In the famous BBC TV Serial ” The Tudors ” , King Henry VIII is shown larger than life and glorified in spite of his many licentious behavior and cruelty shown to his dissidents . This custom of hero worship practiced in feudal days is still in vogue both in political and business life and examples of the ‘dark side of leadership ‘ abound .
The dark side and the destructive emotions manifest in many ways . It may be simple corruption in high places like the recent infamous 2 G scam in India ,manipulation of the system of accounts and audits like in the ENRON case , or inappropriate behavior as alleged in the present IMF case .
Is this a case of absolute power giving license to misbehave or is it a system failure ? . We need sufficient safeguards against this malady . The leadership at higher levels also need to be vigilant to avoid planned sabotage of their honor and character by unscrupulous elements in the society who may be out to tarnish clean reputations to score on political or personal grounds . Both ways , we need to institutionalize ” Leadership Vigil ” .