Traits, Behaviors, and Relationships

From the vantage point of the present, it is easy to look back at the tenure of any great leader and draw conclusions about just what it was that made him/her great. We can examine the circumstances under which their leadership flourished; piece together what we know of their character and personality traits; delve into the factors that may have driven them; and dissect their leadership style all in an effort to pinpoint the source of their success. The ‘Great Man’ theory, popular in the 19th century and now thoroughly debunked, held that leaders are born, not made; suggesting that men like George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill were born with the innate capacity to change the world (Landis,

As it was written on one of the class slides, a leader can change the way people thinks about what is possible. In other words, it can be suggested that leaders have certain traits that allows them to possess or cultivate leadership characteristics. When a the “Great Man” theories was presented during the early 1990s, it focused on identifying innate qualities and characteristics that many great social, political, and military leaders possessed. This leaderships traits approach is one of the first methodical attempts to study what leaders possess, which ultimately concluded but not fully determine as the only traits needed. These traits are intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. As to where I stand in this trait spectrum, I know that I have determination, integrity and

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).

As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

The theories or concepts of leadership such as the Great Man theory, collective leadership, and scholar-practitioner are ideas that transformed the way leaders lead. The comparisons of the leadership styles illustrated that direction does not change. Within the comparisons, leadership links from one theory or concept to another. Each theory or idea is a building block for what a leader needs to be successful. The Great Man theory depicts a person of great need that possesses the characteristics of a leader from birth. A leader has the features or traits of a great leader without

Traits of a leader can be described as “dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions” (Nichols, 2016, para.5). Some are risk takers, some look forward to the

While the behavioral paradigm severed for the basis of a new leadership theory, meta-analytic studies revealed that the behaviors of leaders are important for predicting leadership effectiveness (Derue et. al, 2001). In contrast, Zaccaro (2007) stated that while a situation is important in explaining variance in leadership behavior, it might not be as important when differentiating between leaders and followers. The relative stability or malleability to a specific situation may differ over time and between different leadership traits (Zaccaro, 2007).

During the 19th and early 20th century many people had this idea of what the ideal great man of a leader would posse specific traits. In today’s time it simply does not matter who you are, where you come from, how smart you appear, or your height, or even your weight. What does matter are the traits of what a great leader possess. The physical of one self does not matter, nor does intelligent. What does matter is what does a great leader desires for those around them. To inspire them, to motivate them, to push them beyond what they can do. Those types of traits people look for in a great leader, no matter tall, short, or man, woman (Shelly and Locke 199).

Northouse (2010) stated that the trait theory appears to be the first attempt to examine leadership effectiveness, in that, researchers attempted to find universal individual characteristics that might differentiate a leader from a nonleader (House & Aditya, 1997). However, one of the problems with the early trait studies was the insufficient information about reliability properties of the trait measures, which in turns appeared to influence the validity of the trait measures as well (House & Aditya, 1997). Furthermore, most of the earlier studies concerning leadership traits were done in the 1930s, but there was a re-emergence in the 1970s, with clarifications to address certain theoretical issues with previous studies on traits (House & Aditya,

There are plenty of people who possess the personality traits associated with leadership, yet many of these people never seek out positions of leadership (Wheeler, 2000).

What defines a leader? Are there inherent differences between leaders and followers, e.g., genetic makeup, behavior, characteristics, intelligence, or another physiological, social, emotional, or cognitive capacity? Are leaders the product of nature or nurture, more specifically can leadership be taught? These fundamental questions about leadership form the basis of research on the traits, behaviors, relationship dynamics, and communication competency that encompass different leadership roles and styles. My paper will provide a synthesis of the reading from chapters 1, 2, and 9 of the textbook, “The Leadership Experience,” highlight novel leadership concepts, notions, and theories for me, as well as, any clarification or reinforcement of

Leaders are made up by traits, skills behavior and effectiveness, which are determined by distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader, such as intelligence, honesty, self-confidence, and appearance. However, the value of a particular trait or set or traits, skill behavior and effectiveness vary with the organization’s situation (Draft, 2015). For example, our executive leaders of Humana have their own unique style.

Research on leadership began with a search for inherited characteristics that differentiated leaders from non-leaders and