Never stop a rival when he's already hurting himself
On altruism, leadership contests, and why those who survive purges aren't necessarily in touch with all the desired facts
News emerging from China indicates that yet another member of the Politburo has been purged. The accusations behind the purge have familiar echoes of “corruption”, which is both easy to believe and hard to trust. We are not obliged to assume the best motives and intentions of a person who rises to the top echelon inside a brutal Communist Party. That’s not a place for altruists who take the moral high ground.
■ Yet it’s also true that “corruption” can be a convenient character smear used by a powerful leader to dismantle rival power structures. It’s a very old play. And in the case of China, it’s such a chronic feature of how the Communist Party rolls along that it has to be handicapping the country’s prospects.
■ If the person at the top makes it clear that he will cut down anyone who gets too close to the top, then it becomes clear that nobody is wise to put forth their best efforts. If being at the top introduces an aspect of real personal peril, then what’s the point of trying?
■ Fear is how the crooked and the incompetent keep their subordinates in line, and on the wrong end of a Communist Party purge is a dangerous place to be. Long-term, this must have really big consequences for China’s leadership, as it both discourages anyone at the top from dissenting or speaking boldly, and discourages anyone with real talent from seeking a route to the top.
■ Such a recipe is practically assured to deliver massively substandard results: A thin-skinned boss who personalizes and centralizes power around himself, giving every signal that he wants no dissent and no independence of thought. The resulting decisions will not reflect the state of the art in any category, but whatever is the most mediocre way to pass every problem along to the next fellow and lie about every situation. Leaders who can’t count on trustworthy feedback from closer to every problem can be assured they will end up sooner or later in all of the wrong places.