**5. The application of the concept**

#### **5.1. A few comments about the described concept**

The first sections of this chapter described how and why important human stable features are established so early in the individual development. Then, five basic features that are important were presented (this is state of the art knowledge) and how this knowledge can be used to interpret some behaviors that can be observed. In the following section a few general examples will be mentioned, of how these features may combine in a personal developmental context (these are inferences from state of the art) and then these inferences will be put in more practical leadership contexts. To emphasize that a reference only regards the state of the art that the inferences are based on, and that the reference does not state a verified connection between early experiences and leadership, that reference is enclosed in an extra parentheses.

The presented concept is, to my knowledge, not published before, and there are few or no studies that have studied the following inferred connections. Consequently, there is little or no strictly scientific evidence for these examples. Even so, they may be better alternatives than some of the rather unfounded concepts that are used today. This section can also be seen as a collection of suggestions for future research.

There are a few researchers who have touched upon an analysis of the background of inferior leadership; examples are Adorno et al. [15], Argyris et al. [50], Fors Brandebo et al. [51], Friedman et al. [44], Heckman [52], McCrae et al. [13] and Rubenowitz [53]. Of these, Argyris et al. have published the most complete analysis when they characterized and compared *Model I* vs. *Model II Theory-in-use* and *Single* vs. *Double Loop Learning*.

#### *5.1.1. My best tips should not be exposed in public*

There are a number of typical behaviors and attitudes that signify particular unproductive or detrimental mental states. It would certainly have been nice to list them here as a help for the reader. However, doing so would impede the value of them as predictors, as those who are interested in success without effort would misuse this knowledge. The following are examples of general behaviors that you may see.

### **5.2. A few general characteristics**

regards circumstances concerning his/her own person. Hence, if your subordinate, wife/hus-

Our sense of responsibility has two components: one intrinsic and one extrinsic. The *intrinsic sense of responsibility* is believed to emerge from the same location in brain as some of the IWM do [48]. How strong it is can be assumed to depend on how rich the early development was and hence how strong and dominant the early created control system is. The extrinsic responsibility emerges from the parts in our brain that are dedicated to reading, writing, counting and other abilities controlled by rules [48] and can be assumed to have been shaped at later stages of development than the intrinsic sense of responsibility. The balance between intrinsic

and extrinsic depends on the balance of influences during childhood and adolescence.

Winter and Barenbaum [49] published a scoring system for responsibility, built on five descriptors: # 1 Moral standard. # 2 Obligation. # 3 Concern for others. # 4 Concern about

Hence, if these criteria are not met—that is, if the scores are low—it may be reasonable to assume that the intrinsic sense of responsibility of the individual is impaired. In persons who have a poor early development, two of these criteria, # 3 Concern for others and # 5 Selfjudgment commonly are not met [20]. Therefore, persons who have a poor early development

The general leadership abilities may be indicated by the basic features, as follows: (Note however, that also the influences from relevant life management support on the development of abilities are important [17, 32, 33].) The ability to spontaneously cooperate with and understand other persons is related to the feature trust in others (i.e., to understand others' intentions) [18, 19]. The ability to have integrity in conflicts is related to the feature trust in self [16]. The ability to handle complexity and uncertainty is related to the feature flexibility [15, 16]. The abilities to have a good moral judgment [17] and to distinguish between appearance and

The first sections of this chapter described how and why important human stable features are established so early in the individual development. Then, five basic features that are important were presented (this is state of the art knowledge) and how this knowledge can be used to interpret some behaviors that can be observed. In the following section a few general examples will be mentioned, of how these features may combine in a personal developmental context (these are inferences from state of the art) and then these inferences will be put in

can generally be assumed to have an impaired sense of responsibility.

reality [20] are related to a combination of all the five basic features.

**4.6. The basic features indicate leadership abilities**

**5. The application of the concept**

**5.1. A few comments about the described concept**

band or friend is untruthful to others, s/he also is prone to be untruthful to you.

**4.5. Intrinsic sense of responsibility**

110 Leadership

*4.5.1. Requirements for responsibility*

consequences. # 5 Self-judgment.

