Abstract
Rooted in mythology, ancient Greek society considered hubris as man’s capital sin (Wiener, 1973). Hubris (or hybris) is the pretension to be godlike, and thereby fail to observe the divine equilibrium among god, man and nature. The essential element of hubris is extreme confidence that can lead to arrogance and other dark side leadership attributes. In ancient Greek mythology, the gods relentlessly struck down those who were excessively confident, presumptuous, blindly ambitious or otherwise lacking humility (Grimal, 1986). Scholars have defined hubris as:
-
A state of mind in which man thinks more than human thoughts and later translates them into act. It is an offence against the order of the world (Grene, 1961: 487).
-
The arrogant violation of limits set by the gods or by human society (North, 1966: 6).
-
Having energy or power and misusing it self-indulgently (MacDowell, 1976: 21).
-
Behaviour that is intended gratuitously to inflict dishonour and shame upon others or to the values that hold a society together (Fisher, 1979: 32, 45).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abma, T. A. (2000) ‘Fostering Learning-in-Organizing through Narration: Questioning Myths and Stimulating Multiplicity in Two Performing Arts Schools’, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 9(2): 211–31.
Ambrosini, V. and Bowman, C. (2001) ‘Tacit Knowledge: Some Suggestions for Operationalization’, Journal of Management Studies, 38 (6): 811–29.
Beech, N. (2000) ‘Narrative Styles of Managers and Workers: A Tale of Star-Crossed Lovers’, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 36 (2): 210–28.
Berkovitch, E. and Narayanan, M. P. (1993) ‘Motives for Takeovers: An Empirical Investigation’, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 28: 347–62.
Boje, D. M. (1998) ‘The Postmodern Turn from Stories-as-Objects to Stories-inContext Methods’, Research Methods Forum, 3. Available at http://www.aom.pace.edu/rmd/1998_forum_postmodern_stories.html (accessed 23 May 2002).
Brockner, J. (1988) Self-esteem at Work: Research, Theory and Practice (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Bryman, A. and Burgess, R. G. (eds.) (1994) Analyzing Qualitative Data (London: Routledge).
Chen, C. C. and Meindl, J. R. (1991) ‘The Construction of Leadership Images in the Popular Press: The Case of Donald Burr and People’s Express’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 36: 521–55.
Clapham, S. E. and Schwenk, C. R. (1991) ‘Self-serving Attributions, Managerial Cognition and Company Performance’, Strategic Management Journal, 12: 219–320.
Cortazzi, M. (2001) ‘Narrative Analysis in Ethnography’. In P. Atkinson (ed.), Handbook of Ethnography (London: Sage), 384–94.
Cox, K. (2001) ‘Stories as Case Knowledge: Case Knowledge as Stories’, Medical Education, 35 (9): 862–6.
D’Aveni, Richard A. (1990) ‘Top Managerial Prestige and Organizational Bankruptcy’, Organization Science, 1: 123–42.
Dey, I. (1993) Qualitative Data Analysis: A User-Friendly Guide for Social Scientists (London: Routledge).
Eisenhardt, K. M. and Bourgeois, L. J. (1988) ‘Politics of Strategic Decision Making in High Velocity Environments: Toward a Midrange Theory’, Academy of Management Journal, 31: 737–70.
Faber, B. (1998) ‘Toward a Rhetoric of Change’, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 12 (2): 217–43.
Felton, R. F. (2004) ‘What Directors and Investors Want from Governance Reform: A Survey of Directors and Institutional Investors Shows that Board Governance Has a Long Way to Go’, McKinsey Quarterly, May.
Festinger, L. (1954) ‘A Theory of Social Comparison Processes’, Human Relations, 7: 117–40.
Firth, M. (1980) ‘Takeovers, Shareholder Returns and the Theory of the Firm’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 94: 235–60.
Fisher, N. R. E. (1979) ‘Hybris and Dishonour: II’, Greece and Rome, 26 (1): 32–47.
Gabriel, Y. (1998) ‘Same Old Story or Changing Stories? Folkloric, Modern and Postmodern Mutations’. In D. Grant, T. Keenoy and C. Oswick (eds.), Discourse and Organisation (London: Sage), 84–103.
Grene, D. (1961) ‘Herodotus: The Historian as Dramatist’, Journal of Philosophy, 58 (18): 477–87.
Grimal, P. (1986) The Dictionary of Classical Mythology (New York: Blackwell).
Jacobs, L., Berscheid, E. and Walster, E. (1971) ‘Self-esteem and attraction’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17: 84–91.
Janis, I. L. (1972) Victims of Groupthink (New York: Houghton Mifflin).
