hitler: negative but effective leader

8/10/2019 Hitler: Negative But Effective Leader

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INTRODUCTION

“Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this

world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live.”

-Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler, no matter of his wrong behavior and the obvious evil that he empowered,

was one of the outstanding leaders of all time and changed the manner that our society

looked at war. The fact that Hitler came from a front-line soldier with no real future in a

leadership role to the chancellor of Germany and the commander of a great army shows

his great will and ability to meet his goals and to manipulate people to achieve a vision.

The reason that I chose Hitler as the subject for this assignment was because of the great

impact that he had on our world over the last century and also to take a look at just how

he could convince not only his nation but other allies to carry out his ill-will towards

Russia and the Jews. Whether or not he is viewed as crazy is irrelevant here, his

leadership and manipulative skills allowed him to accomplish at least some of his sub-

goals and very nearly his overall goal of expanding Germany into Russia and

exterminating the Jews. When looking at a leadership style or a model to compare Hitler

to, there is one word that really stands out in most leadership models that all relate to

Hitler: directive. This assignment will look at two different models which I believe will

show what kind of leader Hitler was and also why I think that he was as successful as he

possibly could have been. These two models are Blake and Mouton's Leadership Grid

and the contingency model.



HISTORY OF ADOLF HITLER

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau, Austria, a small town across the Inn

River from Germany. Soon after Hitler's birth, his father, Alois Hitler, moved the family

to Linz, Austria. Hitler attended school in Linz and at first was a good student, but in high

school he was a very poor student. Hitler's academic abilities angered his father because

his father hoped that Hitler would study to become a government worker as he had been.

Hitler, however, wanted to become an artist.

In 1907, Hitler went to Vienna, Austria in an attempt to fulfill his dream of becoming an

artist. This attempt ended when he failed the entrance exam to the Academy of Fine Arts.

When Hitler's mother died in 1907, he decided to stay in Vienna. He took the entrance

exam a year later and failed again. He did not have steady work in Vienna, but, instead,

got a variety of odd jobs. He lived in cheap rooming houses or slept on park benches and

he often had to get meals from charity kitchens. During his time in Vienna, Hitler learned

to hate non-Germans. Hitler was a German-speaking Austrian and considered himself

German. He ridiculed the Austrian government for recognizing eight languages as official

and believed that no government could survive if it treated ethnic groups equally.

In 1913, Hitler went to Munich, Germany and when World War I began in 1914, he

volunteered for service in the German army. Hitler was twice decorated for bravery, but

only rose to the rank of corporal. When World War I ended. Hitler was in a hospital

recovering from temporary blindness possibly caused by a poison gas attack. The

Versailles Treaty that ended the war stripped Germany of much of its territory, forced the

country to disarm, and ordered Germany to pay huge reparations. When the army

returned to Germany. The country was in despair. The country was bankrupt and millions

of people were unemployed.

In 1920, Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers Party known as the Nazis.

The Nazis called for all Germans, even those in other countries, to unite into one nation;

they called for a strong central government; and they called for the cancellation of the



Versailles Treaty. Hitler became leader of the Nazi party and built up membership

quickly, largely because of his powerful speaking ability. Hitler organized an army for

the Nazi party called the Storm Troopers ("Brown Shirts") who were called upon to fight

groups seeking to disband the Nazi rallies.

On November 9, 1923, Hitler led more than 2,000 Storm Troopers on a march to take

over the Bavarian government. The attempt failed and Hitler was arrested and sentenced

to prison for five years for treason. While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My

Struggle). In this book, he stated his beliefs and plans for Germany's future. Hitler only

served nine months in prison and when he was released, he began to rebuild the party

again. He set up a private battle-ready elite guard known as the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). By

1929, the Nazis had become an important minor political party.

In 1930, a worldwide depression hit Germany, yet Germany also had the debt of paying

for the harm it had caused in World War I. Hitler protested against paying the debt and

said that the Jews and Communists were the cause of Germany's defeat in World War I.

He promised to free Germany of Jews and Communists and to reunite the German

speaking region of Europe.