#### *5.2.1. The person with a rich early development*

The person with a rich early development does normally not present much problems due to dishonesty, self-centered decisions or lack of responsibility [16, 50]. The problems they bring as leaders are often due to deficiencies that do not regard stable features, which means that they usually can be improved. Common to these persons are a low need to display prestige (so they often have a "low profile" and are not very "visible") [15, 40, 53], they do not strive for power for power's own sake (so they may lack an impressing career record) [15, 53], they may have a "democratic" stance in their leadership [51] (which in authoritarian cultures often is seen as a weak leadership) [50], they dare to do things their own way (they are often not streamlined) [15, 51], they may venture into uncertain areas or assume difficult undertakings (with a risk for substandard results, as perceived by outsiders) [15], and they do not skillfully disguise their shortcomings or aggressively deny their faults [15, 47, 50]. To many people, they do not seem as suitable for a leadership position—which may be a great mistake as it is among those that you will find the high potentials [15, 50]. Hence, this is a very diverse group that cannot be distinguished by a simple template judgment [20].

Person (1,1) (rich early development and rich life management support) may seem as the perfect choice for a leader position but that depends on what flavor of life management support that has been supplied. Although they often may have a high basic potential for successful leadership, they may have other priorities in life. As leaders, they are normally not connected to problems and they are accordingly not within the focus of this chapter.

Unfortunately, when you think that you are talking to a very nice high-performing Person (1,1), there is a substantial risk that you are not doing that at all. It may very well be just another skilled pretend-to-be-the-perfect-leader that you are talking to, most likely it is a Person (0,1). (If so, be careful, because this is most likely a deceptive person, and the social competence that just fooled you is probably about the best genuine ability that s/he has—else than perhaps very good grades from school.) [4, 16].

**5.3. A few practical examples: the high performer**

be used to avoid underperforming leaders.

*5.3.1. The high performing and intolerant person*

from [16, 54]).

from [6, 47, 54]).

(inferred from [50]).

*5.4.1. The mismanaging executive*

than the special skills (inferred from [16, 40, 47, 50, 54]).

Based on the descriptions of the different pathways in development, in previous sections, here will be illustrated how deficiencies in the stable features can be distinguished in the decisions, actions and behaviors of leaders and how knowledge about the stable features can

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A few examples will be mentioned here, of the particular set of attitudes that you may see from a high performing leader who has got a poor early development. This person often has, during childhood and adolescence, been valued for a high performance in often narrow areas

• This person has "always" been praised for a good performance and has high thoughts about the own competence or skills, maybe also (eventually unwarranted!) in areas other

• An important part of her/his performance is to optimize the positive presentation of her/ himself, so s/he only says and does things that support the positive self-image (inferred

• S/he does not do things that s/he is not trained to do. As a consequence, s/he never does anything less than good, and s/he has a difficulty to take on new leadership tasks (inferred

• When forced to plan for the future s/he copies the historic course (or other persons' plans) and has a difficulty to foresee and handle future changes out of her/his own insights

• S/he has deficient understanding of other persons' intentions and perceives kind remarks

• S/he can be very rude when criticizing a person, even regarding a minor fault, in part because s/he has a poor knowledge about how s/he is perceived (inferred from [16, 50, 54]).

This person may be what, half a century ago, often was called "the skilled engineer who became a bad manager." Today though, this character maybe is equally common in other

Here, a few examples will be mentioned of leaders, who are not the typical high performers,

An executive who has a poor early development may be inclined to mismanage her/his orga-

and who may show a number of other, more general, indications of poor leadership.

from others as very negative and scathing criticism (inferred from [16]).

professions. Often s/he is found on a middle management position.

nization in several ways [16]. Here are some very general examples:

**5.4. A few practical examples: general deficiencies**

(school, sports, acting, music, etc.) and therefore often has a high self-esteem [40, 47].

Person (1,0) (rich early development and poor life management support) is not very common in a leadership context [30], probably, a creative person, a problem solver. If s/he is a leader, it often is to lead a (small) enterprise in order to sell a production based on her/his creativity.

#### *5.2.2. The person with a poor early development*

At this level of description, the persons with a poor early development could be anyone of the three insecure AAI categories: preoccupied, dismissing and disorganized. This means that the poor early caregiving could have been inconsistent, inattentive, rejecting or harmful [20, 35]. This early caregiving had specific influences on their attitudes and further development, and thus, how poor and troubled their infancy was normally influenced how they are as leaders [16, 32]. However, the specific effects of these different kinds of poor caregiving experiences are beyond the scope of this chapter. Common to these persons are that their general leadership abilities are poor.

Persons who have a poor early development often are prone to strive for material success. High power is a common indication of success. These power hungry persons are more eager to strive for power than what their abilities support: often, they overestimate their own abilities [15, 16] and they often are shortsighted [16, 44, 46]. In particular, they are more power hungry than the persons who have a rich early development and who (if they got an adequate life management support as youngsters) most likely would do a better job as leaders [41].

