Leadership Studies: Theory, Practice, and Methods (2nd Edition)

Author: Wang Lefu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
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III. The Importance of Leaders' Qualities
(1) The Need for Self-Cultivation of Leaders' Qualities
The cultivation of leaders' qualities is a specific manifestation of the political ideology system, moral principles and norms, scientific and cultural knowledge, and psychological character of a certain class and society in an individual's thoughts and actions. However, people's political awareness, knowledge, abilities, moral qualities, and individual psychological traits are not innate but formed through long-term training and cultivation in complex social relationships in the post-natal period. Especially for the proletariat, which is fundamentally opposed to the bourgeoisie and all exploiting classes, its political ideology and moral qualities can only become internal beliefs and consciously transform into norms of thought and action after arduous training and self-cultivation. It should also be noted that even the most capable leaders, in the complex social life, are inevitably influenced by various ideologies and may retain remnants of erroneous thoughts to some extent. Objective conditions are constantly changing, and even the most capable leaders face contradictions between their subjective understanding and objective reality. Leaders can only continuously elevate their qualities and gradually approach perfection, becoming efficient modern leaders, by actively learning and strengthening their training in leadership activities, constantly improving their strengths and overcoming weaknesses.
(2) Strengthening the Cultivation of Leaders' Qualities as an Important Guarantee for Effective Leadership
Leaders not only participate in the struggle to transform the world but also play a critical role in social organizations. They hold certain power, serving as decision-makers, commanders, and organizers of social organizations, executing decisions, formulating and implementing strategies and policies, establishing and improving organizational structures, selecting talents, and conducting ideological and political work. To effectively exercise their functions, leaders must have a firm and correct political direction, extensive scientific and cultural knowledge, outstanding creative abilities, and noble moral qualities. Therefore, for leaders themselves, consciously improving their qualities is decisive to fulfilling leadership responsibilities, effectively exercising leadership functions, and excellently completing leadership tasks. In this sense, how leaders are shaped determines the shaping of a certain social organization. Today, the cause of socialist modernization requires higher standards from leaders at all levels. As the core leadership of our country—the Central Committee has repeatedly emphasized that whether the political and professional qualities of the cadre team, especially the leaders, can meet the requirements of the overall tasks of the new era, is directly related to the success or failure of socialist construction and the prosperity or decline of the Party and the state. Therefore, in the new historical period, improving the qualities of leaders in all aspects is of great significance to ensuring the realization of the overall tasks of the new era and the prosperity and development of Party and state affairs.
(3) Strengthening the Cultivation of Leaders' Qualities as an Objective Requirement for Enhancing Leadership Influence
Leadership influence is the ability of leaders to influence and change the psychology and behavior of those being led during the leadership process. It is one of the key factors determining the success or failure of social organizations, and its importance is increasingly evident in the new environment of shifting leadership functions. Improving leadership influence has become a major concern for leaders. From the perspective of its nature, leadership influence can be divided into two categories: legitimate influence and charismatic influence. Legitimate influence is composed of statutory power, coercive power, and rewarding power. Its characteristics are to act through external force, and under its influence, the psychology and behavior of those being influenced are primarily passive obedience. Charismatic influence is formed by expertise and personal influence, i.e., the knowledge, skills, talents, and good qualities possessed by leaders. Its characteristics are to act through internal drive, and under its influence, the psychology and behavior of those being influenced are primarily voluntary and proactive processes based on conviction and respect. Legitimate influence and charismatic influence are dialectically unified, and modern outstanding leaders should organically combine the two to allow each to function effectively. Generally, legitimate influence is a constant, while charismatic influence is a variable. Charismatic influence plays a significant regulatory role in overall leadership influence. If a leader has a strong charismatic influence, his legitimate influence will also increase, and vice versa. Therefore, to enhance leadership influence, the key lies in using legitimate influence correctly while striving to improve charismatic influence. The elements constituting charismatic influence are: ① Character factors, ② Knowledge factors, ③ Ability factors, ④ Emotional factors. These are precisely the four elements of leaders' qualities, and to improve charismatic influence, leaders must comprehensively enhance their qualities. Thus, strengthening the cultivation of leaders' qualities is an objective requirement for improving leadership influence in the new era.
(4) Strengthening the Cultivation of Leaders' Qualities as the Foundation for Improving Leadership Artistry
Under the conditions of modern large-scale production, the factors influencing decision-making are increasing, randomness is growing, and economic and social development goals are diversifying. As leaders at all levels who bear the responsibility of commanding and organizing the construction of "four modernizations," there is an urgent need to master and correctly apply leadership artistry. This need is showing an increasing trend. The mastery and application of leadership artistry are based on an individual leader's knowledge and experience, and they also require their talents and temperament as prerequisites. Physiological characteristics influence the formation of abilities. For example, the intensity of nervous activity is related to the concentration and persistence of attention, while the flexibility of the nervous process helps people quickly and broadly acquire knowledge and develop skills. Weak nervous types have high sensitivity, making them suitable for the development of artistic abilities. Even the smartest person, without opportunities and environments for leadership activities, cannot talk about superior leadership artistry. However, a person with overly low qualities, even with the best opportunities and environments, will still struggle to master and apply outstanding leadership artistry, let alone those with severe physiological deficiencies (especially in thinking functions). It is clear that qualities play a crucial role in leadership artistry. The practice of countless leaders has proven that excellent qualities are the source of leadership artistry, and the level of leadership artistry is proportional to the level of individual leaders' qualities. Therefore, to meet the needs of pioneering the cause of socialist modernization and improve leadership artistry, it is essential to focus on optimizing individual leaders' qualities. Without this, there is no basis for discussing the improvement of leadership artistry.
The Basic Content of Leaders' Qualities
An outstanding leader is also a talent. Therefore, the qualities required for talents in socialist modernization construction summarized in Chapter Twelve are undoubtedly fully applicable to leaders at all levels in all fields. Moreover, due to the nature of their position and work, leaders must also emphasize the following quality requirements.
I. Political Quality
(1) Must Have a Firm and Correct Political Direction
Socialist leaders are the decision-makers, organizers, and commanders of socialist modernization construction, and the helmsmen of social organizations. History has repeatedly proven that without leaders leading the wrong direction, causing errors and harm to leadership work, and leading revolutionary and construction efforts to failure. In the new historical period of reform and opening up, amid complex and changing international environments, whether social organizations can withstand the tests of reform and opening up, cooperation and conflict between countries, and whether they can advance along the correct course or deviate from it, all directly depend on whether leaders at all levels have a correct political direction. The political direction of the proletariat is the ultimate realization of the communist system in human society. A firm and correct political direction, in the primary stage of socialism, is concentrated and specifically reflected in whether leaders can uphold the great banner of building socialism with Chinese characteristics proposed by Deng Xiaoping and adhere to the important thought of "Three Represents."