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

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

admin2015-03-25  74
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    The context of leadership is changing, they observe, and the historical emphasis on hard power is becoming outdated.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.
The sentence "Mr. Nye never quite nails the jelly to the wall. "(Line 2, Para. 5)most probably means
选项 A、Mr. Nye doesn’t like the jelly.
B、Mr. Nye is excited to finish his new book.
C、Mr. Nye believes there is something wrong with his wall.
D、Mr. Nye does not make a conclusion.
答案D
解析 语义理解题。根据题干提示定位至第五段。在对历史和现代的领导力理论家的看法进行了大致的介绍之后，本文作者感叹领导力的确是一个难以把握的主题，因为总是有各种理论不断出现，而这些理论都有着各自的优点和缺点，因此，即使是奈伊也难以作结论。[A]和[C]停留在表面，与文章实质内容没有联系，可以排除，而[B]与前后文无法衔接；结合语境，可选出答案[D]。
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