**3. Integrating early and later development**

What you see of an adult person is mostly an "attitude," often a social overlay, which is an adaptation to the environment (parents, friends, family, society, work, etc.) where s/he wants to be accepted [33]. People do not openly display what limitations their early development inflicted; however, they often display these limitations indirectly. To distinguish the effects of the early development, you need to know how to see through this overlay, that is, how to interpret what is displayed. Here, a few simplistic examples of how the early and the later impressions may shape the person and the overlay, will be described.

**3.2. Two more developmental combinations**

*3.2.1. Person (1,0)*

*3.2.2. Person (0,1)*

**3.3. Four adult categories**

2

Above, two developmental pathways were described. Below, two other varieties of life histo-

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This is an adult person who has got a *rich* early development but who did not get any life management support during childhood and adolescence. This person developed early an adaptive internal working model of close persons and continued successfully to rely on adaptive models of the environment; however, these models were not always well connected, by

This is an adult person who got a *poor* early development, but in spite of that got a satisfactory life management support during late childhood and adolescence. This person, who does not have adaptive models of close persons, relies mainly on a repertoire of static schemas in the interaction with others and in the handling of life events [18]. (However, s/he may eventually have developed adaptive models in narrow material areas of life, primarily during adoles-

A caregiver who is emotionally unavailable but later gives the child a good life management

child a high, or even inflated, self-esteem [40]) may eventually compensate for some of the early care deficiencies. However, the later this compensation is initiated, the more material and superficial it will be and the less adaptive the child will become [18]. And, importantly,

Some of those Persons (0,1) will become what historically has been called "the skilled engineer who became a bad manager." It seems moreover, that today this character is fairly common

For the completeness of this description will also be mentioned that there are four categories of adult attachment as a result of the analysis of the AAI: one is Secure and three are the insecure categories: preoccupied, dismissing, and disorganized [29]. These are described shortly in Appendix C. In addition to the differences because of those categories, the social situation of a parent (marital status, economy, etc.) also plays an important role. Each of these parental attitudes and situations have a different effect on the youngster, which may be manifested in

All the different combinations of early care and later life management support that are possible present a wide spectrum of personalities. A description and analysis of these is beyond

touch [20] and often focused on giving the

ries will be described, which can be seen as cross-combinations of the previous ones:

parental influences, to the formal structures in the environment.

cence, and may even have acquired high skills in these areas.)

the less stable against distracting threats and fears it will be [41].

also in other professions. This issue will be dealt with more later on.

the adult personality [32, 33] and hence also in leadership.

Material: Fun, play, "be happy," material gifts replace emotions and talk about thoughts [20].

support (although often with a rather "material"2

#### **3.1. Two developmental pathways**

With this background, we can discuss two very different developmental pathways, that will be used to show the effects of early and later impressions: the described characters have two indexes (X1, X2) that denote quality; where the first index denotes the quality of care during the early development, and the second index denotes the quality of parenting during the later development1 , and the values 1 indicates rich development and 0 indicates poor development.

#### *3.1.1. Person (1,1)*

This is an adult person who has got a *rich* early development (X1 = 1) and during childhood and adolescence got a *rich* emotional interaction and life management support from the parents (X2 = 1). This person developed an adaptive internal working model of close persons early in life [34] and continued to rely on adaptive models of the environment also in the further development [34]. These adaptive models were also well connected—by the life management support—to the formal and informal structures in the environment [32, 33].

#### *3.1.2. Person (0,0)*

This is an adult person who got a *poor* early development (X1 = 0) and who did not even get any life management support during childhood and adolescence (X2 = 0). This person does not understand much of other persons' intentions [19] and relies on static schemas in the interaction with others and in the handling of life events [31].

#### *3.1.3. These two are not average persons*

Most people are not exactly like these two. In between them, there is a multitude of varieties, of which a few will be discussed further down. In a "western" population, between 30 and 40% are classified as insecurely attached to their caregiver [38], that is, they got a poor early development. There are indications that this fraction is considerably higher among leaders [1, 4, 39].

<sup>1</sup> Early development is from birth, with decreasing importance a few years ahead. Later development is from about 2 or 3 years, with increasing importance.

### **3.2. Two more developmental combinations**

Above, two developmental pathways were described. Below, two other varieties of life histories will be described, which can be seen as cross-combinations of the previous ones:

#### *3.2.1. Person (1,0)*

**3. Integrating early and later development**

**3.1. Two developmental pathways**

development1

104 Leadership

*3.1.1. Person (1,1)*

*3.1.2. Person (0,0)*

[1, 4, 39].

1

impressions may shape the person and the overlay, will be described.

