Drinking the Kool-Aid: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and “bad” Leadership

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To build and foster this coercive power, Jones used what were known as “catharsis” sessions: “During these sessions, people were accused of wrong-doing. The whole congregation would vote on their guilt or innocence. If they were voted guilty, they could be beaten, forced to fight large, strong church members or punished in other hurtful, embarrassing ways. Jones was said to direct all of these sessions” (De Angelis 22). Former temple members also say that Jones required followers to sign documents admitting guilt for various crimes, as well as blank papers so that Jones could use their signatures however he pleased. When Jones moved the temple to Guyana, he effectively separated members from their families, in many instances requiring them to leave loved ones behind without any communication except a note. Once in Guyana, Jones demanded increasingly strict loyalty, even testing followers through practice suicide drills, where they were given (what turned out to be faux) poison and ordered to drink it without question. Through these techniques, Jones isolated followers in a foreign country under a siege mentality. Many temple survivors, who either did not make the trip to Guyana or escaped the massacre, have explained how they were blinded in the moment by Jones’ highly effective coercion tactics.

“When leaders are unwilling or unable to control their desire for more, bad leadership will be the result” (Kellerman 20). Whatever Jim Jones’ original motives, his uncontrolled “desire for more” ultimately led hundreds of loyal temple members to die by their own hand and convinced them to feed cyanide to their children. Jones was, in short, both spectacularly effective and spectacularly unethical—the worst kind of “bad leader.” Why others would follow Jones over the cliff of life has to do with his powers of persuasion and coercion, as well as his followers’ human desire for safety, security, and happiness in a time of social turmoil.

Works Cited

- Kellerman, Barbara. Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters. Boston: Harvard Business School, 2004. Print.

- DeAngelis, Gina. Jonestown Massacre: Tragic End of a Cult. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002. Print.

- Goethals, George R., Georgia Jones. Sorenson, and James MacGregor. Burns. Encyclopedia of Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2004. Print.