Leadership, Power, and Integrity: Five Case Studies

Introduction: Defining Leadership and Integrity

When it comes to the concept of leadership, there are numerous definitions that can be applied. Every leader uses his or her own approach to leading, and while there are similar aspects to the behaviors of most leaders, how leaders draw on their strengths plays out differently. In literature — such as the blind man in Raymond Carver's Cathedral — and in real life — such as the way Abraham Lincoln conducted himself in political situations — leaders provide robust examples of how to get things done and how to influence the actions of others.

Abraham Lincoln: Humility and Moral Character

This paper uses the leadership styles and behaviors of several individuals to demonstrate their qualities — or, in the case of Jimmy Cross, their lack of leadership qualities — as they lead. The paper also examines the integrity each individual demonstrated throughout that process.

Abraham Lincoln was a great leader who clearly knew how to learn on the job. He also knew how to share credit with others when things went right. As Business & Legal Resources editor Catherine Moreton — paraphrasing author Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln — explains, Lincoln "treated those he worked with well" (Moreton, 2008). Lincoln was very adept at keeping his cool; if he lost his temper, "he would follow up with a kind gesture or letter to let the individual know he was not holding a grudge" (Moreton, p. 2).

Jimmy Cross: A Failure of Leadership

One of the strongest aspects of integrity is that a leader remains incorruptible in moral character. Lincoln cared more about bringing the country together after the Civil War than extolling his own accomplishments. This is a good example of someone who holds power and integrity simultaneously while remaining always aware that his responsibility is to the people, not to a powerful few.

In contrast, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in Tim O'Brien's story The Things They Carried does not display exemplary leadership skills. O'Brien paints Cross as an insecure man who indulges a fantasy that a girl back home loves him. Cross is obsessed with hoping she loved him and hoping she was still a virgin — a preoccupation that distracts him from the solemn duty he was sworn to fulfill: providing leadership for his men in a violent and unpredictable situation. Cross "knew she had boyfriends" and though he also believed "she was a virgin," O'Brien qualifies that by noting he "was almost sure" (p. 3). At the end of the chapter, First Lieutenant Cross is crying at the bottom of his foxhole, not paying attention to the war. The result is tragic: one of his men dies while Cross dwells on the belief that she "belonged to another world, and because she was . . . a poet and a virgin and uninvolved" (p. 17).

Not only is Cross a love-sick man living in a fantasy world, he is a poor example of a leader in a military context. Still, while O'Brien creates a character who is nearly the opposite of what a leader should be, there is a trace of integrity in Cross because he appears to recognize his own self-deception. The letters from Martha were signed "love," but Cross "understood that Love was only a way of signing and did not mean what he sometimes pretended it meant" (p. 2).

Conclusion: Lessons Across Leadership Contexts

Captain Abrashoff took his responsibilities seriously but creatively, and showed integrity in doing so. Lincoln and Kennedy also knew how to assume and accept responsibility, and they used their power with integrity and skill. Robert, though blind, demonstrated genuine leadership qualities, while Cross — who had full vision — was lost in reverie over a girl back home and could not come to terms with his responsibility to lead a platoon. There are myriad kinds of leaders, and each one can illuminate a particular aspect of leadership, which makes studying leaders a fascinating and worthwhile endeavor.