The Problem With The Leadership Style of Daenerys Targeryn
Previous seasons ago, we have seen the great struggle of Daenerys from a mere slave, to a remarkable leader. She has shown so many potential to become the future queen. I made an article of her leadership style from season 1–7 here:
She could have been even more if she hadn’t done what she did in the previous episode.
Game of Thrones Season 8 episode 5 showed how she was finally able to conquer King’s Landing with ease. This may be a great achievement, except the way she obtained it is unethical.
We saw her burn nearly an entire city to ashes, despite she said she won’t. Her armies raped and killed a lot of innocent people and she did not listen to her advisors. In other words, she has turned Autocratic. But how did she turn this way?
Below here, I will explain the negative sides of a democratic leader. Note that this may also apply in real life, I will not mention the leaders but I can only hint that these type of people emerges in mostly political sides. If you fall to a democratic leader, hopefully, this may help you be aware so that you don’t fall to be the next Mad King/Queen.
NOTE: This post will only highlight the biggest disadvantage of a Democratic Leader.
1. Letting Emotions Take Over
Most Democratic leaders, when they feel in power, they will make sure their authority is shown. Some does this to show mostly fear to the third party or to tell them that they are still in power. But ultimately, it goes down to fear.
This is what Dany did in the very first episode. It may be great to show that she was no longer the mere slave, however, if the decision is unethical, it can be dangerous. Here is a comparison:
In the very first season, she exploded when Visery was threatening her. She made sure that he knew that he had no control over her anymore.
Looks great right? What about here:
She burnt down an entire city to ashes. After experiencing: betrayals, the loss of her 2 dragons, loved ones, best friends, allies, and many more, she finally snapped.
Her main goal was to be a ruler, but how can you rule when there are no people to rule over?
This is the weakness of many democratic leaders because they do not know how to control their emotions when it is too much. Think of Jesus. He was betrayed, whipped, and nailed to death. Yet he was still willing to forgive. In Dany’s case, she had a similar experience and she loses it.
This the dangerous part when leaders’ emotions are not controlled. They will no longer think but let feelings take over. In other words, a lack of control. This sometimes will affect how they communicate with others, discussed below.
2. Deaf To Opinions And Feedback
When emotions take over, democratic leadership will not accept any feedbacks. All they care is to get what they have been fighting for or want. Therefore, there will be a lack of communications. I wrote an article on what happens if you lack communications here:
This method may have worked if the decision was ethical. For instance, the day when she conquered Astapor, was the day she did not listen to Ser Jorah about selling Drogon for the Unsullied. Because she was dealing with slave traders and stuck to her goals to free the slaves, she was still able to obtain Drogon and Unsullied who were willing to follow her.
However, at Season 7, Dany did not listen to Tyrion on showing mercy to the people who don’t want to serve her. She could have gotten more allies if she spared them, but instead, she burnt them. Resulting in the next season, Samwell Tarly turning against Dany and immediately told Jon the truth about his real parentage so that he, instead, will be the one to sit on the Iron Throne instead of Dany.
When one forgets what they are truly fighting for and let their pride take over, that is when conflicts of interest will arise between parties. There can even be huge arguments, discussed below.
3. Decrease of Followers
By season 7, Dany gave a clearer goal instead: the Iron Throne. It used to be fighting for freedom, but suddenly, after countless losses, she decided that the Iron Throne is more important. Take note: she had Yara Greyjoy, Ellaria Sand, and Olenna Tyrell as her allies when she first arrived in Westeros.
Suddenly, because she decided not to heed their words to strike King’s Landings first, she lost them all. At this point, she must have regretted her choice, and decided to heed Olenna’s words “Be a Dragon”. Therefore, when she loses all self-control and did not listen to feedbacks, that is when people started questioning her.
Why did she not make it clear then?
The problem was when she first arrived at Winterfell, she should have stated clearly about her main objective. She should have told the leaders that she was there to fight Cersei and for the North, so it was not just for authority when she asked Jon to bend the knee. Jon made that mistake as well for not acknowledging her sacrifices.
Because of that, THIS is where when followers decreased drastically. Sansa was still skeptical of her, the North people did not acknowledge her, Varyss decided to betray her, and by this point, it seems that Jon Snow himself is doubting her.
All these three are the biggest drive to become an autocratic leader, which we all want to avoid. I made an article about this on Cersei Lannister:
The Take…….
To be fair, sometimes, we also have a side that wants to burn people alive. However, the biggest battle is self-control. It is not easy to forgive others after the horrible things they have done. But what leaders must always focus on is why they first started it.
Dany fell astray from her main goal. That losses her real objective, lifting up her pride and authority and eventually, she may as well not be able to rule very long like the Mad King.
We see this also in a lot of businesses. When they lost focus on their main vision and mission, their business falls apart. Theranos is one of them. They first dedicated themselves for a cheaper medical device but ended up falling apart when it turned out to be a fraud and cash generation instead. Here is an article I wrote about Elizabeth Holmes, the CEO of Theranos, leading to the downfall:
As for the fate of Dany? I have a feeling she may not survive the next episode, as her allies are already doubting here. I still admire her character, I just think that the story is too rushed to get to this point.
Other than that, I hope you all learn something here :)
