Headlines from the Hollinger affair: management and leadership perspectives on Lord Conrad Black

Abstract

In January 2006, Conrad Black, former CEO of Hollinger International, looks to this new year with desperation and uncertainty. He spent Christmas facing not lavish holiday galas but 95 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering amongst others. He is consistently criticized through the mainstream media for gross mismanagement of Hollinger. Abuse of power, questionable ethics and poor governance within Hollinger are the perceptions that continue to stir debate of how Conrad Black will be judged within the public eye. Is Conrad Black a leader who fell from grace or a manager who was more adept at mismanagement? On the other hand, is Conrad Black a role model of superior management style and leadership skill and only a victim of the current societal norms that call for public outcry when it is perceived that a leader has abused his/her position of authority?