Leadership is a construct that can be found in a wide variety of areas of one’s life. From an individual’s time in the classroom to their job or career, leadership can typically be found. Personally, I believe this is, in part, a reason as to why the term leadership can be difficult to define. In this post, I will be discussing leadership as it applies to my personal experiences from my part-time job, specifically in the confines of the Trait Approach.
When I turned 16, I began my first part-time job at a local chain restaurant. Although I did not plan this, I actually maintained my employment through the next eight years, which is where I am still employed today. Throughout my time at this restaurant, the employees had gone through several proprietors and we seemed to have difficulty keeping one for long periods of time. In the eight years that I have been there, we are most recently on our fifth proprietor. As I look back on each proprietor individually, I can see that each one was very similar in terms of their personalities. Stogdill (1974) outlined a variety of traits that can be attributed to an individual who makes a good leader:
- Achievement
- Persistence
- Insight
- Initiative
- Self-confidence
- Responsibility
- Cooperativeness
- Tolerance
- Influence
- Sociability
From my experiences, it is clear to me that, while each proprietor had a variety of these traits, the number one trait that all of them possessed was self-confidence. Briefly, Northouse (2016) describes self-confidence as the ability for one to have a level of self-esteem and self-assurance that helps them to believe they are competent and skillful. While having self-confidence is a good thing in moderation, it is possible that one’s high self-confidence can lead to negative behaviors, especially when coupled with dark-side personality traits, which are highlighted in the lesson commentary (PSU WC, 2019). All of the proprietors also had a number of these dark-side personality traits, namely narcissism and impulsivity.
In terms of narcissism, as already mentioned, these proprietors were overly self-confident, which is a staple of narcissism (PSU WC, 2019). In addition, these were individuals who were very selfish and struggled with being self-entitled (PSU WC, 2019). Further, they were impulsive, which could be seen by them ignoring the feelings of others when in pursuit of things that furthered their own agenda (PSU WC, 2019).
With these three traits together, this led the proprietors to engage in behaviors that were harmful to themselves and their employees, with sexual harassment being the most frequent behavior engaged in. It is for this reason that their leadership failed. Due to the narcissism and charming personalities, they were popular among the employees, at first. It did not take long for their true colors to show, as they would sexually harass employees at work or at work functions.
When considering what makes a leader a good one, self-confidence may be a trait that crops up in one’s mind. While this can be a trait that one would want to see in their own leader, it is also a trait that can be detrimental to the individual’s leadership capabilities, especially when coupled with dark-side personality traits. Despite there being six of these traits in total, the individuals who assumed a leadership position mentioned in this post all had two in common: narcissism and impulsivity, which ultimately led to the downfall of these men as leaders.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 2: Trait Approach. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074607
kac5041 says
Hello Brianna,
I agree that leadership is a concept that surrounds us daily and is difficult to define. I think that it has a lot to do with our individual differences in our culture and upbringing. Five proprietors in an eight-year period seems like an awfully high employment turnover. With leadership apparently lacking, I am curious if there is a high turnover with other employees as well?
Self-confidence is an important leadership trait, but I think in the case of the proprietors, they were overly confident. Too much self-confidence can affect an individual’s personal, social and professional life (Cherry, 2019). These people may come across as arrogant, conceited, narcissistic or deceitful to others (Cherry, 2019). Overly confident people may miss out on opportunities because they feel that they are above performing a certain activity or they may take on too many responsibilities (Cherry, 2019).
A narcissist’s “primary aim in life is to show others how superior they are, and they constantly crave and seek admiration from others. When narcissists receive the admiration they desire so badly, they feel proud and elated” (Pedersen, 2018). Unfortunately, people with charming or charismatic personalities may feel as if they can get away with things out of the norm because people “like” them. Considering the sexual harassment appears to be an ongoing workplace issue, has the company done anything to try to correct it? Are the proprietors leaving on their own, being terminated, transferred, or even reprimanded?
I was sexually harassed by a coworker at a former employer, and it is a topic that all employers need to take more seriously. I wish you the best with your employment and hope things improve with leadership in your workplace.
References
Cherry, K. (2019, July 28). When Too Much Self-Confidence Is a Bad Thing. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/can-you-have-too-much-self-confidence-4163364
Pedersen, T. (2018, August 8). The Differences Between Narcissism and High Self-Esteem. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/news/2016/02/12/the-differences-between-narcissism-and-high-self-esteem/99012.html
ajv5386 says
Hi Brianna,
First, I would like to say I am sorry you had to experience such negative leaders. I agree successful leaders have many similar traits. It is tough to work for a leader that has dark personality traits. These people, although initially charming but eventually show their true selves and often hinder the team they are trying to lead (World Campus, 2019). I would also state that your former bosses, in addition, to have dark personality traits, lacked emotional intelligence. In our lesson, we learned that emotional intelligence is based on “self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.” (World Campus, 2019)I believe anyone who engages in sexual harassment is not practicing any self-regulation or empathy. (World Campus, 2019)
Amanda Voydik
References
World Campus. (2019, September 15). Psych 485 L2 Trait Approach. Retrieved from World Campus: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2008237/modules/items/27074607