In July, 1932, the Nazis picked up about 40% of the vote and became the strongest partyin Germany. On January 30 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler

Chancellor of Germany. Once in this position, Hitler moved quickly toward attaining a

dictatorship. When von Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler already had control of Germany

and he gave himself the title "Fuehrer" (leader).

Under Hitler's government, called the Third Reich, there was no place for freedom. The

government controlled every part of one's life. Hitler used extensive propaganda to

brainwash the nation into believing his theory about creating the perfect Aryan or Nordic

race. Therefore, it was Hitler's plan to rid the nation and eventually the world of Jews,

Gypsies, Negroes, handicapped, and mentally ill persons. This plan was called the "Final

Solution."



World War II began in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland to begin his unification of all

German-speaking peoples. By this time extermination camps were being established

throughout Germany, Poland, and Russia.

Before Hitler was stopped in 1945 by the Allied countries, he had caused the

extermination over 12 million people. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April

30,1945 and seven days later, Germany surrendered.



10 LIFE LESSONS ADOLF HITLER

Lesson 1: Adolf Hitler has his own ideal world

Adolf Hitler has the good side of being the evil ruler of his own country, although, in the

history of all mankind, he killed thousand of thousand Jews Christian in the country. The

only difference is Adolf Hitler did not treat equally to other people who are Jews. He

really hates Jews and he has the power to kill them all. He considers himself as a God or

he acts as a God to everyone.

Lesson 2: Do good things to the people

It‟s the same how anti-Hitler views him as a killer. People don't know that he's also a

Roman Catholic Christian. Rosa, who worked as a maid said that Adolf Hitler was a kind

man. There's a reason why Adolf Hitler hated Jews and we don't know what it is. He's the

massive killer in the human society but the other side of it, he did good things to other

people but only people who became his follower.

Lesson 3: Have sense of humor

Hitler often cracked jokes. Although Hitler still laughed during wartime, he had been an

even bigger joker in earlier days. "As I knew from the „old timers‚‟ Hit ler in wartime was

a completely different from Hitler before the war ”, said Misch, who describes himself as

“a last living piece of history” and his modest flat in Berlin is filled with photos and

scrapbooks of his service for Hitler.

Lesson 4: Have a leisure time after works

As a dictator, Hitler liked to give the impression that he was constantly in motion, toiling

on behalf of Germany into the early hours. Actually, we know quite a lot about how he

spent his leisure time in the close circle with which he felt most comfortable. Wagner

music, operas were a lifelong passion.



Lesson 5: Take care of health at best

Hitler never drank or smoked, which was banned in his presence. The only time he

danced was when he did a jig beneath the Eiffel Tower after conquering France. As a

vegetarian his meals consisted of mashed potatoes and pulses, with endless vitamin

supplements.

Lesson 6: Be a family man

“Woman‟s world is her husband, her family, her children and her home. We do not find it

right when she presses into the world of men.” In reality, one of the reasons why Hitler

was then popular with conservative Christians in Germany was precisely because he

promised to restore traditional morality. He spent most of his time with his wife Eva

Braun, because he highly believed in the need of traditional moral values.

Lesson 7: Faith is harder to shake than knowledge

Faith is harder to shake than knowledge, love succumbs less to change than respect, hate

is more enduring than aversion, and the impetus to the mightiest upheavals on this earth

has at all times consisted less in a scientific knowledge dominating the masses than in a

fanaticism which inspired them and sometimes in a hysteria which drove them forward. -

Adolf Hitler

Lesson 8: Give the most powerful speech

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.”

This doesn‟t imply that Hitler taught us to tell a lie, but he directed us how to make

people believe in him. If you want to get your point across, and you want people to listen,

you need to make what you say look professional. If you are "discussing" this in real life,

please try to keep your tone calm but confident.

Lesson 9: It is the ‘human heart’ that he ignored



The fall of Hitler and his army began in their hearts. Hitler's heart started to poison him.

