Leadership lessons from history: Jehovah's Witnesses

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to consider the position of Jehovah's Witnesses during the Third Reich.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on recent research, the author considers leadership and followership lessons that can be gleaned from the Third Reich period of history.

Findings

Historians write of the “Führerprinzip” or the “leadership principle” by which Adolf Hitler is seen to have taken and held power in Nazi Germany. Hitler and the Nazi leadership managed to conduct a programme of unthinkable acts, including institutionalised murder on a gargantuan scale, with seemingly limited internal challenge or resistance. Subsequent analysis undertaken in the aftermath of the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials argues that the majority of people will carry out instructions if these are given by an authority figure, even if their action harms others. However, as Professor Milgram and his successors have also shown, not everyone will behave in this way; some people refuse to obey orders which contravene their moral sense or values. This paper aims to summarise the story of one group of people – Jehovah's Witnesses – who, during the Third Reich, refused to comply.

Originality/value

The author offers this paper as a case study to highlight some issues about moral leadership, leadership by example, and about the inspiration that can come from unexpected quarters.

Citation

King, C. (2011), "Leadership lessons from history: Jehovah's Witnesses", International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 178-185. https://doi.org/10.1108/17479881111160168