Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Self-Confidence as a Leadership Trait

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The trait approach to leadership “empathizes that having a leader with a certain set of traits is crucial to having effective leadership” Northouse, 2022, p. 41).  Leadership defined from a personality perspective (p. 6) state that certain traits are inherent in people that allow them to be leaders.   There are five major leadership traits; “intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability” (p. 34).  Self-confidence, of these five traits, is the most important trait because it instills confidence in followers that the leader is competent and capable.

I started working on my Organizational Leadership degree about three years ago.  The more I learn about leadership, the more I find myself observing not only our current leaders but also potential leaders around me.  In monthly all-staff meetings, I pay close attention to the volunteer speakers who are not in assigned leadership roles.  In particular, I take note of their self-confidence.  The more confidence the speaker projects, the more charismatic that person comes across.  To me, that person will be the next to be promoted.  I base this assumption on another observation I have noted.  All of our leaders that have been promoted within our department had at one point volunteered to speak at these all-staff meetings and that they spoke with high levels of self-confidence.

Northouse describes self-confidence as the “ability to be certain about one’s competencies and skills” and the self-assurance “that one can make a difference” (p. 33).  It’s not necessarily that the person is actually capable of doing the things that will influence others but the self-confidence that those things can be done.  The example given of Steve Jobs as a self-confident leader underscores the importance that this trait plays in being a good leader.  The term “good leader” in this blog is not tied to a moral definition but rather the capacity to influence others.

Sociability is closely tied to self-confidence more than the other three traits.  You have to be social on some level to display your self-confidence.  Newhouse defines sociability as a “leader’s inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships” (p. 34).  Likeability would be a simpler way to describe it.  To me, sociability and self-confidence are interchangeable traits.  In our last all-staff meeting earlier this month, I focused on the leaders who gave updates and noted their traits. I then wrote down what we as a department thought of them as far as leadership was concerned.  I asked a group of my peers for their input to ensure that the results were not my opinion alone.  The more self-confident and sociable the leader was, the more confidence we had in that person being a good leader.

Another term that is closely associated with self-confidence and sociability is charisma.  Conger & Kanungo noted that when groups of people work together to attain group objectives “observations of the influence process within the group help them determine their status” (1987, p. 639).  It is within these interactions that leaders are identified.  Individuals who exude self-confidence, either through verbal or nonverbal processes are identified as leaders more often.  Self-confident leaders are often perceived to be charismatic leaders.  These leaders communicate their self-confidence “in order to give credibility to what they advocate” (p. 643).

Interestingly enough, the leader whose turn it was to lead the meeting for this month, was the one we ranked the lowest, or the worst leader.  This leader sounded grumpy, disinterested in the meeting and came across as somewhat disorganized.  The leader didn’t engage with the group other than following the meeting agenda point by point.  There was no social interaction.  We didn’t find this leader to be at all charismatic.

Self-confidence is a leadership trait that is a crucial component in leadership.  It instills confidence in their followers and therefore it influences them to work together on a common goal.  Which is at the heart of leadership.

 

References

Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1987). Toward a Behavioral Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings. The Academy of Management Review, 12(4), 637–647. https://doi.org/10.2307/258069

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.

 

How the Best Built Shoes are Acquired

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Oprah has famously said, “I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.”  If the success of one’s life is measured in the quality of the shoes he or she wears, Oprah reigns supreme.  Just how has she achieved this kind of success?  Oprah was born very poor in rural Mississippi in 1954.  She rose above labels of poor, black, female in midcentury America and carved her path to success by getting great grades in high school, winning scholarships, and then procuring her own television show.  What propelled her past the judgements attached to the color of her skin, the origin of her birth and the gender inequality assumptions of her sex?  Her ability to connect, to inspire, her willingness to be vulnerable – to be seen for who she really is. Oprah having her feet still planted firmly on the ground lends itself directly in her being humble, self-aware and someone who exemplifies great emotional intelligence.

Northouse (2016) defines emotional intelligence (EI) as the ability to expertly grasp your own and other’s emotions, and use these emotions effectively to make decisions that benefit your life and your relationships with others.  Someone with great EI guides others productively and are empathetic and conscientious (Northouse, 2016).  All of these traits can be perfectly ascribed to Oprah Winfrey.  If building quality relationships with others is a one of the measures of emotional intelligence, Oprah would be at the apex.  Jeremy Young, the author of The Age of Charisma, defines charisma as a relationship between leaders and followers (Shonfeld, 2018).  Young asserts that Oprah is “the single most charismatic person in America” (Shonfeld, 2018, para 5).  EI has its foundation from the trait theory of leadership.  Trait theory focuses on the leader themselves, and what traits a leader would possess to be considered effective in different situations (Northouse, 2016).  Arguably, Oprah embodies many of the traits positively associated with leadership, as well as knowing how to expertly apply those traits within the right situations.

