Chapter 5: Leader vs. Follower

Evolution psychology enables humans to solve many different problems.  It is important to recognize your individual preference whether you prefer being the leader or the follower; but how do we truly know?  Are we taught?  Is it natural?  Is it something that can change throughout life?  Studies have shown that traits can have an effect on whether a person will be a leader or a follower.  For example, a person with more testosterone is more likely to be a leader.  There are also other physical indicators, such as age and height that can also have an effect.  Fortunately, our society has been pulling away from always choosing a leader who is a tall, older, and masculine man.  We now have women who are holding positions in the government, police force, etc.          

I find it extremely interesting that so many people view leaders as having certain physical aspects.  If I were to show you different pictures of people (male, female, tall, short, glasses, bald, white, black, etc.) and you had to choose one to be your leader, what would you base your answer off of?  Then, what would you want their personality to be?  Does it seem more appropriate to choose a leader based off of their physical traits or their personality/strengths?

Chapter five also talks about the importance of why people are followers.  People tend to become followers in situations that they do not know what to do or they feel threatened.  For example, we do what police officers tell us to do without questioning because we could face negative consequences if we do not.  This also explains that people choose to be followers in situations to keep peace.  When was a time that you chose to be a follower to avoid conflict?  Do you feel you made the right decision?  

It is impossible to know exactly why people are either leaders or followers, but I feel that it is important to know how people view the “normal” leader.  This created awareness to me as a follower to make sure I base my decision of a leader off of their interests and personality.  Choosing a leader this way will be much more beneficial to me.  This also makes me more prepared for the future knowing that I am not the “normal” leader.  I am a woman who will probably have to work harder than most men to convince people that I am a good leader.  I will need to make sure I stand out in a way that people will see past my physical attributes.   

Chapter 6: Individual Differences in Leadership

In chapter 6 we take a look at the individual difference in leadership based upon certain traits, also known as the “Trait” or “Great Man “theory.  In the chapter the authors create a model of individual differences in leadership (fig 6.1) based on prior trait research.  In the model they distinguish the difference between leader emergence and leader effectiveness, and look at leader’s individual traits and styles.  Do you believe there are certain traits that a leader needs to have in order to be a  sucessful leader?

The authors break the leader’s traits into “bright” and “dark” traits.  Bright traits are traits that are socially desires and are likely to be valuable for leader emergence and leadership effectiveness across situations.  The bright traits are: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness.   These same traits can also be counterproductive in some situations for example if you are agreeable, you might be easily rolled off course by influential followers.   

 Dark traits are traits that might compromise leader effectiveness in general, but actually might enhance group survival and fitness.  The dark traits are: narcissism, histrionic, dominance, machiavellianism.  For example, someone who is histrionic is overly concerned with looks, overly sensitive to disapproval, and attention seeking.  However if you are histrionic you have a benefit of being more likely to emerge as a leader, or more likely to be viewed as charismatic and innovative.  Have you ever been in a situation where you have seen a “dark” trait being displayed?  Knowing what you know now about how “dark” traits can have benefit, was the trait being used in a good or bad way?

In the chapter the authors debate about how you should truly measure leadership.  Critics point out research often places to much emphasis on how leaders are perceived by their peers and not enough on how the organization actually performs.  Do you believe that leaders should be measured more by their influence on others or their overall organizations performance?