What is it about?
This article critically examines excessive positivity in leadership dynamics. Prozac leadership encourages leaders to believe their own narratives that everything is going well and discourages followers from raising problems or admitting mistakes. The article also argues that followers (broadly defined) are often quick to identify leaders’ excessive positivity and are likely to respond through various forms of resistance.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Drawing on the metaphor of ‘Prozac’, the article argues that the tendency for leader positivity to become excessive is a recurrent but under-researched medium through which power and identity can be enacted in leadership dynamics. The article concludes by considering the extent to which excessive positivity also characterizes leadership studies, and raises additional questions for further critical analyses of Prozac leadership.
Perspectives
The article suggests that leaders’ excessive positivity is often characterized by a reluctance to consider alternative voices, which can leave organizations and societies ill-prepared to deal with unexpected events.
Professor DAVID LEONARD COLLINSON
Lancaster University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Prozac leadership and the limits of positive thinking, Leadership, April 2012, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1742715011434738.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