Person (0,1) (poor early development and rich life management support). Most moderately detrimental leaders will probably belong to this group. With well-trained attitudes and the right material backgrounds (school, career history and references), these detrimental leaders manage to reach positions where they can cultivate the right connections and acquire strategic knowledge. This may eventually make them valuable or even "irreplaceable" on high organizational positions, which is their ultimate goal. They get the power to do as they please, but they often lack the basic features to do it well.

Person (0,0) (poor early development and poor life management support). A poor life management support can mean no support at all (and if so, these persons are not common in an organized leadership context) or it can be inconsistent or even faulty (antisocial). A faulty life management support may include how to avoid legal limitations, to prioritize selfish goals, and to betray those who can be betrayed. (Such negative impact could very well be denoted as Person (0,−1) in this classification.) Most of these persons do not become leaders but those who do are highly detrimental, particularly so if their seductive skills get them far. However, a discussion of styles of different detrimental leadership is beyond the scope of this chapter.

### **5.3. A few practical examples: the high performer**

Unfortunately, when you think that you are talking to a very nice high-performing Person (1,1), there is a substantial risk that you are not doing that at all. It may very well be just another skilled pretend-to-be-the-perfect-leader that you are talking to, most likely it is a Person (0,1). (If so, be careful, because this is most likely a deceptive person, and the social competence that just fooled you is probably about the best genuine ability that s/he has—else

Person (1,0) (rich early development and poor life management support) is not very common in a leadership context [30], probably, a creative person, a problem solver. If s/he is a leader, it often is to lead a (small) enterprise in order to sell a production based on her/his creativity.

At this level of description, the persons with a poor early development could be anyone of the three insecure AAI categories: preoccupied, dismissing and disorganized. This means that the poor early caregiving could have been inconsistent, inattentive, rejecting or harmful [20, 35]. This early caregiving had specific influences on their attitudes and further development, and thus, how poor and troubled their infancy was normally influenced how they are as leaders [16, 32]. However, the specific effects of these different kinds of poor caregiving experiences are beyond the scope of this chapter. Common to these persons are that their general leadership abilities are

Persons who have a poor early development often are prone to strive for material success. High power is a common indication of success. These power hungry persons are more eager to strive for power than what their abilities support: often, they overestimate their own abilities [15, 16] and they often are shortsighted [16, 44, 46]. In particular, they are more power hungry than the persons who have a rich early development and who (if they got an adequate life management support as youngsters) most likely would do a better job

Person (0,1) (poor early development and rich life management support). Most moderately detrimental leaders will probably belong to this group. With well-trained attitudes and the right material backgrounds (school, career history and references), these detrimental leaders manage to reach positions where they can cultivate the right connections and acquire strategic knowledge. This may eventually make them valuable or even "irreplaceable" on high organizational positions, which is their ultimate goal. They get the power to do as they please, but

Person (0,0) (poor early development and poor life management support). A poor life management support can mean no support at all (and if so, these persons are not common in an organized leadership context) or it can be inconsistent or even faulty (antisocial). A faulty life management support may include how to avoid legal limitations, to prioritize selfish goals, and to betray those who can be betrayed. (Such negative impact could very well be denoted as Person (0,−1) in this classification.) Most of these persons do not become leaders but those who do are highly detrimental, particularly so if their seductive skills get them far. However, a discussion of styles of different detrimental leadership is beyond the scope

than perhaps very good grades from school.) [4, 16].

*5.2.2. The person with a poor early development*

they often lack the basic features to do it well.

poor.

112 Leadership

as leaders [41].

of this chapter.

Based on the descriptions of the different pathways in development, in previous sections, here will be illustrated how deficiencies in the stable features can be distinguished in the decisions, actions and behaviors of leaders and how knowledge about the stable features can be used to avoid underperforming leaders.

#### *5.3.1. The high performing and intolerant person*

A few examples will be mentioned here, of the particular set of attitudes that you may see from a high performing leader who has got a poor early development. This person often has, during childhood and adolescence, been valued for a high performance in often narrow areas (school, sports, acting, music, etc.) and therefore often has a high self-esteem [40, 47].


This person may be what, half a century ago, often was called "the skilled engineer who became a bad manager." Today though, this character maybe is equally common in other professions. Often s/he is found on a middle management position.

#### **5.4. A few practical examples: general deficiencies**

Here, a few examples will be mentioned of leaders, who are not the typical high performers, and who may show a number of other, more general, indications of poor leadership.

#### *5.4.1. The mismanaging executive*

An executive who has a poor early development may be inclined to mismanage her/his organization in several ways [16]. Here are some very general examples:

• The own prestige (or maybe only the need to feel good) may be more important than the future success of the organization.

