1. Personality and Leadership
Donelson R.
Forsyth

2. Everyone is
unique
But everyone is similar,
too, in some ways.

3. The word personality comes from the Latin
What is “Personality”
Personality
...a distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual.
The word personality comes from the Latin
"persona", meaning "mask“.

4. Levels of Personality Analysis
Every human being is…
… like all others
Human nature
What are humans, as a species, like?
… like some others
Individual difference
In what ways do people differ from one another?
… like no others
Individual uniqueness
How is this individual special?

5. Human Nature Level
The traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and are possessed by everyone or nearly everyone
The Need to Belong
The Primal Need for a Leader

6. Individual Differences Level
Ways in which each person is like some other people; dimensions of variation among people
Extraverted
Introverted

7. Individual Uniqueness Level
Every individual has personal and unique qualities not shared by any other person in the world
Individuals can be studied in two ways:
Nomothetically: As individual instances of general characteristics that are distributed in the population
Idiographically: As single and unique cases
Consider a leader….what do these levels of analysis tell us about him or her and the way he or she leads?

8. What can personality tell us about leaders and leadership?
leadership emergence
leadership methods and style
leadership effectiveness
followers’ reactions to leaders
leaders’ reactions to leading

9. Questions to Consider Does Personality Influence…..
who becomes a leader?

10. Trait theories of leadership
Early explanations of leadership studied the “traits” of great leaders
“Great man” theories (Gandhi, Lincoln, Napoleon)
Belief that people were born with these traits and only the great people possessed them

11. But researchers and reviewers (e. g
But researchers and reviewers (e.g., Stogdill), when they compared the characteristics of leaders to non-leaders, found few differences.
A few characteristics were correlated with leadership, but the relationships were weak.

12. New Advances and Renewed Interest
As Steve Zaccaro conclude in their chapter “Leader Traits and Attributes”
Better Theory 
Better Measures 
Better Methods
Emerging consensus leaders do possess certain qualities that set them apart from other people. 
Better Statistics
Example: Big Five Theory

13. Big Five Factors and Leadership
Personality  Leadership
Emergence

14. Questions to Consider Does Personality Influence….
how one leads, when a leader?
Leadership Style

15. Example: Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
Fiedler studied various leaders and organizations
Preferred to only study groups with clear indicators of effectiveness/ performance (e.g., teams with win/loss records)
Revised and extended model based on data

16. Personality Variable
“In oversimplified terms, … the leader manages the group in either of two ways. He can:
Tell people what to do and how to do it.
Or share his leadership responsibilities with his group members and involve them in the planning and execution of the task.”
Motivational
Structure or
Leadership
Style
Fielder, Harvard Business Review, p. 116

17. The Least Preferred Coworker Scale, or LPC scale.
Think of the person who you least like to work with
Measuring
Motivational
Style

18. LPC Scale
Think of a person with whom you can work least well. He or she may be someone you work with now or someone you knew in the past. This coworker does not have to be the person you like least but should be the person with whom you had the most difficulty in getting a job done.

19. Pleasant :.8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1.: Unpleasant
Friendly : : Unfriendly
Insincere : : Sincere
Kind : : Unkind .
Low score = Task Motivated (57)
High score = Relationship Motivated (63)
(If 58-62, “socioindependent”): ambivalent, mixed motivations, socially independent, not clear

20. Leadership and Type Guardians (SJ) Administrators Conservators
ESTJ Supervisor
ISTJ Inspector
ESFJ Provider
ISFJ Protector
ESTP Promoter
ISTP Crafters
ESFP Performer
ISFP Composer
ENFJ Teacher
INFJ Counselor
ENFP Champion
INFP Healer
ENTJ Mobilizer or Fieldmarshal
INTJ Mastermind
ENTP Inventor
INTP Architect
Guardians
(SJ)
Administrators
Conservators
Artisans
(SP)
Operators
Entertainers
Idealists
(NF)
Mentors
Advocates
Rationals
(NT)
Engineers
Coordinators

21. Questions to Consider Does Personality Influence. . .
who is effective as a leader?

22. Example: Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
High LPC leaders most effective in “moderately” favorable situations
Low LPC leaders most effective in very favorable or very unfavorable situations
In moderate situations, the correlation between LPC and Effectiveness is POSITIVE
In highly favorable or highly unfavorable situations, the correlation between LPC and Effectiveness is NEGATIVE

23. Example 2: Intelligence
Intelligent leaders:
Are faster learners.
Make better judgments, decisions.
Are better at visioning and developing strategies to make their vision a reality.
Can develop better solutions to problems.
Depends, though, on “type” of intelligence and situation

24. Fiedler’s Cognitive Resources Theory
Why do some highly intelligent leaders behave so poorly?
Fiedler’s CRT suggests several factors important to consider:
Experience
Stress
Relations with co-workers
Directiveness of leader

25. Fiedler’s Cognitive Resources Theory
When stress is high, people fall back on experience.
If inexperienced, high intelligence is of little help.
So, even less intelligent individuals perform well under stress (if experienced).
Other factors (e.g., directiveness) also important
Implication: Monitor and regulate stress

26. Other Questions to Consider
leadership emergence
leadership methods and style
leadership effectiveness
followers’ reactions to leaders
leaders’ reactions to leading
Does Personality Influence . . .
how people relate to leaders?

27. Other Questions to Consider
leadership emergence
leadership methods and style
leadership effectiveness
followers’ reactions to leaders
leaders’ reactions to leading
Does Personality Influence. . .
how leaders change over time?
Need for Power!