Kakabadse, N. K. and Kakabadse, A. P. (2005) ‘Discretionary Leadership: From Control/Coordination to Value Co-Creation’. In C. L. Cooper (ed.), Leadership and Management in the 21st Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 57–106.
Kakabadse, A. P., Kakabadse, N. K. and Lee-Davies, L. (2007) ‘Three Temptations of Leaders’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28 (3): 196–208.
Keasey, K., Short, H. and Wright, M. (eds.) (2005) Corporate Governance: Accountability, Enterprise and International Comparisons (Chichester: John Wiley).
Keay, A. R. (2006) ‘Enlightened Shareholder Value, the Reform of the Duties of Company Directors and the Corporate Objective’, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, 3: 335–61.
Kelley, H. H. (1971) Attribution in Social Interaction (New York: General Learning Press).
Kets de Vries, M. F. R. and Miller, D. (1985) ‘Narcissism and Leadership: An Object Relations Perspective’, Human Relations, 38 (6): 583–601.
Lincoln, Y. S. and Guba, E. (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage).
Linde, C. (2001) ‘Narrative and Social Tacit Knowledge’, Journal of Knowledge Management, 5 (2): 160–70.
MacDowell, D. M. (1976) ‘Hybris in Athens’, Greece and Rome, 23 (1): 14–31.
March, J. and Simon, H. A. (1958) Organizations (New York: Wiley).
McCracken, G. (1988) The Long Interview (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage).
Meindl, J. R., Ehrlich, S. R. and Dukerich, J. M. (1985) ‘The Romance of Leadership’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 30: 78–102.
Miles, M. B. and Huberman, A. M. (1984) Qualitative Data Analysis: A New Sourcebook of Methods (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage).
Morgan, G. (1997) Images of Organisation (London: Sage).
North, H. (1966) Sophrosyne: Self-Knowledge and Self-Restraint in Greek Literature (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).
O’Connor, P. A. (1997) ‘Decisions Made in the Absence of Formal Delegation of Power’, Local Government Law Journal, 2, LBC Information Services, Sydney, NSW: 225–34.
Plato (1981) Apology, ed. J. J. Helm (New York: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers).
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988) Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences (New York: State of New York University Press).
Post, J. (1993) ‘Current Concepts in the Narcissistic Personality: Implications for Political Psychology’, Political Psychology, 14 (1): 99–121.
Riessman, C. K. (1993) Narrative Analysis (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications).
Roll, R. (1986) ‘The Hubris Hypothesis of Corporate Takeovers’, Journal of Business, 59: 197–216.
Ronfeldt, D. (1994) Beware the Hubris–Nemesis Complex: A Concept for Leadership Analysis (Santa Monica: Rand).
Rubin, H. J. and Rubin, I. S. (2005) Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data (2nd edn.) (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage).
Schweiger, D. M., Sandberg, W. R. and Ragan, J. W. (1986) ‘Group Approaches for Improving Strategic Decision Making: A Comparative Analysis of Dialectical Inquiry, Devil’s Advocacy and Consensus’, Academy of Management Journal, 29: 51–71.
Sheard, A. G., Kakabadse, A. P. and Kakabadse, N. K. (2009) ‘Organisational Politics: The Shadow Side of Leadership’, Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance, Hellenic American University, Athens, Greece, 5–6 November, 232–41.
Skinner, B. F. (1953) Science and Human Behavior (New York: Macmillan).
Starbuck, W. H. and Milliken, F. J. (1988) ‘Executives’ Perceptual Filters: What They Notice and How They Make Sense’. In D. C. Hambrick (ed.), The Executive Effect: Concepts and Methods for Studying Top Managers (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press), 35–66.
Staw, B. M. (1976) ‘Knee-deep in the Big Muddy: A Study of Escalating Commitment to a Failing Course of Action’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16: 27–44.
Sutton, R. I. and Callahan, A. (1987) ‘The Stigma of Bankruptcy: Spoiled Organizational Image and its Management’, Academy of Management Journal, 30: 405–36.
Tucker, M., Sigafoos, J. and Bushell, H. (1998) ‘Use of Noncontingent Reinforcement in the Treatment of Challenging Behavior’, Behavior Modification, 22: 529–47.
Walsh, J. P. and Seward, J. K. (1990) ‘On the Efficiency of Internal and External Corporate Control Mechanisms’, Academy of Management Review, 15: 421–58.
Wiener, P. P. (1973) Dictionary of the History of Ideas (New York: Scribner).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 A. G. Sheard, Nada K. Kakabadse and Andrew P. Kakabadse
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sheard, A.G., Kakabadse, N.K., Kakabadse, A.P. (2012). Leadership Hubris: Achilles’ Heel of Success. In: Kakabadse, A., Kakabadse, N. (eds) Global Elites. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230362406_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230362406_18
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32655-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-36240-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)