By Michael Brimm, Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD.

This book, along with Jim Collins’ Good to Great, appears to be part of a reaction to the high-profile leadership of Jack Welch, Jurgen Schremp and a number of CEOs who have been featured in recent management literature. This also coincides with the performance failures and ethics scandals that have tainted the names of other prominent leaders such as Jean-Marie Messier, Bernie Ebbers and Kenneth Lay.

Leading Quietly is a provocative view on the ethical nature of leadership, and will certainly challenge the reader to reflect upon his/her own point of view. Illustrated in length by several detailed stories, the author provides a thorough analysis of the complexity of real-life dilemmas: how things are never as simple as they may seem, how motivations are often a mix of genuine altruism and personal interests, how bold decisions can prove disastrous and how compromise can offer a much more effective solution in the long term, etc.

However, no leadership or management book that I have encountered in recent years has caused me so much personal distress as Badaracco’s latest effort. The ‘quiet leaders’ who emerge as the heroes of this book are a set of little-known individuals who confront the ethical dilemmas of managerial life with a reality-based expediency that features their own best interest as a key element of the decision process. The underlying assumption is that politically informed tactics will allow small moral victories and allow individuals to prosper while making ‘effective’ decisions. The author advocates a careful assessment of the leader’s political capital and personal situation to yield a defense of or apology for pragmatism, tactical action and compromise. The author notes, “The tactics described [and advocated] in this chapter can easily be abused, and quiet leaders play games reluctantly. … But, as realists, they also know that they sometimes don’t have a choice.” (pp. 68-69)

At a time when individuals and organizations have been drawn across the lines of ethical behavior in small steps (and leaps in some cases), this approach seems dangerous. When should the accountant stop negotiating for more accurate reporting and draw the line to become a “whistle blower?” What action should the middle manager take when confronted with evidence of insider trading by senior management? Clearly, these are not easy questions for the individual to resolve as they entail significant personal risk. Badaracco’s book clearly states one side of the argument and offers frameworks for pursuing that strategy. To complement this reading, I would also recommend Robert Caro’s brilliant account of Lyndon Johnson’s years in the United States Senate before becoming President of the United States. Johnson employs the wiles of compromise and amorality to achieve huge strides in the civil rights legislation. Caro leaves the question of whether the ends justify the means to the reader.

In any case, this book provides an emotional encounter with the topical issue of ethics in organizational leadership and offers valuable food for thought.

[Reading Tips] [Critical commentary] [Further readings]

• Defining Moments
  Joseph L. Badaracco – Harvard Business School Press. (Book and Manageris synopsis 56a)
• Good Intentions Aside
  Laura L. Nash – Harvard Business School Press. (Book and Manageris synopsis 14a)
• The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership
  Steven B. Sample – Jossey-Bass. (Book and Manageris synopsis 105b)
• Leadership Without Easy Answers
  Ronald A. Heifetz – Harvard Business School Press. (Book and Manageris synopsis 30a)