9 PERSONALITY
Born leaders
There are leaders in all walks of life: in families, children’s playgrounds, schools, industry, the military and, inevitably, in politics. Throughout history, political leaders have decided the future of nations; their security, independence, social policies and economies.
This study addresses two questions: ‘What makes a leader?’ and ‘Are leaders born or made?’
The answer to the first question depends on the kind of leader we want to define. There are many types of leader: those who lead by example, those whose leadership depends on their charisma (personal charm), and others who command complete obedience. Although the personal qualities of each type of leader may be different, research has shown that leaders tend to share certain traits. They are usually more extroverted and assertive than others and their thinking tends to be original and practical (Riggio & Murphy, 2002).
There is no simple answer to the second question, ‘Are leaders
born or made?’ Supporters of the traditional great person theory believe that leaders are born with personalities that predispose them to leadership. However, the same studies that identify ‘leadership’ qualities accept that circumstances play an essential part in a leader’s rise to power. As a result, although an individual may have leadership qualities, they will not actually become a leader unless the situation allows.
Nelson Mandela on leadership
Nelson Mandela’s model of leadership comes from his experiences as a boy in Mqhekezweni in South Africa. It is a very democratic style of leadership that allows every member of the group to have their say in decision making. The leader only speaks at the end of the discussion, often to summarize the opinions of the rest. Mandela clearly believes in ‘leading from behind’: encouraging everyone to reach their own potential while he steers them in the right direction. His own account of how he learnt about leadership is in his autobiography, ‘Long Walk to Freedom’. Extracts can be found online at: http://archives.obs-
us.com/obs/english/books/Mandela/
Mandela.html#top]
Margaret Thatcher: ‘The lady’s not for turning’
Thatcher’s colleagues and biographers found a tendency toward black-and-white thinking to be one of the foremost characteristics of her leadership. Anthony King (1985: 132) notes “a disposition to see the political world as divided into friends and enemies, goodies and baddies”, while Francis Pym,
the former foreign secretary, found that “she likes everything to be clear-cut: absolutely in favour of one thing, absolutely against another” (Pym, 1984). Thatcher described herself in an interview before taking office as not “a consensus politician or a pragmatic politician, but a conviction politician”.
Dyson, S.B., (2009) Cognitive Style and Foreign Policy: Margaret Thatcher's Black-and-White Thinking, (30:1), p. 75, copyright © 2010 by Sage Publications. Reprinted by permission of Sage.
Figure 2: Leader profiles 75
Washington, 28 August , 1963
Martin Luther King: I have a
dream The charismatic African-American leader Martin Luther King inspired and moved thousands of civil rights marchers with his dazzling oratory in Washington today. Yet again, his extraordinary eloquence united both black and white in their common battle for dignity and equality.
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