The
authors of my current Master's textbook,
Tolbert
and
Hall (2009),
explained that
there are the
“big five” personality characteristics that are commonly
associated with leadership.
They
are
“1.
'Surgency' (or extraversion)
2.
Conscientiousness
3.
Emotional
stability
4.
Agreeableness
or cooperativeness
5.
Intellect”
(p. 93)(From
Digman,
1990)
These
five characteristics are associated with effective leaders. If a
person is significantly lacking in some of these areas, it is likely
he or she will not be an effective leader.
This
research indicates that three of the five characteristics
(conscientiousness, emotional stability, and cooperativeness) are
usually
trained during the childhood formative years. From
personal experience and observation, it is very difficult to
learn conscientiousness and emotional stability after one's formative
years. One's intellectual capacity may
be
determined at birth, but requires training to reach its potential. I
am unsure of how much true extraversion is inborn or learned.
However, a pseudo-extraversion can be learned. At
least four of the characteristics require training, and three of them
must be during the formative years!
Thus, those raising
children are the ones responsible for forming leaders.
References:
Hall, R. H., Tolbert, P.S. (2009).
Organizations: Structures, processes, and outcomes, 10th Edition.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
ISBN:978-0-13-244840-6.
