Insular Leadership Case Study

There are so many signs of bad leadership in this case, it was baffling. The ethical issue is clearly corruption, and many of the things that go along with that word. Theft, misinformation, dishonesty in spades!
These leaders were Johnson’s definition of corrupt leaders. They lied, cheated and stole, they were completely self-interested. They were the highest paid officials and the residents had very high taxes, yet many of them lived below the poverty line. I also believe that these leaders were Insular leaders. They clearly had a line drawn between themselves and the residents. If they saw themselves as one of the residents, or equal to the residents they wouldn’t have committed the crimes they did Johnson, 2012, p. 266).
Most of the ethical
Many of the residents couldn’t vote, so they didn’t have that avenue to enact change. Yes, they could have tried to talk to city officials or gone through some sort of chain of command but considering the high taxes and utility fees, I’m not sure the majority of the residence could have afforded to go through that process. Could they take off work? Could they find childcare? Could they even find the energy considering how hard they likely had to work to make ends meet? If any of these questions are answered with a “no” then a resident couldn’t really do a lot, and they would have likely been fed misinformation, or given no information at all (Johnson, 2012, p. 266).
The Kellerman list for effective and ethical leadership is helpful in its entirety but a few key elements could really help this kind of corruption from sprouting in other communities.
Get real and stay real: The officials in Bell blocked out the reality of their crimes. Leaders have to keep the world beyond their office and their home in mind.
Remember the mission: Clearly the officials’ mission was not to lie and steal from the residents of Bell. They lost sight of the mission and didn’t put it above their own