*5.5.2. The attitude to competition*

with a poor early development).

acquire the necessary power.

*5.5.3. So, how do you avoid the detrimental leaders?*

ally have on the referred successful history?

*5.5.4. How do you do to make a difference between good and bad?*

tures often are indirectly displayed quite openly.

opposite of what they seem to declare.

positive nor negative ones.

**5.6. Future research**

development).

People may have different attitudes to competition:

• One person tries to win a competition by performing as well as possible, by having better skills than the opponent (inferred from [6]). (This may be a person with a rich early

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• Another person tries to win by making the competition more difficult for the opponent, by spoiling or even sabotaging the competition for the opponent [50]. (Presumably a person

In most sports and games some rough tactics are allowed and even encouraged but when it comes to competition about leadership positions the organization is not assisted by letting rough competition tactics influence the choice of leaders. Such a behavior is an indication that the person has most of the disadvantages that often come with a poor early development.

**1.** Do not let them into your system. Do not let the wrong people advance in your organization so that they can get the strategic knowledge and the right connections. Do not let them

**2.** Do not employ somebody from outside of the organization, on a high level, based on an assuring success history. Being successful does not mean that a leader knows how to foresee and handle the future risks and pitfalls. Besides, what influences did this leader actu-

**3.** When potentially detrimental leaders accidentally have got into your system, be sure to

**1.** Stable positive features are seldom displayed directly. However, deficiencies in stable fea-

**2.** The (positive) features that are displayed in an apparent way are commonly changeable features that have been learned only to attain a desired effect. Quite often, they indicate the

**3.** Be tolerant to acceptable faults (i.e., when it is in changeable features) and do not tolerate unacceptable deficiencies in stable features. (Far too often, this is done the opposite way). And remember, do not let only a few indications control your opinion about a person, neither

In the last section of this chapter, there are several assumed connections that should be verified by scientific studies. When performing such studies, two warnings should be raised:

identify them early and do something to inhibit their negative effects.


The items in this list may also be indications of other deficiencies, the validity of which should be checked by other means.

#### *5.4.2. The energetic change initiator*

A leader with a poor early development may often seem to have a more energetic attitude [41], but this should not be mistaken for well planned activities with functional goals. Often the goal is to fulfill strivings for own prestige, not to create a well-functioning result. Commonly this person does not have the required capacity to make long term plans including analyses of prerequisites and consequences. This person may successfully perform a previously planned schedule (maybe planned by somebody else), even a complicated one, but has a difficulty to handle appearing deviations well [50]. And when something goes wrong, somebody else will have to pay the extra cost [54].

#### *5.4.3. Inflexible persons avoid complex issues*

Persons with a rich early development often have the ability to handle complex concepts or problems, and persons with a poor early development often do not have that ability [31]. Sometimes, you may hear an inflexible person say (often with an intolerant attitude) that the flexible person talks about too complex things (and the flexible person may say that the inflexible person does not understand complexity). Such disagreements may in fact be quite revealing as the inflexible person, with this attitude, discloses indications of several other probable deficiencies.

#### **5.5. Avoiding detrimental leadership**

#### *5.5.1. Counterproductive reactions when leaders fail*

A common reaction when leaders have failed, particularly when lack of moral judgment is perceived as a major reason, is to increase the demands of orderliness and perfect performance when new leaders are recruited. This is a counterproductive strategy as those who have an impressing history of doing everything right and never do anything wrong often are inflexible persons (who accordingly lack an intrinsic sense of responsibility), and those who are most successful in displaying the desired social appearance often are the most deceptive ones. Unfortunately, this mistake seems to be prominent in public authorities where law and order often is the essence of the organization.

#### *5.5.2. The attitude to competition*

• The own prestige (or maybe only the need to feel good) may be more important than the

• S/he often has a limited capacity to understand and manage complex things, like possible cause & effect relations or the effects of several simultaneously influencing factors.

• S/he is likely to overestimate her/his knowledge regarding areas that are important, simply because that knowledge gives prestige (the benefits of actual knowledge is underestimated

• S/he will most likely avoid to engage competent persons in her/his close vicinity, people

The items in this list may also be indications of other deficiencies, the validity of which should

A leader with a poor early development may often seem to have a more energetic attitude [41], but this should not be mistaken for well planned activities with functional goals. Often the goal is to fulfill strivings for own prestige, not to create a well-functioning result. Commonly this person does not have the required capacity to make long term plans including analyses of prerequisites and consequences. This person may successfully perform a previously planned schedule (maybe planned by somebody else), even a complicated one, but has a difficulty to handle appearing deviations well [50]. And when something goes wrong, somebody else will

