Charismatic Leaders: Wonderful or Dangerous? BUS660

Heroic military leaders are a perfect study group that can show us the nature of charismatic leadership. 

Che Guevara stands out as one of those leaders who possess charm, intelligence, and inspires others  to get on board and follow. El Che is considered an authority figure who put his life in jeopardy to lead others to a better life. He is considered the ultimate freedom fighter to many South American countries as well as abroad in Russia, France, and Africa.

Che Guevara not only was a handsome man, but when he spoke, could move those that heard him, be inspired to fight against injustices that the poor endured by those in power. In military terms, Guevara was the epitome of a romantic tragic martyr that quickly became iconic to those who fight injustice in the world. Military defeat can sometimes become a cultural victory and that is exactly what happened in the making of Che Guevara’s place in history.

A photo that was taken of him standing next to Fidel Castro after defeating the bloody Batista regime in Cuba is the most duplicated image in the world. In the myth making of Guevara, he is now perceived as a Christ like figure. As one of his modern day followers is quoted from the documentary, Chevolution, “Che is a hero to many because he resisted a truly ugly system, remained true to his ideals, and conveniently died before the Revolution’s slow, pathetic demise became apparent to nearly everyone“ (Tutor, n.d.). Of course his memory does not take on the role to some who found his ideals were to be resisted. Paul Berman, author of Terror and Liberalism offers an intense iconoclastic critique when he was quoted as saying, “The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster.” Needless to say, Che’s image can be found the world over as the symbol of freedom of oppression and the symbol of rejecting worldly excess and the values of those resisting injustice in the world (Tutor, n.d.).

On the other hand, some of the most evil men to rise to power got to their position because  they were charismatic. One of the most evil authoritarian leaders ever to live was Pol Pot. Pol. Pot oversaw the brutal deaths of over a million Cambodians in the 1970s. His horrendous crimes were against his own people. Pol Pot has been described as a leader that is worse than Hitler and a genocidal maniac. The blood baths occurred so that he could push forward his ideology of collectivist agrarian utopia on an unwilling nation. Its hard to understand how someone has evil can fool those who follow him. His own people did not remove him from power that was exposed to the world in 1979. He continued to rule until his death in 1998. Pol Pot's entrance onto Cambodia political landscape was inspired by the desire to bring about such social and political changes to benefit the poor masses. Pol Pot's speech as "harmonious and persuasive; he used examples skillfully. He made himself easy to like (Chandler, 1999). In the end, it was evident he was a much worse than those before him and used speech to persuade his followers he would make their lives better than before. His love for ultimate power resulted in the deaths of more than a million compatriots, one in seven Cambodians, in less than four years.

References

 Chandler, David P. Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999. 

Hughes, R.L. & Ginnett, R.C. & Curphy, G.J. (2009). Leadership: Enhancing the

Lessons of Experience (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN: 9780073405049 

Tutor, J. (n.d.). Che Guevara was the ultimate charismatic leader.