William Bennis (2009) writes, “Leaders are capable of achieving their vision exactly because they are focused on their followers and feel their pain, desires and needs” (p. 65).  In 1988, Oprah started her own production company OWN, because she wanted to be in control of her show’s content and not be made to include content like her contemporaries at the time were producing referred to as “tabloid tv.”  Ratings fell, but quickly came back up (“Oprah Winfrey Biography”, (2018).  She ended up being more successful and carving her own unique niche in the tv market because she stayed true to her vision – that she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and guide them into being their most authentic selves.  She advocates shifting one’s focus or end goal from success, to service (Winfrey, n.d.). In this, she uses her emotional intelligence to go against the status quo and made something new and deeply affecting.

Carl Jung once said, “The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that fits all cases” (Goodreads, n.d.).  How unique we all are; in the way that we are raised.  We are all the sum of our experiences.  We all have found our own way either by the fault of where we started, or in spite of where we have been – it is our decision which path we move on. Oprah Winfrey came from an environment of poverty and abuse that leads many to be antisocial and disassociated (Evans, 2016).  Instead, Oprah understood that deep down we were meant to connect and care for each other – that division equals conflict and is destructive. She has used her emotional intelligence to lead us to better hearing each other, and asking another, “What is your story – let me understand you and what you have been through.”  She has shown us what really hearing someone looks like.

Her impact as an adept servant leader and her unwavering emotional intelligence she exudes has led many to call for her to run for President in 2020 – our greatest leadership position.  What greater honor and testament to what she has meant to people over the years than that kind of call to action?  Oprah leads by her heart and head, equally intelligent, equally strong.

 

Resources

Bennis, W. (2009). On becoming a leader. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Biography.com editors (2018). Oprah Winfrey biography. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/oprah-winfrey-9534419

Evans, G. W. (2016, December 27). Childhood poverty and adult psychological well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(52) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1604756114

Goodreads, (n.d.). The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that fits all cases. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/85057-the-shoe-that-fits-one-person-pinches-another-there-is

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publishing.

Shonfeld, Z. (2018, January 12). Oprah Winfrey is the most charismatic person in America—and yes, she really could be president.  Newsweek.com. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/2018/02/02/oprah-winfrey-president-campaign-golden-globes-777508.html

Winfrey, O. (n.d.). What Oprah knows for sure about finding success. Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/what-oprah-knows-for-sure-about-finding-success

 

 

 

Breaking the Interview Mold

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I have found myself, on more than one occasion, in the process of interviewing a prospective candidate for employment only to find my mind wondering. After a dozen interviews or so I began to speculate whether or not as part of their college’s career prep program they have them all visit the same “How to succeed at your interview!” website. I get the same ‘safe’ answers to my typical questions. Or the completely unoriginal strength as a weakness response to my “what’s one thing you’d change about how you operate?” I mean you can only hear “I care too much” and “I put too much time and effort into my work” before you want to be sick.
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At first I thought the problem was with the candidates. I figured I was being sent a stream of boring, uncreative, and desperate applicants who thought if they sucked up to me enough I would look past their hollow responses to my questions. Then I realized that there was a chance that the problem wasn’t with them, it was with ME! They were giving me boring cookie cutter answers because I was asking boring cookie cutter questions. I immediately set forth to completely overhaul how I conducted interviews. I began by researching ways in which I could break the mold a bit. I discovered that some of the top companies in the country are way ahead of me and have mastered the art of the atypical interview. Google and Microsoft are known for their off the wall questioning. (Why are manhole covers round? How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?) They don’t ask these types of questions to stump the applicant or make them feel dumb. They ask them to get them to think and to see how they respond to a seemingly impossible situation. In other words the draw REAL response out of them! This was what I wanted to do. Human resource specialist, Susan M. Heathfield, affirmed my revelation in her article titled: Unusual Job Interview Questions Help Select the Best. In the article she said:

“The interviewers are trying to catch a glimpse of the unrehearsed candidate in an unguarded moment. There is no way to prepare for these off-the-wall job interview questions so the interviewer is able to observe how the candidate responds and composes his or her thoughts. Some interviewers also ask unusual job interview questions to gain insight into the candidate’s thought processes … they want to see how the candidate will think about the unusual job interview question.”

