Lessons from the Past 107: The Halo Effect

Walter Vieira 13 July 2024

Ten years ago, I had written an article on how many corporate leaders develop an excessive sense of entitlement. That was because I had come across a well-written article on the ‘halo effect’ that is acquired by people when they become leaders. The article elaborated on how they attain a level of superiority over the rest of the population. They feel that they are above everyone else and can do no wrong.

All the ‘hoi polloi’ have to listen to them, even if they talk drivel. They know they have the power, money and status to do whatever they want. And they won’t hesitate to use that power. In India, we are particularly prone to idolising those in power, be it the maharaja of yore, or the politician of today.

This is quite unlike the Scandinavian countries that may be considered to be at the other end of the spectrum in this regard. In the political sphere, leaders tend to stay in power until they die – prominent names being Kemal Ataturk, Stalin, Mao Zedong and many more. However, things are different in the corporate world.

Thankfully, there are a few checks & balances. We have the concept of retirement age which can sometimes be extended by as much as five years. There is also pressure from senior management to keep moving, so that space can be created at the top and, in turn, opportunities created for middle management to move up the ladder.

Yet, the ‘halo effect’ is manifested when we encounter corporate leaders who refuse to give up power. They firmly believe they have been appointed to save the company. They believe they are irreplaceable—and they must stay there for as long as they can. If some silly rules do not permit this, they will change the nomenclature to ‘non-executive chairman’ or ‘advisor to the board’, or ‘senior advisor to the company’ or any other designation that matches the ‘halo’.

Here are the characteristics that are common to corporate leaders (also politicians) who suffer from the ‘halo effect’:

# They believe they are ‘to the manor born’. They are so convinced about this that their attitude is contagious and transferred, even to the majority of those who report to them.

# They have forgotten or have preferred to forget the six most important words in the management of people. ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake’. Instead, they follow the diktat that ‘The leader never makes a mistake’. Only his/ her subordinates do—and when they do, they are exiled.

# They firmly believe that ‘The boss is always right’ is the first rule in the corporation.

# They seldom ask the question ‘What is your opinion?’ - the four most important words in the management inverted triangle. If they do, they seldom listen with any intention to learn. They believe that they already know everything that is worth knowing.

# Of course, there is no question of including the usage of the other words in the triangle – ‘I am proud of you’ (4); or ‘Will you, please’ (3) or ‘Thank you’ (2). The most frequent use is of the word ‘I’—which is rated as the least important word in the MT—management triangle!

If an organisation is headed by a leader afflicted by the ‘halo effect’, whether it is in the corporate world or even the political world, it is time to lend a helping hand and change the situation, lest hundreds or thousands suffer because of the ego of a ‘supreme leader’ who imagines he is infallible!

(Some part is an extract from Winning Manager by Walter Vieira (Sage Publications/ Amazon)

(Walter Vieira is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India- FIMC. He was a successful corporate executive for 14 years and then pioneered marketing consulting in India in 1975. As a consultant, he has worked across four continents. He was the first Asian elected Chairman of ICMCI, the world apex body of 45 countries. He is the author of 16 books, a business columnist and has been visiting professor in Marketing in the US, Europe, and Asia for over 40 years. His latest books are ‘Marketing in a Digital/Data World’ with Brian Almeida and ‘Customer Value Starvation Can Kill’ with Gautam Mahajan. He now spends most of his time on NGO work and is presently Chairman, Consumer Education and Research Society, India)

Comments

User

homijt

3 months ago

Glad to see you clearly mention, that the halo effect also applies to the political world, but unfortunately a majority of the population in our country, seem to be too blind to realise the same.