Chairman or chief?

Do these labels fit? And which is more suitable to the times we’re in? asks Caroline O’Doherty

ENDA KENNY may have the votes to become Taoiseach but the count continues as to whether he has the virtues to be a good leader.

Political analyst and broadcaster Brian Farrell famously coined the phrase “chairman or chief” now used to assess the leadership styles of taoisigh past and present.

Kenny himself added a third option when, during the party leaders’ debate in Irish on TG4, he said he saw himself most clearly in the role of captain.

But do any of the labels fit? And which is more suitable to the times we’re in and the challenges that lie ahead?

Professor Thomas Garavan, who specialises in human resources and leadership development at University of Limerick’s Kemmy School of Business, is reluctant to put Kenny into any of those boxes.

“I’m not sure those pieces of terminology are relevant. I see the distinction being between manager and leader.

“Brian Cowen was a manager — always looking at tasks and activities and who was doing what. Kenny is more of a leader — getting people to buy into ideas and letting them identify what needs to be done to follow those ideas through.”

A good delegator then?

“I would say empowering rather than delegating. He knows how to utilise people and gives them roles and lets them deliver. You can see that from the fact that his front bench are very visible.

“That stems from a relationship of trust — even with the people who voted against him in the leadership challenge last year. He showed himself very politically astute during that. It says a lot about him that he came out of that really well. It was the greatest recovery since Lazarus.”

Michael McDonnell, director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, also found Kenny’s survival of the heave revealing in terms of his progression towards the Taoiseach’s office.

“He showed a certain amount of mettle and he was decisive which, given his hesitancy in the past, was quite a change.”

So he kicked ass?

Not according to Mr McDonnell, who says modern leaders coax rather than kick.

“A good leader needs to be somebody that can bring the best out of other people and I think Kenny has that ability.”

He’ll need it even more so in the weeks, months and, and if he’s successful, years, ahead, as he won’t have to keep just his own dissenters on side but coalition partners too.

“You will have a lot of very strong personalities who will be competing for resources and kudos, a lot of egos and people who perceive themselves as having a lot of ability and there will be a lot of disappointed Fine Gael backbenchers,” Mr McDonnell says.

“We’ll have to have somebody who can keep everyone calm, who can stand back and give everyone space to adjust. I think Kenny can win people over that way. I think he may have tried to be a chief in the past but he’s reinvented himself as chairman.”

Can this be the same Enda Kenny variously described over the years as wooden, woolly, devoid of personality and several rotations short of a dynamo?

Prof Garavan and Mr McDonnell believe some of Kenny’s less obvious qualities may have been overlooked in assessments — particularly in the media.

“We had a discussion about this with the MBA class the other week and we concluded that Enda seemed to have emotional intelligence in buckets and spades,” says Prof Garavan.

“He has a connection with people. He’s good at communication — although not when he’s scripted. He’s better being himself. Compare that with Brian Cowen who was tetchy and uncommunicative. I have personal experience of seeing Enda in action when he came to a college event and the way he worked the room was fantastic.

“He isn’t a big personality but on a one-to-one level he does very well. He has an authenticity.

“When you compare him with Eamon Gilmore, Gilmore comes across as quite shrill, a boot boy rather than somebody that you can relate to.”

Kenny’s occasional struggles with facts and figures don’t do much harm in the leadership stakes either, Prof Garavan says.

“When it comes to the qualities that make a leader, we usually say intellect only accounts for 5%-7%, emotional intelligence for 35% and situational awareness the rest. Enda is situationally aware — he is pragmatic and can compromise.”

Mr McDonnell also believes that Kenny’s low-key personality is a strength.

“There are different types for different times. He had no chance when he went up against Bertie Ahern because Bertie’s charisma suited the times.

“We need more than charisma now, something more solid, someone with humility.”

Humility is a trait also identified by Prof Garavan.

“I think he is a realist. Some of his predecessors believed in their own immortality. We’ve had enough hubris and it’s time for humility and I think Enda can deliver that.”

Even after the ego-inflating experience that awaits him of being hoisted high on the shoulders of supporters and elevated to the highest office in the land?

“Yes, I think so. The women in our MBA group also said he was ‘nice’. I’m never sure whether that’s a compliment or not but in this case I think they meant it as a good thing.”