Good/Bad Leadership

Evaluating whether or not leadership is moral, evil, bad, good, etc. is normative in nature. Numerous scholars and thinkers over the ages have sought to categorize and define moral leadership. We too use our own value system, experience, and history when contemplating what makes a leader “good” or “bad”. Sometimes we want to categorically call leadership good or bad. For example, we can all think of good examples of each that make them distinguishably one or the other, such as Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini on one hand, and on the other hand good leaders such as President Lincoln, Mother Teresa, etc. More difficult to distinguish however, is the ability to evaluate those behaviors, visions, values, etc. that manifest itself as good or bad in the same person or individual. For example, some have heralded Ernest Shackleton as a great leadership example, and some as less so depending upon the examples in his life that led to such a conclusion. Using Harvard Business Review’s Shackleton case study, make an argument as to whether or not he was a good or bad leader, or one that exhibited both good and bad leadership in his leadership.