He became proud of what he has and became too confident or a better word – arrogant in

his battles. This confidence made him under-estimate his opponents. Hence, the weak and

the coward developed the perfect techniques to stab the giants (brave and strong) at their

backs and lead them to their fall.

Lesson 10: He could escape from his enemy, but not sin

“The sinner become a stranger to divine love, and to the love of neighbor; his heart

turned cold. Thus a sinner the more he sins, becomes more insensitive to evil; his will is

finally weakened that all conscience is lost, and he falls into greater and greater sins more

and more easily.” Finally, Hitler committed suicide in the Berlin bunker, but he couldn‟t

escape from the sin he did in the past.



MANAGEMENT LESSON FROM HITLER

Managerial Lessons to be learned from the greatest tyrant of the world “The leader of

genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to

one category”. Adolf Hitler may seem an evil and a terrifying man, but he was a man

with a mission and vision. His passion, dependability, and confidence made Germany a

powerful nation. One of Hitler qualities that made him a well-known leader is his

dependability. By having someone depend upon you makes you feel powerful or even

generous. Confidence was a rare quality that led him rising to the power and popularity.

Adolf Hitler would do anything to rise to the power and popularity, even by lying to

bring his inner confidence in the power.

Discipline:

Since Childhood Hitler had Discipline and regimentation under the watchful eyes of

teachers at school and his strict father at home. There is anecdotal evidence that Adolf's

father regularly beat him during his childhood, it was not unusual for discipline to be

enforced in that way during that period.

Punctual and hard worker:

Hitler was one of the most punctual people Germany ever produced. He never used to be

late or absent for any meeting. Also, before any public presence Hitler used to practice

his speech many times with his photographer to get the best motivating snaps.

Vision:

Hitler knew that the next level of war weapon will be of chemicals. He supported

chemical warfare. Some reports say Hitler was first to have a nuclear weapon also.



Determination:

He wanted to be the most powerful person in Germany and also wanted to make

Germany as the most powerful country in the world. In spite of being in prison for almost

one year Hitler did not have his determination fade. After being released Hitler continued

his movement indirectly, as he was prohibited to make any public summit. But after

getting public support Hitler became chancellor of Germany and later the undisputed

leader.

Strategic Planning:

Hitler followed through with his plan and repudiated the Treaty of Versailles. At first he

tried to keep Germany's rearmament a secret but by 1935 he proudly displayed

Germany's new army, navy and air force. European nations did nothing to enforce the

treaty, leading Hitler to conclude that he could begin to create his vision of a new

German nation. In1936 he reclaimed the Rhineland from France and in 1938 he annexed

Austria to Germany. France and Great Britain agreed at a meeting in Munich to the

annexation on the understanding that Hitler would make no more territorial demands. The

Munich agreement only made Hitler more convinced that he could continue his

expansion. Within months German troops had marched into German-populated areas ofCzechoslovakia and in 1939 Hitler annexed all of that country. Britain and France finally

reacted when Hitler's armies invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. War was declared,

leading to the Second World War that would last until 1945.

Organizing:

Hitler was discharged from the army in March 1920 and with his former superiors'

continued encouragement began participating full time in the party's activities. By early

1921, Hitler was becoming highly effective at speaking in front of large crowds. In

February, Hitler spoke before a crowd of nearly six thousand in Munich. To publicize the

meeting, he sent out two truckloads of party supporters to drive around with swastikas,

cause a commotion and throw out leaflets, their first use of this tactic. Hitler gained

notoriety outside of the party for his rowdy, polemic speeches against the Treaty of



Versailles, rival politicians (including monarchists, nationalists and other non-

internationalist socialists) and especially against Marxists and Jews.

The DAP was centered in Munich, a hotbed of German nationalists who included Army

officers determined to crush Marxism and undermine the Weimar republic. Gradually

they noticed Adolf Hitler and his growing movement as a vehicle to hitch themselves to.

