The Qualities of Leadership: Direction, Communication, and Obfuscation

David Myatt and Torun Dewan

No 311, Economics Series Working Papers from University of Oxford, Department of Economics

Abstract: Party activists wish to (i) advocate the best policy and yet (ii) unify behind a common party line. An activist`s understanding of his environment is based on the speeches of party leaders. A leader`s influence, measured by the weight placed on her speech, increases with her judgement on policy (sense of direction) and her ability to convey ideas (clarity of communication). A leader with perfect clarity of communication enjoys greater influence than one with a perfect sense of direction. Activists can choose how much attention to pay to leaders. A necessary condition for a leader to monopolize the agenda is that she is the most coherent communicator. Sometimes leaders attract more attention by obfuscating their messages. A concern for party unity mitigates this incentive; when activists emphasize following the party line, they learn more about their environment.

Keywords: Leadership; Direction; Coordination; Communication; Oligarchy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D7 D8 H1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-02-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cbe and nep-pbe
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Qualities of Leadership: Direction, Communication, and Obfuscation (2008)
Working Paper: The Qualities of Leadership:Direction, Communication, and Obfuscation (2007)
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