feel strong and proud to be German and that was something they had not had in a long time, and they loved him for it. But the perspective of the audience significantly changes how the story is told. To the rest of the world, he was a tyrant ruthlessly hell-bent on world domination. But to his country, he was the charismatic forward-thinking leader they had been craving and they ate it up. In the same way, we are all as easily influenceable as those tried during the Nuremburg Trials and if the past couple presidencies have told us anything it is that even intelligent followers are not incorruptible.

Video of Adolf Hitler Speech (30 sec clip):

https://youtu.be/FJ3N_2r6R-o

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