Hitler traveled to Berlin to visit nationalist groups during the summer of 1921, and in his

absence there was a revolt among the DAP leadership in Munich

People Management:

Hitler was very famous among his people. He used to be in them and treated them as a

family. He played with their children and enjoyed with them. This lead to his popularity,

his people were ready to die for him

Problem Solver:

He had an amazing power of concentration. His judgments are quick and decisive. He

acts more like a big brother to his staff than as a Fuehrer and manages to endear himself

to Hitler was able to penetrate complex problems and reduce them to a few simple,

fundamental factors.

He prides himself on this talent and has said to various people:

“I have the gift of reducing all problems to their simplest foundations ...A gift for tracing

back all theories to their roots in reality.” each and every one of them.

But, underneath, he is every inch the Fuehrer. He displays extraordinary courage and

determination. He shows a great deal of initiative and is willing to assume fullresponsibility for the wisdom of the course he has mapped out.



ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR

When looking at Hitler's behaviour with the goal of analyzing his leadership style and

leadership success, it is important to keep in mind that the focus of the paper is to look at

how well and in what manner he led. To say that he was a poor leader based on his

actions or his extremely unethical goals would be a disservice to the analysis. This

section of the assignment will be broken down into two sections that will separate the

style approach and the contingency theory approach to analyze Hitler's leadership style.

STYLE APPROACH (BLAKE AND MOUTON'S

LEADERSHIP GRID)

As was stated previously, Adolf Hitler's leadership style when considering the style

approach is "authority-compliance". Essentially, Hitler wanted supreme power among his

peers and the rest of the world and once his country submitted to him and granted him

this supreme power, Hitler took full advantage of his positional power and at that point it

was too late for anyone to oppose him. An article that talked about Hitler's leadership

style said "Hitler was, first and foremost, determined to command personally. According

to his so-called Leader Principle, ultimate authority rested with him and extended

downward. At each level, the superior was to give the orders, the subordinates to follow

them to the letter. In practice the command relationships were more subtle and complex,

especially at the lower levels, but Hitler did have the final say on any subject in which he

took a direct interest, including the details of military operations, that is, the actualdirection of the armies in the field. Not only did Hitler give these orders, but if they were

not followed exactly as they were given, the subordinates were severely punished. There

is a clear emphasis on the task at hand, with little regard for the soldiers involved. These

orders did not only extend to his army. Hitler had the same mentality no matter who he

was talking to. The entire country was to do as they were told or they would suffer the



consequences. Hitler also did not like or trust his soldiers or his generals. Fitting the

leadership grid, the only time that he ever really spoke to these people was to give them

orders to follow.

One other thing to look at in the style approach was Hitler's ability to manipulate people

into thinking that he was their friend in order to achieve his goals. Hitler's primary goal

was to expand Germany and to take over a part of Eastern Russia. In light of this goal,

Hitler made sub-goals that involved eliminating certain armies that would hinder in his

goals. Knowing that Germany had just been defeated in WWI, Hitler used that as an

excuse to build up his army and through manipulative discussion and empty promises of

peace, Hitler soon had a naval fleet outside of Britain and troops mobilizing to prepare

for battle. Hitler was shown some opposition to rebuilding the army by such countries asFrance, but when opposition came from any country, he flattered the leaders and told

stories about how much the war had scarred his country and how he wanted peace.

Although Hitler seems to have had great communication skills, again, the only reason

that he drove himself to talk to these people was because they were almost taking orders

from Hitler to let him do as he pleased. This was done only to attain another step in

accomplishing his goals and his lies showed total disregard for the countries that he spoke

with because he ended up attacking them. All that Hitler cared about was his tasks. To

say that Hitler was seen as controlling and overpowering is an understatement and this is

an extreme case where I would say that this leader is an actual "one" where

communicating with people interpersonally is concerned. To me, this shows the

sociopath that was Adolf Hitler because he really did not care about anyone but himself.

This look at the style approach only really shows Hitler as a leader who simply used his

positional power to push everyone around, possibly giving the impression that he wasn't

much of a leader as much as he was a bully. When you only look at the style approach,

which most people subconsciously do when they think about Hitler, you do not see how

he led his way into this positional power. The contingency model will look more at how

he turned his poor situation into one of great power through smart and opportunistic

leadership.



