The Heroic Model of Leadership

One can distinguish three positions, each advocated by different groups of scholars, in an attempt to answer this question. I refer to the first of these as the heroic model since it views leadership as a personal trait that enables those who possess it to inspire and energize others in productive directions. In one form of this model these leadership qualities are genetically determined, and effective leaders may ultimately be determined by their DNA. Thus, leaders are born, not made. More often, those advocating a heroic position view the trait of leadership as originating, at least in part, in life's experiences, perhaps those occurring early in life. The classic “nature versus nurture” debate is independent of the essence of the heroic model; a leader is a leader is a leader—independent of the situation.

The heroic model is reminiscent of what historians have termed the “great man” approach to history. From this perspective, historical events can be traced to the impact of a finite number of people, such as Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Alexander the Great, Adolph Hitler, and Joseph Stalin.

Belief in the heroic model is still strong today, both among social scientists and, to an even greater degree, in the general public. For example, Kilpatrick and Locke assert, “Recent research using a variety of methods has made it clear that successful leaders are not like other people. The evidence indicates that there are certain core traits which significantly contribute to business leaders' success” (1991, p. 49).

The heroic model speaks to the question of selecting leaders. The best predictor of success in one leadership role is success in another leadership position regardless of how similar or different the two positions. An effective military leader is likely to be effective as a university president, and an effective business leader is likely to be effective as mayor.

The heroic model has also spurred the search for psychological tests that might identify those who have a capacity for leadership. If the traits and skills necessary for leadership could be identified and measured, the task of selecting leaders for tomorrow's organizations would be much simpler and countless errors would be avoided.

To date, we are still far short of a scientifically based technology for selecting leaders. Measures of intelligence have not been very successful in distinguishing leaders from nonleaders or effective from ineffective leaders. Claims that emotional intelligence may be much more closely related to leadership than verbal and mathematical proficiency have yet to be substantiated owing to the multidimensional nature of this construct and the absence of valid and reliable measures.

Locating leadership in terms of the traits that people possess rather than their functions or accomplishments makes inferences more equivocal and subject to interpretation. On a recent plane trip, I found myself perusing the airline store catalog in the seatback in front of me. Among the many items was a beautifully framed print titled, “The Essence of Leadership.” Underneath the title was the following definition of leadership: “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. In the end, leaders are much like eagles…they don't flock, you find them one at a time.” This is an impressive set of traits, but what do they really say? A few hours later I arrived at my destination, turned on CNN, and heard a story about John Walker, the 20-year-old American who had been fighting with the Taliban. Based on the information provided, Walker met the aforementioned definition as a leader. He had the confidence to stand alone, the courage to leave his privileged life in the United States for Yemen and Pakistan, and was motivated by the humanistic side of Islam! But there is not a scintilla of evidence that he had exercised the type of influence over others that was inherent in my definition.

Nonetheless, there remains much popular sentiment for the heroic position. Best-selling books on leadership encourage managers to learn the secrets of leadership from Queen Elizabeth I, Attila the Hun, Jesus Christ, Ernest Shackleton, and countless others. The fact that these individuals' undisputed accomplishments occurred in response to highly specific challenges at earlier points in history does not deter readers from the belief that they are equally relevant to the circumstances they face today.