From there forward I have begun implementing a few of the more unique and thought provoking questions I have been able to find or come up with myself. The dramatic difference they have made to my interviews has been staggering. Of course the candidates are caught off guard but they are being made to derail their preconceived stock responses and show me a real side of them. It has allowed me to make a more informed decision on these applicants and how I feel they will respond to dynamic situations on the job. The responses I get have also significantly upped the entertainment value of the process for me as well!

Why Companies Love to Ask These Bizarre Interview Questions. (n.d.). About.com Human Resources. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://humanresources.about.com/od/interviewing/a/interview_odd.htm

Transformationally Disguised: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothes (on Wall Street)

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The Wolf

In the Martin Scorsese movie, The Wolf on Wall Street, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jordan Belfort (Paramount Pictures, 2013) exhibits characteristics consistent with transformational leadership, however his unmoral behavior, self-interested, and exploitive tendencies push his leadership to the pseudotransformational category. Jordan Belfort begins in a low-level position at a Wall Street Firm but then becomes unemployed. Jordan, with convincing from his wife, decides to take a position with a penny stock firm in Long Island. From there, Belfort takes his aggressive, visionary style, never settle attitude and begins his own company. Belfort possesses the ability to influence and elevate the emotional levels of people therefore he is able to create a monster business that transforms the lives of many people, producing millions in revenue. In the movie, Jordan Belfort says, “I was born with a gift to persuade people, to lead” (Paramount Pictures, 2013). His employees are devout and follow him through any and everything to develop the picture he paints. Jordan is able to build trust by conveying his image of self-confidence and personal example. Jordan Belfort is able to create personalized leadership through personal bonds with his followers by applying empathy at the social cues they exhibit in their emotional state. His employees are inspired and excited by Jordan, leading to increases in productivity and effort (PSU WC, L. 10, p. 4). The employees look to Jordan for answers, on how to run their daily business with clients. They do not think for themselves, they believe and rely on Jordan to lead them to their vision. Belfort’s ethics, morality, and ultimate arrest prove the shift from authentic transformational leadership to pseudotransformational leadership. Although many characteristics are mirrored, the main objective of transformational leaders is socialized, moral uplifting (Northouse, 2013) whereas the psuedotransformational leader has warped values and is self-consumed (Northouse, 2013). Taking his vision, his inspiration to followers, and the relationships he builds with trust and self-confidence we can view Jordan Belfort as an example of transformational leaders turn pseudotransformational (PSU WC, L. 10, p. 4). Belfort is able to transform a mix-matched, low potential group of men and women into a killer brand on Wall Street.

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Jordan Belfort was a man that saw a larger picture of wealth on Wall Street and wanted a piece for himself. The lesson commentary states “…transformational leaders are future-oriented. They recognize the problems of a present system and offer a vision to overcome these problems” (PSU WC, L. 10, p. 4). The vision that Jordan Belfort had included wealth, prestige, and status through his own stock brokerage company. He had the ability to share his vision with such passion and drive. His vision, he knew, needed more than just him to achieve his goal of wealth therefore looked to others to join his vision.  Belfort had immense self-confidence and led by personal example, building the image and trust of his followers, displayed by followers of transformational leaders (PSU WC, L. 10, p. 4). Though Belfort was not known to have any moral conviction or show any sort of personal sacrifice, he moved his followers with his actions, never doubting himself and his own personal goals. He also was sure to create an atmosphere in which he didn’t ever need to make personal sacrifices, though displaying the image that he would. His own personal goal of wealth came first however he displayed to his employees that their happiness and well-being came first.

