Leadership & Personality. Insights on effective leadership roles and personality traits (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Management Styles, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: Master of Business Administration (MBA), language: English, abstract: Leadership and personality have often been words cited together, as either the latter being a decisive aspect in the formation of the first or as a necessary factor to be able to effectively exercise leadership. The concept and qualities associated to leadership have evolved over the centuries from a more primitive and physically related term to an intellectual notion nowadays. If in ancient times the leader was the figure of someone considered the strongest - behavior which can also be found today among animals- and the most powerful or ruthless in the battlefield, leadership is today associated with some unusual personality traits -with which some people are naturally born-, and extreme difficult to be found among the population, that continue to influence and impact others, not by using power or strength as in the past but by influencing thinking, opinion and behavior. Power, success, wealth and a charismatic personality are also some of the most commonly related features to such term.

While this topic has been centered for some time now in the question around whether leadership skills can be learned or someone has to be born with them, it is important to think that any person has the potential to shape, improve or develop his/her personality in order to strengthen some of the qualities and values typically associated to leadership which will be reviewed in this assignment.

Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Christopher Columbus, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and many others have led their companies, countries or in some cases mankind to overcome difficult situations, improve themselves and achieve goals which at first could seem unreachable. Either in business, in politics, religion, or science, they had the talent to stand out from the crowd and use their potential to inspire others and make them want to follow their examples. They did not use any power, title or money. They did not need it. They had something much more powerful. They managed to make other follow their vision.