An effective leader must have balance between qualities
such as being dominant but also listening to others or being cautious but
courageous, and the same is true regarding ethics. When necessary, a leader
cannot be ethically good and must be flexible about ethical values for the
betterment of their people. “Necessary evil”, as Machiavelli referred to in “The
Prince”, is required if it is used for the common good, not the individual
leader. However, I do not agree with all of Machiavelli’s principles. He claims
it is better to be feared than loved because love is an unreliable base to rely
on, while fear will always make people follow the leader. This includes a
leader deceiving their people just to enhance their own authority. I believe leaders
should only use “necessary evil” if it helps their people, not just themselves.
Leaders should be as virtuous as possible not just appear virtuous as Machiavelli argues (known as the concept of virtứ)
by only going against ethical values in times of need for their people, such as
in a war or economic crisis. Also, in the article “Only the Ethical Survive”,
it is discussed how ethical decisions cause business executives to usually make
greater profits in the end, and this applies to leaders in general too. If a
leader establishes more trust in their people, the more support they will
receive, even though they may go back on this trust depending on if it is a
time of need.
A
leader who comes to mind who acted with “necessary evil” is Franklin D.
Roosevelt. He desired to implement his New Deal programs so badly that he
basically ignored the Supreme Court’s decisions, completely disregarding the
core values of checks and balances and separation of powers in American
government. He wanted to enact the “court packing plan” in which he would
appoint his choice of a justice to the Supreme Court for every justice over
seventy years old, so it would approve his plans instead of denying them. While
it seemed Roosevelt was acting as a dictator, he was trying to enact this for
the common good of the people. He wished to provide more jobs and help the
economy to slowly recover. Although this plan was not passed, the action at the
time seemed ethically wrong, but truly was necessary for the common purpose of
reversing the effects of the Great Depression.
-Esha Deshmukh
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