CONTINGENCY MODEL

The contingency model will help look at Hitler's situation, the goals that he made, and his

power over people. After looking at these items, Hitler's approach will predict whether or

not he chose the correct style of leadership.

The first step in the contingency model is one that looks at the relationship between the

leader and the subordinates. According to the text, a good leader-member relationship is

one where the members have confidence in the leader, are loyal to the leader, and the

attraction that they have for the leader. Hitler came into politics at a time where the

people of Germany were devastated from WWI and the country was lost, with no sign of

nationalism and no hope. Hitler, once again with his manipulative speeches that were

geared toward his goals, gave people hope and through telling people who to hate and

why to hate them, created a following of a massive army and gave the hopeless Germans

something to believe in. The soldiers felt as if they were a part of something and Hitler

used this to gain their absolute loyalty and gained their confidence. For the people he was

leading, although he did not care about them personally, Hitler was respected and

admired by his followers.

The next item to look at in the contingency theory is the task structure. As was previouslystated, Hitler had his hand in anything that was of interest to him in military operations.

He was so precise in how he wanted things done that if they were not done exactly as

ordered, his own people were punished, sometimes severely. In reference to task, the text

says that "A task is considered structured when (a) the requirements of the task are

clearly stated and known by the individuals required to perform them, (b) the path to

accomplish the path has few alternatives, (c) the completion of the task can be clearly

demonstrated, (d) only a limited number of correct solutions to the task exist. Although

there may have been a couple of different solutions to the tasks that Hitler ordered, it was

very clearly stated that the "only correct way" to accomplish the task was to complete the

task in the manner that Hitler wanted it to be completed. As was said, each order was

extremely precise and organized, leaving the subordinate little room for error or chance to



sway from the goal path. This exemplifies that high structure of each task that was

delegated by Hitler.

Lastly, the contingency model looks at the position power that the leader holds. Hitler

started his military career as a front-line soldier in WWI and through his great persuasive

abilities worked his way to being the chancellor of Germany. Once there, Hitler started to

fire people and take over positions in order to increase his position power over

everybody. People were terrified to fail him let alone oppose him, so his positional power

over his subordinates was quite extreme. Hitler gave himself the power to do whatever he

wanted to do to people whenever he wanted to do it.

After looking at the previous three items, the information is in place to determine the best

style of leadership given the conditions surrounding the leader and his subordinates.

Hitler's situation comes out as a "1" on the preferred leadership style scale, showing good

leader-member relations, high task structure, and strong positional power. Keeping in

mind that Hitler should be viewed as a low LPC, the contingency model says that people

who are in Hitler's situation would be most successful as a low or middle LPC. Based on

this model, Hitler should theoretically be successful in his directive approach.



APPROPRIATENESS OF LEADERSHIP STYLE IMPLEMENTED

In my opinion, Adolf Hitler's style of leadership during the late 1930's and early to mid-

1940's was the most efficient way to get the things done that he wanted to have done.

During a time of war, there is little time to sit there and support people or take time to

help someone out with something, you could get shot or lose important position while

this is happening. I think that the most important part of Hitler's drive to win WWII was

the fact that he very clearly, from the beginning told his prospective followers of his

vision and how he planned on making this vision become a reality. This vision gave the

subordinates motivation in a very dark time in Germany and by using the expectancy

theory, he gave his troops the drive needed to attempt to carry out their goal. Of course

Hitler's actions were absolutely evil, but he did use the situation to his advantage and to

try to accomplish his goals, as terrible as some of them were. I think that driving his

troops through nationalism was a great situational approach because the country was once

so proud and at that time had nothing to be proud about.

One thing that I would say about Hitler's leadership was that his lack of caring for his

people was quite unnecessary near the end of the war and that although it wasn't really a priority for him, he should have surrendered and killed himself to save some of the

people who had worked so hard for a lost cause. When figuring that the goal could not be

reached, it might have been a more humane idea to take a higher stance on the concern

for people on Blake and Mouton's Leadership Grid. Of course, this does not deter my

belief that Hitler was an effective leader to that point, I just think that a great leader

should have the ability to adapt to situations and to mould his leadership style

accordingly, and this did not happen in Hitler's case. This was probably due to the fact

that Hitler was as psychotic as he was smart, but this fault should be looked at

nonetheless.



