Evaluation of leaders from psychological perspective

WHAT characteristics of an individual make him/her a leader? While there have been many studies regarding this matter, experts suggest that the most efficient way to analyse this is using the personality traits from psychological perspective. The five personality traits play a pivotal role in the making of a compelling and ideal manager. Individuals with the correct set of dimensions within these traits will, more often than not, go ahead to prevail as a leader in an organisational setting.
The individual's openness to experience is crucial for both the individual and the organisation he/she works for. Leaders and managers must be interested in new ideas. Otherwise, they may unwillingly stifle the enthusiasm of their subordinates who like to think out of the box. Successful managers must remain inquisitive about new ideas, theories, and strategies, which may influence their work and organisational objectives over the long run.
According to an online article titled, 'Elon Musk-The Big 5 Model' (2016), Elon Musk, CEO and CTO (chief technical officer) of SpaceX and CEO and co-founder of Tesla Inc., is a man who likes to think out of the box and take risks. While everyone strongly opposed his idea of affordable electric cars, Musk was confident about his idea. He did not think twice before investing his own money into the business even when his company was on the verge of bankruptcy.
It is important for managers to be self-disciplined, dutiful in delegating the responsibilities and be organised. Employees prefer a dependable manager who tries to keep everything planned rather than coming up with spontaneous decisions. Successful entrepreneurs are usually conscientious, and they often tend to have things planned out, even the plans to fight with a possible failure. However, critics claim that a certain degree of spontaneity is necessary too.
Howard Schultz, executive chairman and former CEO of Starbucks, is known to be a formidable and conscientious man. According to his employees, he always gave attention to details. For instance, he once stopped the sale of breakfast sandwiches because they were masking the aroma of their coffee, according to Forbes (2008). However, he was always open to suggestions. He would listen to counter strategies of his employees and then evaluate them to make the right decision. Breakfast sandwiches were brought back after some adjustments.
Not only the managers, today all the employees are expected to be extroverts. Managers are continually working with others, and therefore, it is vital for them to be sociable. This enables the manager to interact and engage with others in the organisation actively and helps to build a strongly connected team in the long run. In today's era, connectivity and social interactions matter a lot. As a result, one required feature that is seen today in many job descriptions and job ads is that the employee must be able to build connections with all the stakeholders. It, however, does not necessarily mean that someone who is introvert may not be a good leader.
A leader or manager's quality of being agreeable plays a pivotal role in his/her career path. A manager's ability to be trusting, compassionate and cooperative makes him/her prevail in the organisation. This set of attributes earns him/her respect, love and mutual trust from subordinates as well as superiors in the organisation. However, some theories suggest agreeable people are less likely to reach top managerial posts because they may face difficulty in taking strict decisions. In a Business Insider (2015) article, psychologist Art Markman advised people with low agreeableness to ensure they provide constructive criticisms to their employees rather than using language that may demotivate them. On the other hand, he suggested individuals who are high in agreeableness to properly evaluate any idea or decision they need to make and try to find any possible flaw.
Last but not the least, emotional stability is necessary for a leader/manager to lead his/her employees effectively. Leaders have to deal with difficulties at regular intervals, and hence, it is imperative that they are both strong and patient to cope with stress. Psychologists often say that people who have a high level of insecurity or nervousness cannot perform under pressure and in most cases, they fail to make correct decisions in crucial situations. So, does that mean people with little emotional stability cannot be good leaders? According to a Forbes article titled, 'Is There A Place For Emotionally Unintelligent Leaders?', many successful leaders like Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Walt Disney had their own individual issues. For instance, according to the article, Walt Disney would often have issues with his employees and would show little sympathy towards them. Apart from that, he was known to be driven by anger and revenge.
The characteristics above are some common traits among successful leaders and managers. However, not having one or more of these features does not mean, under any circumstances, that they cannot be prosperous in their individual lives.

The writer is a third year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, [email protected]