Part of leadership is setting the tone for the rest of the team. If that tone is a positive one, your team will hold themselves and each other to a higher standard. Exempt yourself from the same rules you ask your team to follow, and you land yourself in a situation like Mr. Wolfowitz. You’ll become a leader that no one wants to follow. You become just a boss.
Nepotism is part of human nature. In ancient Rome, it was an integral part of their political process called cursus honorum. Ancient Romans used as much social leverage as they could to become an elected official. In many ways, this practice has always been with us. In the 1830’s an associate of Andrew Jackson coined the phrase “to the victor go the spoils” when remarking to the press on how Jackson was justified in appointing so many new people to public office. Thus ushering in the American “spoils system”.
Initially, Mr. Wolfowitz seemed to view working with his girlfriend Shaha Riza, as a conflict of interest, as she was moved to a think tank job funded by the State Department upon his arrival in office. Apparently Mr. Wolfowitz later thought there was no conflict of interest when he actively involved himself in securing Riza a promotion as well as $60k in raises in less then a two year span. It should be noted that she was making more then Secretary of State, Condaleezza Rice.
Obviously Mr. Wolfowitz was not acting with the same moral compass as the general public and World Bank employees who are now so outraged at his actions. Despite this suspension of ethics, he maintains he can still do his job effectively. But has he truly considered that statement?
What of the morale of his staff? How motivated will they be to perform their duties when they know it is not merit but acquaintance that will earn them a promotion? How willing will they be to go the extra mile for a man who lacks the necessary integrity to lead them?
Mr. Wolfowitz knows the answers to these questions, but has not acknowledged them.
When faced with his own mistakes a leader will acknowledge and accept responsibility for them. Mr. Wolfowitz is not leader enough to do that. With each day that he doesn’t step down, he promotes more distraction among the World Bank employees. Just being present there makes the World Bank more inefficient by the day. This is not leadership at all. This is vanity.