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His motivation to those that worked for him is a prime characteristic of transformational leaders. Jordan’s ability to excite people was his main motivational piece. By persuading friends and his parents to join his business venture, he was able to make his vision a reality. His influence was felt emotionally by the ones who joined with him. Transformational leaders have personalized leadership, they pick up on followers’ social cues and emotional states therefore share strong, personal bonds with them (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2012, as referenced in PSU WC, L. 10, p. 3). In Jordan’s case however, he used their strong relationships to gain personally while they also benefited. The emotion he elicited from people is another prime factor in his ability to achieve his vision. One of the first meetings where Jordan shares his vision is in a dusty old warehouse. He is talking to a group of friends, his excitement and anticipation can be felt with his upcoming venture. It does not take him but a few sentences to gain strong commitment and devotion of all the men to join as stockbrokers with his new company, “Stratton Oakmont”. The first employees in this meeting are drawn to Jordan’s vision, excited and willing to do whatever Jordan tells them is best, displaying follower characteristics of transformational leadership (PSU WC, L. 10, p. 4). Another scene in which Jordan exhibits his ability to excite is at a party with the entire office and many party guests. The firm is hosting a party in the early days of their success; Belfort grabs the microphone and tells the crowd how wonderful it is to be them, to be a part of their company. It is not merely that he says the words; he moves his entire being and is able to command the crowd to cheer and beg for more. The emotions involved with his leadership are again pronounced in this moment. Jordan possesses strong rhetorical skills, he has strong ability to “heighten followers’ emotional levels and inspire them to embrace the vision” (PSU WC, L. 10, p. 4). Jordan Belfort’s employees expect more of themselves because Jordan does as well.

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The truth is that Jordan Belfort possessed no moral conviction or the need to make personal sacrifice, he exhibits strong characteristics that exude and produce transformation, however without the moral conviction his leadership is now categorized as transformational leadership because of the negative characteristics (Northouse, 2013). His leadership is saturated with vision and the ability to connect the vision emotionally with his followers. In turn, his employees adore Jordan and do whatever he tells them to do regarding the business. They grow their firm into heights of wealth that none of them ever imagined. Jordan Belfort had characteristics that made him into a transformational leader. The defining characteristic for transformational leadership is moral uplifting (Northouse, 2013). On this level Jordan Belfort now becomes a pseudotransformational leader, corrupting one stockbroker at a time.

 

References

Northouse, Peter G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sixth Edition. Sage Publications.

Paramount Pictures. (2013). The Wolf on Wall Street. Retrieved from http://www.thewolfofwallstreet.com/

The Pennsylvania State University. (2013). PSYCH 484: Leadership in Work Settings Lesson 10: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp14/psych485/002/content/10_lesson/printlesson.html

 

JFK: Charisma vs Crisis Management

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While working on the second movie review for PSYCH 485, our team chose to examine the transformational style of leadership in regards to the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963). One of my tasks for this assignment was to analyze how JFK’s charisma made him a great leader through the characteristics of his personality, his actions, and effects on his followers (Northouse, 2013). Admittedly, having vastly inspirational one-liners such as, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” to work with, it was not an overly difficult task.

Interestingly, it was through the course of researching JFK’s charisma that I also found an opposing point of view; one that is not often expressed: that JFK’s charisma is really what clouded our collective judgment, and he was ultimately granted a significant amount of leniency by the history books in the way he handled certain events. Part of this might also have to do with the tragic and mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, but the case can definitely be made for his charisma getting him out of hot water more than once.

For instance, some critics believe that JFK was greatly lacking in experience, as evidenced by the way that he handled the Bay of Pigs invasion (which arguably lead up to the Cuban Missile Crisis), the construction of the Berlin Wall by Nikita Khrushchev and the events leading up to it, as well as approving the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem – who was a staunch opponent of communism (Boot, 2013; Dallek, 2013). Some critics also regarded him as the worst president of the 20th century, “stumbling from crisis to fiasco” (Dallek, 2013). Yet another critic does not make light of his shortcomings, but rather emphasizes his grace under pressure by “staying calm, gathering information, and acting without precedent” (Loftus, 2013).

Regardless of what you chose to believe, JFK’s fate was sealed in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963. Personally, I believe that even in the short amount of time that he was President, JFK proved himself to be one of the best that we have ever had. The Cold War was not a period in foreign affairs or politics that was rife with easy decisions. Like many Presidents, JFK sometimes lead us down a rocky road, but he greatly inspired us in the process – and continues to inspire us. However, the lesson that should be noted that for future reference is that a leader’s charisma has the tendency to be a two-sided coin – it can be as powerful as a catalyst that forcefully inspires a generation, or it can potentially be what persuades them into backing the wrong horse.

References:

Boot, M. (2013, November 22). JFK’s Legacy: The Charisma Fallacy. Commentary Magazine. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/11/22/jfks-legacy-the-charisma-fallacy/

Dallek, R. (2013, November 21). Kennedy’s Legacy of Inspiration. The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/opinion/kennedys-legacy-of-inspiration.html?ref=opinion&_r=1&

Loftus, G. (2013, November 20). JFK: Myth Or Great Leader?. Forbes. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffloftus/2013/11/20/jfk-myth-or-great-leader/

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

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