When leaders are hypocrites

A lot of CEOs draw up rules for others, but keep themselves exempt

It finally took the Election Commission to behave like a school headmaster to draw the line for errant school children – no physical rallies for political parties till January 15. This was necessary. For, even by the low standard they have set for themselves on practising what they preach, the behaviour of India’s political class during the third wave of the pandemic was simply unbelievable.

So, you had an unmasked Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi doing bhangra with a huge crowd of unmasked students at the Lovely Professional University, just before lecturing to journalists that the state government would “not spare anybody” found breaking the Covid protocol. This, at a time when the state along with the rest of the country is seeing a huge surge in daily Omicron cases.

Mr Channi is in good company. In a television advertisement, his counterpart in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal played the role of a “brother and son” to Delhites, pleading with them to cooperate on strict adherence to all protocols. It’s a different matter that Mr Kejriwal had tested Covid positive, after addressing election rallies in various states in front of boisterous crowds. Neither the leader, nor his companions on the stage cared to wear a mask.

The Bhartiya Janata Party or its leaders were, of course, leading from the front in this election season – whether it’s the prime minister, the home minister, or the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. It’s almost surreal to see these gentlemen warning citizens against violating Covid protocols and state after state imposing curfews of different kinds (night curfew, weekend curfew, etc) while asking people to come out in larger numbers for their election rallies. All parties were united in this tragedy: for example, the other day, the Trinamool Congress dubbed the prime minister’s rallies as “Covid manufacturing hubs,” conveniently forgetting that their “Didi” took great pride as a crowd puller in election rallies just before and during the deadly second Covid wave.

The collective hypocrisy of the nation’s political leaders is infectious, too. Quite a few leaders in the corporate world aren’t far behind in ensuring that hypocrisy remains entrenched in the hallowed halls of the corner office. These CEOs enforce one set of rules for their company, while operating under a completely different set of rules for themselves – just like our mask-unfriendly, curfew-loving political leaders. Actions of these leaders never seem to match up with their charming words. They have high expectations from others, but don’t follow those standards themselves. They feel entitled to behave however they choose but want others to be kept in line always.

How many times have you seen the “leader” talking incessantly about treating everyone equally and then retreating to the executive lunchroom? Or somebody who keeps talking about gender parity but doesn’t have a single woman as head of any department? There are others who talk about the importance of hard work but promotes people only from his or her inner circle. One CEO demanded that every leader in the company undertake 360-degree feedback but was unwilling to submit himself to the process.

There’s more. Some CEOs keep shouting from the rooftops about the need for a culture of healthy debate within the workplace, but anyone who dares to disagree with his decision is immediately isolated and labelled disloyal. Yet others preach tolerance but judge others who don’t conform to their way of thinking; they demand austerity for others but handsomely compensate themselves. Or consider this: countless chairmen or CEOs want a strict retirement age for others in the organisation, but eagerly lobby for extension when it comes to themselves.

But these two-faced CEOs forget that their hypocrisy only undermines the belief that the workplace is fair and are likely be the target of considerable resentment — which breeds disloyalty, lack of motivation and, ultimately, failure. Chances are that most employees, who are not in the leader’s favourite club, would become cynical. It’s an established fact that such leaders simply can’t establish a culture of collaboration and end up slowly eroding the camaraderie and work ethic.

People tend to pay closer attention to what leaders do, instead of what they say. When the statements that leaders make about what they value are consistent with their actions and the things they reward, their followers are more willing to engage and treat one another like teammates. That leads to trust. But an inconsistency between the leader’s words and action will create exactly the opposite effect.

Hypocrite leaders try very hard to buy loyalty with fake sincerity. But they are no more authentic than buying a Rolex watch from a side pavement in Chandni Chowk. An organisation under such a leader is doomed to settle for a culture of mediocrity and underperformance. Forget the short-term successes, if any.