Prudential Leadership: The Power of Practical Reason

Abstract

Prudence is a classical quality, with many ancient authorities praising it as the source of common sense and good judgment. Prudential leadership is not an easy concept to clarify precisely because prudence seems so old fashioned and perhaps stodgy. We tend not to choose friends based on their prudence, although we often do choose advisors based on their good judgment. Prudential advice can alert us to risks we had not appreciated, where prudence in effect means knowing how to minimize personal risk. The term “prudential leadership,” however, captures something important about leadership ethics that is not associated with minimizing risk. The classical virtue of prudence is the excellence of good judgment which leadership thinkers since Aristotle have aligned with excellent rulers or excellent public leaders. This chapter unfolds the concept of prudential leadership as a companion to the concept of rhetorical leadership examined in the former chapter. Together, the two chapters lay out the foundations of leadership ethics which gets its dramatic “road test” in the following chapter on “dirty hands” dilemmas.