Persons with a rich early development often have the ability to handle complex concepts or problems, and persons with a poor early development often do not have that ability [31]. Sometimes, you may hear an inflexible person say (often with an intolerant attitude) that the flexible person talks about too complex things (and the flexible person may say that the inflexible person does not understand complexity). Such disagreements may in fact be quite revealing as the inflexible

A common reaction when leaders have failed, particularly when lack of moral judgment is perceived as a major reason, is to increase the demands of orderliness and perfect performance when new leaders are recruited. This is a counterproductive strategy as those who have an impressing history of doing everything right and never do anything wrong often are inflexible persons (who accordingly lack an intrinsic sense of responsibility), and those who are most successful in displaying the desired social appearance often are the most deceptive ones. Unfortunately, this mistake seems to be prominent in public authorities where law and

person, with this attitude, discloses indications of several other probable deficiencies.

future success of the organization.

that may object to or criticize her/his decisions.

and may be foreseen).

114 Leadership

be checked by other means.

*5.4.2. The energetic change initiator*

have to pay the extra cost [54].

*5.4.3. Inflexible persons avoid complex issues*

**5.5. Avoiding detrimental leadership**

*5.5.1. Counterproductive reactions when leaders fail*

order often is the essence of the organization.

People may have different attitudes to competition:


In most sports and games some rough tactics are allowed and even encouraged but when it comes to competition about leadership positions the organization is not assisted by letting rough competition tactics influence the choice of leaders. Such a behavior is an indication that the person has most of the disadvantages that often come with a poor early development.

#### *5.5.3. So, how do you avoid the detrimental leaders?*


#### *5.5.4. How do you do to make a difference between good and bad?*


And remember, do not let only a few indications control your opinion about a person, neither positive nor negative ones.

#### **5.6. Future research**

In the last section of this chapter, there are several assumed connections that should be verified by scientific studies. When performing such studies, two warnings should be raised: (1) self-evaluating questionnaires do not readily assess indications of the early development. (2) adults with a dismissing attachment are prone to idealize their life and describe it in a more positive way than justified [16].

**7. Final words**

respected as a human being.

**Conflict of interest**

**Thanks**

**Appendices**

**Appendix A**

I have no conflicts of interest to report.

Some of the distinctions between people that were made in this chapter, may be mistakenly understood as though people should be valued because of their abilities. Nothing could be more wrong: a musical person may be highly valued in the realm of music and a nonmusical person may perhaps not be contracted to sing in a choir but they are equally valued as human beings. A leader who is dishonest and egocentric should not be a leader but should be

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Dear reader, if you would find some of the descriptions of human behavior here as unfamiliar and if you feel that you do not recognize them, please be patient. Depending on the frequency of interactions with others and the type and spectrum of interactions, it may take quite some time to recognize behaviors and attitudes that previously were unknown to you. It may very well take a few years to develop a good ability to do this. And besides, this description is far from complete, there is more to be said about each feature and there are a few more basic features to describe.

I want to thank my former supervisor at the Department of Psychology at Gothenburg University, Dr. Thomas Adelbratt, for his comments and support during my work with this draft. I also want to thank my former colleague and supervisor at Volvo Cars in Gothenburg,

Caregivers may act in different ways to their children. Here, two attitudes are referred [28]: (A poor development is represented by inattentive caregiving here because it is least complex). *Responsive caregiving*: Caregiver responds very soon when infant announces need for help, cuddles, waits for turn-taking (see Appendix D) and gives firm but kind feedback when

*Inattentive caregiving:* Caregiver responds only when discomforted by infant's crying, does not cuddle, is impatient (see Appendix D) and does not give (kind) feedback. During childhood:

I wish you good luck on your journey among new and exciting experiences.

Mr. Leif Andersson, for his support in my empirical studies of leaders.

needed. During childhood: talks about emotions and thoughts with child.

Allows only material contact with child, does not talk about emotions or thoughts.

One particularly interesting research question may be: Does the concept that has been presented here describe the emergence of authentic leadership [21]?

In leadership research generally a variable related to the early development would most likely improve the evaluation of data and enhance the research. The reason is that data sometimes can show different patterns for persons with different early developments. Hence, one suggestion would be to include an attachment-related variable whenever personality is an important part of the study.

#### *5.6.1. For recruitment, attachment assessment is not recommended*

For purposes of research, an adult attachment assessment may be very useful, but in recruitment cases, an attachment assessment would demand far too much specific knowledge and experience. Moreover, the possible connections are weak, and the cost for a thorough investigation is high.
