Should a leader strive to be loved or feared? This question, famously posed by Machiavelli, lies at the heart of Joseph Nye’s ne

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问题     Should a leader strive to be loved or feared? This question, famously posed by Machiavelli, lies at the heart of Joseph Nye’s new book. Mr. Nye, a former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and one-time chairman of America’s National Intelligence Council, is best known for promoting the idea of "soft power" , based on persuasion and influence, as a counterpoint to "hard power", based on coercion and force.
    Having analysed the use of soft and hard power in politics and diplomacy in his previous books, he has now turned his attention to the relationship between power and leadership, in both the political and business spheres. Machiavelli, he notes, concluded that "one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved. " In short, hard power is preferable to soft power. But modern leadership theorists have come to the opposite conclusion.
    The context of leadership is changing, they observe, and the historical emphasis on hard power is becoming outdated. In modern companies and democracies, power is increasingly diffused and traditional hierarchies are being undermined, making soft power ever more important. But that does not mean coercion should now take a back seat to persuasion, Mr. Nye argues. Instead, he advocates a synthesis of these two views. The conclusion of The Powers to Lead, his survey of the theory of leadership, is that a combination of hard and soft power, which he calls "smart power", is the best approach.
    The dominant theoretical model of leadership at the moment is, apparently, the "neochar-ismatic and transformational leadership paradigm". Anyone allergic to management jargon will already be running for the exit, but Mr. Nye has performed a valuable service in rounding up and summarising the various academic studies and theories of leadership into a single, slim volume. He examines different approaches to leadership, the morality of leadership and how the wider context can determine the effectiveness of a particular leader. There are plenty of anecdotes and examples, both historical and contemporary, political and corporate.
    Alas, leadership is a slippery subject, and as he rehearses the pros and cons of various theories, even Mr. Nye never quite nails the jelly to the wall. He is at his most interesting when discussing the moral aspects of leadership—in particular, the question of whether it is sometimes necessary for good leaders to lie—and he provides a helpful 12-point summary of his conclusions. A recurring theme is that as circumstances change, different sorts of leaders are required; a leader who thrives in one environment may struggle in another, and vice versa. Ultimately that is just a fancy way of saying that leadership offers no easy answers.
According to the passage, Machiavelli

选项 A、is the author of the book The Powers to Lead.
B、promotes the idea of "soft power".
C、believes hard power is preferable to soft power.
D、is one of the most important modern leadership theorists.

答案C

解析 推理判断题。第二段提到,马基雅维利认为硬实力比软实力更为安全,即更为可取,故[C]是正确答案。第三段中明确提到了奈伊才是The Powers to Lead一书的作者,从而排除[A];据第一段第二句可以判断提出“软实力”这一概念的同样是奈伊,从而排除[B];第二段最后说到现代的领导力理论家却并不同意马基雅维利的这一观点,可见马基雅维利不是现代的领导力理论家,从而排除[D]。
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