Going Beyond Heroic Leaders in Development
| Author | Matt Andrews |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1761 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
GOING BEYOND HEROIC LEADERS IN DEVELOPMENT
MATT ANDREWS*
Harvard Kennedy School, USA
SUMMARY
Leadership is an under-studied topic in international development. When the topic is broached it is usually to support what might
be called a “hero dependency”: One or other individual is identified as the hero of a past event (or the hero-to-be of a future event).
This article argues that this dependency is problematic, however, because (i) heroes have not emerged in many contexts for long
periods and individuals who may have been considered heroes in the past often turned out less than heroic, (ii) heroes are at least
as much the product of their contexts as they turned out to be the shapers of such, and (iii) stories about hero-leaders doing special
things mask the way such special things emerge from the complex interactions of many actors—some important and some mun-
dane. Notions of hero-leadership in development are less convincing when one appreciates these arguments. Referencing broader
work on leadership (and some in the development space itself) the article calls development theorists and practitioners to go be-
yond the heroic leader perspective in thinking about who leads development. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words—leadership; development; governance; Africa
Estragon: Let’s go.
Vladimir: We can’t.
Estragon: Why not?
Vladimir: We’re waiting for Godot.
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.
Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.
Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo
INTRODUCTION
Leadership is an under-studied topic in international development. When the topic is broached it is usually by prac-
titioners trying to ensure their projects and reforms enjoy the agency needed for success, or by observers offering
retrospective accounts of positive experiences. In the first type of work, practitioners in the field are often rushed in
their thinking about leadership, which manifests in an unsophisticated tendency to seek support from high profile
individuals who become “champions”of change. This tendency has become tacitly endorsed in many organiza-
tions, where task managers have to show attention to “leadership”concerns in project design. World Bank
“how-to”documents regularly encourage these managers to “find a political champion,”for instance, with the im-
plication that this will ensure leadership needed for change.
1
Leadership views reflected in the second type of
*Correspondence to: M. Andrews,Harvard KennedySchool, 416 Rubenstein, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. E-mail: Matt_andrews@hks.
harvard.edu
1
For instance, see the cited ‘how-to’note on demand driven reform, which also emphasizes the importance of finding champions: http://
siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/Resources/244362-1193949504055/4348035-1296838689014/7712311-
1298494972121/DGGG-in-Operations_Final.pdf. Furthermore, in describing how projects should be prepared in the World Bank, Mitchell and
Chaman-Ruiz (2007, 18) argue that “the development initiative should identify and engage a political champion.”Weaver (2008, 120) notes that
World Bank project leaders are trained and instructed to find political champions for reforms and projects.
public administration and development
Public Admin. Dev. 36, 171–184 (2016)
Published online 2 June 2016 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pad.1761
Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
To continue reading
Request your trial