When Do the Dragons Listen to Danaerya Again
To gloat the final season of the hit HBO series, nosotros are exploring leadership styles of the (surviving) contenders to the throne, and the lessons they can teach us about leadership in the real world.
Alert: spoilers for the series finale of Game of Thrones alee!
When Flavour 8 of the prove began, we all knew that at least two key characters were on a directly standoff course: Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen. Both are self-made Queens who are vying for the same position, to be the ruler of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms. Most of united states were rooting for the Mother of Dragons to win, but would Dany actually have been a better leader compared to Cersei? Equally the tragic final two episodes of the season indicate, that may not be the example.
Then how did we go hither? Now that we've had time to let the finale sink in, let's explore Dany's leadership journey.
Burn and Blood – The Disciplinarian Leader of Westeros
According to leadership research, Authoritarian Leadership refers to "a leader's behaviour of asserting strong authority and control over subordinates and demanding unquestioned obedience from them". They need their followers to accomplish their best performance, and often are the sole decision-makers for their team. Does that sound similar anyone we know?
Lesson ane: Authoritarian leaders practise not listen to input from others
Disciplinarian leaders decide alone, give orders to staff and await them to carry them out, based on unilateral, top-down communication. This manner of leadership, characterized past ane-way advice channels, suggests that authoritarian leaders are mostly non interested in feedback, and that followers do non have influence and command over the decision-making process.
At times, Dany is guilty of this. In episode half-dozen of Season 7, Tyrion Lannister, the Paw to the Queen, raised the topic of succession. Who will supervene upon Dany if she falls in battle? Tyrion advised Dany to decide a method to select her successor in the event of her untimely death (as she is unable to have children), in club to ensure that her legacy and mission lives on. Dany refused to consider his proffer, enervating Tyrion to start thinking "curt term" instead.
However, Dany has likewise demonstrated a willingness to listen to advice when necessary. When Cersei'south army destroyed the Tyrells of Highgarden – Dany's newfound allies – she was furious, and dead-prepare on bringing her dragons to Kings Landing to fire Cersei'due south unabridged city down. But in a surprising motion, Dany actively solicited advice from someone outside her circumvolve, Jon Snow, on what she should do instead:
Upon hearing Jon's advice, Dany settled on a compromise. Instead of burning down Cersei's kingdom and killing the innocent people who in the metropolis, Dany chose to set on the Lannister army on the battleground instead – far away from the everyday people of Westeros.
The disciplinarian leadership style isn't inherently negative;when utilised correctly, this manner of leadershipcan exist liberating for people who piece of work well with clear directives under leaders who empathize exactly what people exercise and why their roles are of import.
Lesson 2: Authoritarian Leaders get things done and have decisive action.
Past requiring subordinates to obey their rules or face up punishment if they do non follow orders, followers are a likely to gain a better understanding of what they should do or should not exercise as a team fellow member. As a effect, disciplinarian leaders are likely to enhance followers' sense of identityequally grouping members, in terms of their attitudes and behaviour, which further motivates employees to perform at a high level.Enquiry also suggeststhat authoritarian leaders are likely to achieve operational performance past fostering a highly centralized decision-making structure.
For a key example of this, look no farther than the scene where Dany earned her "Billow of Chains" title, one of the most iconic moments of the evidence's history. When faced with the decision on whether she should buy an army of Unsullied soldiers from a slave possessor, Dany was consistently counselled confronting it by her 2 closest advisors, Jorah Mormont and Ser Barristan Selmy. However, Dany decided to brand an executive determination of her own instead: She agreed to merchandise one of her dragons for the Unsullied army, as well as their translator, Missandei. Yous remember what happened next:
It was a decision that her followers were not privy to, but it was ane that led her to free a whole city of slaves, and garnered her the undying loyalty of the freed Unsullied soldiers.
Disciplinarian leadership tin can exist effective when the arrangement or squad is in a country of abiding flux, and the nature of work requires instant decisions during stressful situations.They drive team results past providingclear expectations for what needs to be washed, when it should be done, and how information technology should be done. Dany, to her credit, has demonstrated in the past that she knows when to mind, and when to disregard advice in gild to make her own judgements. In fact, her correct-hand adult female Missandei explains it best:
Missandei has been ane of Dany's closest confidant throughout the series, so it makes sense that her death was the catalyst the evidence deployed to kickstart Dany'southward descent into violence, and to turn her typically effective disciplinarian leadership style into a toxic one instead.
Lesson 3: Authoritative Leaders may go toxic when utilised in the wrong context
Toxic leadership is evident when leadersdemonstrate assailment towards their employees' personalities and abilities. A leader is considered toxic if they create serious long-term harm to their followers, and common characteristics shared among toxic leaders include ethical failure and neurosis, both of which were exhibited by Dany when she decided to violate her principles and burn downwards a whole metropolis of innocent people (upstanding failure), and her off-kilter reaction when Jon Snow confronted her about her deportment (neurosis). Just how did it come to this?
Psychological research has proposed the Toxic Triangle as the characters of leaders, followers, and environmental contexts that allow for subversive leadership to thrive:
The showtime component of the toxic triangle is associated with the Subversive Leader, which is adamant by the leader's Charisma, their need to utilise ability for personal gain (Personalised Power), their sense of entitlement to their ability (Narcissism), their tendency to speak most themselves in terms of negative life stories (Negative Life Themes), and their worldview of vanquishing rivals and destroying despised enemies (Credo of Hate).
The second component of the toxic triangle is associated with Susceptible Followers.Followers play an plainly crucial role in the leadership process, still this model suggests that there are 2 types of followers that appear to be unable to resist domineering leaders and that inadvertently contribute towards their leaders' subversive behaviour: 1) Conformers, who comply with subversive leaders out of fear and a desire to meet unmet basic needs (see: Unsullied), and 2) Colluders, who actively participate in the leader's agenda out of their own self-interest (looking at you lot, Varys).
The third component is in relation to Conducive Environment – the external context allows for destructive leadership to thrive: instability, perceived thread, cultural values, and the absence of checks and balances.
Let'due south explore the conducive environments that led Dany towards her near subversive moment in Kings Landing:
Instability: Her army was significantly dwindled from the Battle of Winterfell (Instability)
Perceived Threat: Cersei Lannister, and Dany'due south conventionalities that her own supporters (e.g. Jon, Sansa, Varys, and Tyrion) are trying to undermine her merits to the throne.
Cultural Values: Dany'south strong adherence to the Targaryen Motto: "I volition accept what is mine, with Fire and Claret", as well equally the Dothraki'southward focus on plundering new lands and taking resources by force.
Lack of Checks and Balances: The showrunners have been very intentional with eliminating Dany's circumvolve of advisors ever since she gained power, from Ser Barristan Selmy, to Jorah, and, ultimately, Missandei. Towards the cease of the season, Dany essentially lost anybody she tin can trust to respectfully oppose her and keep her more than ambitious impulses in check.
When we expect back at Dany's journey in Season eight, and nosotros can start to come across how aligned she was to the three components of the toxic triangle, the perfect storm that led to her ultimate downfall.
If y'all would like to know more almost toxic leadership, or how you can prevent hiring toxic leaders through the use of psychometric assessmentcontact united states of america today.
Source: https://www.chandlermacleod.com/blog/2019/08/the-fall-of-the-dragon-toxic-leadership-and-the-demise-of-daenerys-targaryen
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