Peter F. Drucker believed that good leaders make only a few, but important
decisions in a systematic process. “Above all the confusion around the difference
between effectiveness and efficiency leads to the fact that things are done right,
instead of doing the right things” (Drucker 2000, p. 117). Only 20% of all decisions
and processes account for 80% of entrepreneurial success. Successful managers
concentrate on these few decisions.
However, successful managers are also characterized by the courage to openly
admit the uncertainty of their decisions. They talk with colleagues openly about the
fact that their decisions are not always crystal clear, and they discuss the process of
decision-making. In doing so, they not only win the trust of their coworkers and
employees, but also benefit from new sources of knowledge, ideas and strategies,
providing them with more alternatives for the next round of decision-making.
Leadership decisions are influenced by conscious and unconscious, rational and
irrational, objective and subjective factors. Consequently, selecting the best option
is determined not only by the situational factors and their “fellow players,” but also
by managers’ own experiences, goals and preferences. The decision-making pro-
cess depends on several variables that in turn provide possible answers to our
question about the nature of good leadership. In the following section, we will
further explore the unconscious, irrational and subjective forces that continue to
affect managers and their work.
2.2.7 The Dark Side
Hardly any author has so intensively focused on the connection between the
individual and leadership as Manfred Kets de Vries. His work deals with obser-
vations of the individual in the role of leading as well as those being led, and offers
concrete recommendations for managers. His studies have contributed considerably
to the paradigm shift of current academic pursuits and everyday practice. Figure2.6
illustrates the relationships Kets de Vries has observed.
To fully grasp the meaning of leadership, we must leave the plane of the directly
observable and shift our attention to internal and social processes. In addition to
the relationship between leaders and those they lead, it is important to explore the
unconscious psychodynamic process and structures influencing the behavior of
individuals. Without this complex analysis of organizations, it is difficult to under-
stand the processes within them. And furthermore, “leadership tends to grasp only a
three-dimensional view of life in an organization while not recognizing a further
layer of unconscious anxieties, hopes and motives” (de Vries 2002, p. 17).
We can compare the organization with an iceberg (see also Sect. 3.1.1). Most
management theorists analyze only the tip of the iceberg, and concern themselves
with obvious, rational phenomena such as missions, visions, goals, strategies, tasks,
roles, structures, processes, and systems of control and compensation. Naturally,
these factors are important, but they represent only a small part of the organization.
Like the largest part of the iceberg, the largest part of an organization is invisible
2.2 The Leader 69