Exchange theory of leadership: trading

The more I look at life, the more I realise the value of relationships. Clever children often do well at school and not so well afterwards and statistically most fall short of their potential. Yet many average kids do succeed. One of the keys to that success is their ability to develop and retain vital networks. Those networks open doors, provide vital links and oil the cogs of commerce.

Relational people are more likely to succeed because they can resolve the barriers to effective cooperation, win the support of their teams, negotiate with stakeholders and interpret the environment. Its no wonder that God values relationships far above activity, performance, works, buildings, technology, accomplishments, etc. It is through relationships that He shapes the world.   

So exchange is vital to effectiveness. Whatever else you say about leadership is somewhat thin and potentially irrelevant if you do not have the ability to exchange value - I have said enough about the mutually self-eliminating qualities of leadership in Churchill and Hitler to make the point that highly vaunted variables like integrity, honour, credibility, charisma, authority and many others, are not definitive.

The problem with exchanging value, is that there must be perceived value in the exchange. If a leader offers a compelling new deal, people will exchange their support for the future benefits he offers. However, if dissonance creeps in due to diminishing credibility or doubts about his sincerity or his ability to deliver, many will subsequently opt out and withdraw their support. Similarly if the leader actually offers much but fails to find meaningful support for his position, he will withdraw the offer and move on. 

Perception is a very powerful feature of effective exchange. Few people have a sound grasp of reality, but almost all of us have perceptions of reality. Marketers exploit that idea to motivate us to buy for price, quality, brand or some other perceived value. Well, good leaders must also manage perceptions in order to resonate with their target audiences - they must speak their language, be sensitive to cultural dynamics, be relevant and connect with them, else they will not follow. The apostle Paul was skilled at that and argued, "To the Jews I became a Jew, to the Greeks a Greek - so that by any means they might be saved." 

The rise of despots in history inevitably resulted from a "what have we got to lose" sense of desperation and a shrewd reading of the climate by dark minds. The people followed, because they had reached a point where they were willing to trade their souls for a better lot. The antichrist will exploit similar social tensions. That places an enormous responsibility on the shoulder of noble leaders - people can be exploited and will trade their souls if need be, but as Oscar Schindler inferred: the power to do (to kill a helpless prisoner in his case), was not comparable with the real power of choosing not to do.

So, leadership is about exchange and it is more about exchange that many other things we love to cite. However, ethics must guide the exchange if the outcome is to be noble.

(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net