What you see of an adult person is mostly an "attitude," often a social overlay, which is an adaptation to the environment (parents, friends, family, society, work, etc.) where s/he wants to be accepted [33]. People do not openly display what limitations their early development inflicted; however, they often display these limitations indirectly. To distinguish the effects of the early development, you need to know how to see through this overlay, that is, how to interpret what is displayed. Here, a few simplistic examples of how the early and the later

With this background, we can discuss two very different developmental pathways, that will be used to show the effects of early and later impressions: the described characters have two indexes (X1, X2) that denote quality; where the first index denotes the quality of care during the early development, and the second index denotes the quality of parenting during the later

This is an adult person who has got a *rich* early development (X1 = 1) and during childhood and adolescence got a *rich* emotional interaction and life management support from the parents (X2 = 1). This person developed an adaptive internal working model of close persons early in life [34] and continued to rely on adaptive models of the environment also in the further development [34]. These adaptive models were also well connected—by the life management

This is an adult person who got a *poor* early development (X1 = 0) and who did not even get any life management support during childhood and adolescence (X2 = 0). This person does not understand much of other persons' intentions [19] and relies on static schemas in the interac-

Most people are not exactly like these two. In between them, there is a multitude of varieties, of which a few will be discussed further down. In a "western" population, between 30 and 40% are classified as insecurely attached to their caregiver [38], that is, they got a poor early development. There are indications that this fraction is considerably higher among leaders

Early development is from birth, with decreasing importance a few years ahead. Later development is from about 2 or

support—to the formal and informal structures in the environment [32, 33].

tion with others and in the handling of life events [31].

*3.1.3. These two are not average persons*

3 years, with increasing importance.

, and the values 1 indicates rich development and 0 indicates poor development.

This is an adult person who has got a *rich* early development but who did not get any life management support during childhood and adolescence. This person developed early an adaptive internal working model of close persons and continued successfully to rely on adaptive models of the environment; however, these models were not always well connected, by parental influences, to the formal structures in the environment.

#### *3.2.2. Person (0,1)*

This is an adult person who got a *poor* early development, but in spite of that got a satisfactory life management support during late childhood and adolescence. This person, who does not have adaptive models of close persons, relies mainly on a repertoire of static schemas in the interaction with others and in the handling of life events [18]. (However, s/he may eventually have developed adaptive models in narrow material areas of life, primarily during adolescence, and may even have acquired high skills in these areas.)

A caregiver who is emotionally unavailable but later gives the child a good life management support (although often with a rather "material"2 touch [20] and often focused on giving the child a high, or even inflated, self-esteem [40]) may eventually compensate for some of the early care deficiencies. However, the later this compensation is initiated, the more material and superficial it will be and the less adaptive the child will become [18]. And, importantly, the less stable against distracting threats and fears it will be [41].

Some of those Persons (0,1) will become what historically has been called "the skilled engineer who became a bad manager." It seems moreover, that today this character is fairly common also in other professions. This issue will be dealt with more later on.

#### **3.3. Four adult categories**

For the completeness of this description will also be mentioned that there are four categories of adult attachment as a result of the analysis of the AAI: one is Secure and three are the insecure categories: preoccupied, dismissing, and disorganized [29]. These are described shortly in Appendix C. In addition to the differences because of those categories, the social situation of a parent (marital status, economy, etc.) also plays an important role. Each of these parental attitudes and situations have a different effect on the youngster, which may be manifested in the adult personality [32, 33] and hence also in leadership.

All the different combinations of early care and later life management support that are possible present a wide spectrum of personalities. A description and analysis of these is beyond

<sup>2</sup> Material: Fun, play, "be happy," material gifts replace emotions and talk about thoughts [20].

the scope of this chapter. However, for the purpose of identifying detrimental leaders, we can use the following five basic features quite well.

**4.2. Trust in self**

and failure are important factors.

*4.2.1. Dependence on others' opinions*

intolerant young adult [41].

*4.2.3. Conflict management*

**4.3. Flexibility**

and the parent" [20].

sons minds and is commonly not a clearly exposed ability.

*4.2.2. High self-esteem or inflated self-esteem?*

well balanced by a firm self-worth [16].

*Trust in self* is initially built up by feedback from the caregiver [18], both positive and negative, both verbal and nonverbal. In this is included the picture of the self, abilities, personal significance and rights that the parents usually imprint [32]. Later on, also perceived success

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For a person who has a poor early development, the understanding of self is too minimal to be of much help, and the opinions from other persons will become more important. S/he will spend much efforts to assure that the desires for self-worth and social "belonging" are met [16, 18]. During the years when the youngster is very keen on adjusting to the social environment where s/he wants to be accepted, this person is extra vulnerable since the externally perceived impressions are not well balanced by an internal guide of reference. The result may be an oversensitive person who is "streamlined" to fit whatever is required: performance, looks, language use, and so on and who may become a high performing, insensitive, and

This kind of (over-)sensitivity (which is a lack of self-worth and resilience) should not be mistaken for the sensitivity that comes with an ability to be receptive/observant and to understand another person. The first is a self-centered attitude and an indication of poor early development, whereas the latter emerges from a genuine interest and an insight in other per-

A young person who has a poor early development often is anxious to be accepted, or rather, to be appreciated, and is prone to do what is required to reach that goal. The appreciation (n.b., often in a rather narrow area) may give this person a sense of high self-esteem, which, as discussed in more detail by Baumeister et al. [40], should not be mistaken for a promise of

For a person who has a poor early development it is more difficult to manage conflicting situations (regarding moral issues as well as personal conflicts) as external impressions are not

In adolescents and adults3 *flexibility* can be said to be the cognitive capacity to simultaneously handle and change between alternatives in values, plans and actions. Inherent in this is also the ability to handle uncertainty, as choosing among alternatives implies uncertainty [36].

3 In infants, flexibility is a free will to explore the environment [28] and an ability "flexibly to change focus between toys

a generally high performance. It may in fact be an indication of the opposite.