MISTAKES

The first was in not having sound moral judgment and allowing personal interests to

dictate his governments‟ actions, thereby misusing his supporters trust and, eventually

destroying the lives of many of them.

The second was in not trusting his subordinate‟s judgment in their own sections of

expertise. This happened in many cases and an example would be during the war in north

Africa where he did not allow his soldiers to retreat from the continent until it was far too

late, for the reason of nothing more than his idea of national pride.

This lead to the destruction by death or capture of nearly his entire army in Africa.

Another example was the case of Stalingrad where he did not let his generals to order a

general withdrawal of the troops allowed an entire army to be surrounded and cut off

insisting till far to late that the beleaguered air force could supply the surrounded troops.

These were examples not only of letting his emotions guide him but also of

micromanagement in cases where he did not know the entire situation.

A third was in being overtly authoritarian, and not allowing any contrary views to be

aired. It helped initially in implementing his policies but eventually it became dangerous

to even talk about ideas contrary to the official party line. It consequently discouraged

free thinking and honesty especially amongst his chief subordinates. This meant that the

men who rose to power did so not based on ability or merit but on telling him things he

wanted to hear.



SUMMARY

Adolf Hitler may seem as an evil and a terrifying man but a man that well-known

wouldn't be in history without his passion, dependability, and confidence to make

Germany a powerful nation. To get Germany to become a powerful nation did take both

negative and positive thoughts upon his actions. In my opinion, Hitler was man who

fought till last man with the help of his military, economy and nothing other than his

qualities. As being a man with qualities no other than dependability, passion, and

confidence Hitler would not have led himself to victory, popularity, success and rise to

the power. & quot; Dunkirk has fallen... with it has ended the greatest of world history.

Soldiers! My confidence in you knew no bounds. It was all for his mission and vision to

become an excellent leader but do you think all of these devastations were required &

quot;

By putting himself into a position of great power and fear, Hitler understood the situation

that he was in and acted accordingly. If you think about this situation in a business sense,

think about a boss who has made an example of firing a few people who would not

perform as ordered to, and how the next person is going to feel when ordered to do

something. Hitler struck fear into his army but at the same time maintained loyalty and

motivation for the soldiers to arrive at Hitler's vision. For the boss of the business, if

production was his only concern, it is very unlikely that employees would work harder

for any reason other than to not be fired. The boss' goal or vision would not likely be a

priority to the employee as it was to the Germans. In the case of the boss, however, I am

not saying that the boss would not be successful as a leader, I am only trying to show

Hitler's success in leadership because of his consciousness to the situation and his ability

to exploit it most efficiently.



CONCLUSION

In conclusion to all the information I have gathered, Adolf Hitler, although a sick and

twisted man was a brilliant, charismatic leader. His speeches drew crowds of people in

and earned their popularity, but used the power he gained for evil. He will go down in

history as a demonic man, who used power for his own good.

Overall, Hitler's situational analysis and leadership style based on the analysis and the

situations that he created for himself make Hitler a great leader and a great man in the

respect that he turned nothing into something huge. It is unfortunate that he used his

abilities for evil rather than good, but his accomplishments as a leader must be regarded

as great. This style of leadership would not be likely to succeed in a growing, innovative

corporation today, but in the setting that Germany and Adolf Hitler found themselves in

during the 1930's, the style proved to be very successful when referring to the definition

of leadership that we have been concerned with this term.



Bibliography

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm

www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/

www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/30691.Adolf_Hitler

www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Second-Book...Sequel/.../1929631618

Leadership in organizations- Gary Yukl

On Becoming A Leader by Warren G. Bennis

Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life by Kevin Cashman

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm




http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/


http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/30691.Adolf_Hitler






hitler: negative but effective leader

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