**1. Introduction**

The aim of this review is to present a new way of thinking for the evaluation, recruitment, and development of leaders, and the main focus is to avoid underperforming leaders.

Leadership involves the handling of a very wide range of environments and situations. The leadership literature is overloaded with (mostly anecdotal) writings about how to handle this.

> © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

However, the problem is that leaders with prosperous features unexpectedly underperform or fail too often. Therefore, this review will focus on how to avoid underperforming leaders.

between appearance and reality [20]. As these abilities are important in most decisions and behaviors of leaders [1, 3, 6, 21], important leadership qualities may be predicted using experiences from research regarding the early development of a person. In this chapter, these abilities will be called *General leadership abilities*. This approach would signify a new way of

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During the last decades, a consensus among scholars in the neuroscience field have developed (with increasing refinement as research methods have improved) that our decisions and actions are controlled by a few information processing networks in the brain. Two of the brain regions that are members in these networks, the cingulate cortex (CC) and the insular cortex (IC), are activated much of the time [22, 23]; you may assume that they have a central or even

Looking back in evolution, when the mammals emerged around 220 million years ago, the development of a new and more advanced brain started at the CC and IC; the neocortex, with six neuron layers instead of three [24]. (The mammals most likely needed to be smarter because they gave birth to an off-spring who demanded more care.) Because these structures (CC and IC) were developed early in the mammal evolution, they also are ready for use early in the individual postnatal development. Therefore, this is where we would expect our first

Caregivers are very different and give their infants very different early impressions, which are stored in relevant places in the brain, with CC and IC (the becoming control center) as coordinating units [26]. The consequences of these differences have been documented very thoroughly by scholars in the attachment theory field, during the last four decades [27]. The early attachment to a caregiver, which is an effect of these first impressions, can be measured by a well specified method; the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) [28]. This research also includes several longitudinal studies relating the early attachment status to different aspects of adult life [29]. Although attachment is not an issue in leader development, attachment research has contributed with valuable knowledge about the development of personality [16, 17, 30]. This knowledge can explain why some leaders underperform or are detrimental, and thus, it can

Important parts of this concept are a few basic features that can help us to indicate the general leadership abilities that were mentioned above, features that emerge from fundamental, developmental and controlling processes in a person. The basic features are *trust in others*,

thinking for the evaluation and recruitment of leaders.

*1.1.2. The origins of important human features*

controlling role in these networks.

*1.1.3. Where our mental development started*

social impressions to be stored [25, 26].

be used to make predictions in a leadership context.

*trust in self*, *flexibility*, *truthfulness* and an *intrinsic sense of responsibility*.

*1.1.4. A well-documented development*

**1.2. Five basic features**

A leader may be underperforming or even detrimental for the organization in several ways, a few examples are the following [1, 2]: by making bad decisions because of selfish priorities and/or lack of competence, by embracing an entourage of incompetent and often detrimental coworkers, by neglecting, suppressing or even bullying competent and loyal employees, and by being a bad role model, and worst of all, such leaders often are experts in disguising their true intentions [3–6]. This review will describe a few ways to get a look behind a false front, which often will reveal some of the (potential) faults.

The issues addressed in this chapter: In order to get the right person for a certain position, substantial resources are invested in professional solutions. Yet, there are a few troublesome facts to observe. The issues that will be addressed in this chapter, are the following: (A) too often, leaders do not meet self-evident expectations on responsibility and truthfulness when they get more power (and those deficiencies were not foreseen in advance) [1, 7]. (B) There are not sufficient methods available to specify what fundamental requirement should be met, by a new person on a certain position [4, 8]. (C) There are not sufficient methods available to reliably predict features or deficiencies of a person (i.e., if they were not clearly exposed on the current or previous positions) [4, 8].

This review will not present a description or a formula showing "how to do it," because there is no such formula, but will offer knowledge to understand the problem and to better predict the outcome. To successfully do this, we need to know more about what controls the decisions and the behaviors of a leader. State of the art in psychology and neuroscience today may actually give us some tools to do this.

This review does not refer to the traditional traits. The traditional traits and leadership styles that often are referred to in the literature about leadership, management, and organizational development [3, 6, 9, 10] may characterize important aspects of leadership; however, they have not been proven to be sufficient criteria for predicting leadership [7, 11–13]. The reason for this insufficiency may be that the traditional traits "emerged from the descriptive and lexical approaches to personality, which were aimed mainly at characterizing how people's behavior is described in everyday language" ([14], p. 203). In other words, the traditional traits were based on what people considered to be important. However, a careful examination shows that there are important factors of which people were not aware. The traditional perception of leadership has also been questioned as lacking a deeper analysis [4, 8].

#### **1.1. A concept founded on basic features**

#### *1.1.1. A basic construct*

The concept that this review will present is based on knowledge about early shaped features, features that are basic in the personal development. Some of the abilities that may be distinguished by this concept include the abilities to handle complexity and uncertainty [15, 16], to have an intrinsic sense of good moral judgment [17], to spontaneously cooperate with and understand other persons [18, 19], to have integrity in conflicts [16], and to distinguish between appearance and reality [20]. As these abilities are important in most decisions and behaviors of leaders [1, 3, 6, 21], important leadership qualities may be predicted using experiences from research regarding the early development of a person. In this chapter, these abilities will be called *General leadership abilities*. This approach would signify a new way of thinking for the evaluation and recruitment of leaders.

#### *1.1.2. The origins of important human features*

However, the problem is that leaders with prosperous features unexpectedly underperform or fail too often. Therefore, this review will focus on how to avoid underperforming leaders.

A leader may be underperforming or even detrimental for the organization in several ways, a few examples are the following [1, 2]: by making bad decisions because of selfish priorities and/or lack of competence, by embracing an entourage of incompetent and often detrimental coworkers, by neglecting, suppressing or even bullying competent and loyal employees, and by being a bad role model, and worst of all, such leaders often are experts in disguising their true intentions [3–6]. This review will describe a few ways to get a look behind a false front,

The issues addressed in this chapter: In order to get the right person for a certain position, substantial resources are invested in professional solutions. Yet, there are a few troublesome facts to observe. The issues that will be addressed in this chapter, are the following: (A) too often, leaders do not meet self-evident expectations on responsibility and truthfulness when they get more power (and those deficiencies were not foreseen in advance) [1, 7]. (B) There are not sufficient methods available to specify what fundamental requirement should be met, by a new person on a certain position [4, 8]. (C) There are not sufficient methods available to reliably predict features or deficiencies of a person (i.e., if they were not clearly exposed on the current or previous positions) [4, 8].

This review will not present a description or a formula showing "how to do it," because there is no such formula, but will offer knowledge to understand the problem and to better predict the outcome. To successfully do this, we need to know more about what controls the decisions and the behaviors of a leader. State of the art in psychology and neuroscience today may actu-

This review does not refer to the traditional traits. The traditional traits and leadership styles that often are referred to in the literature about leadership, management, and organizational development [3, 6, 9, 10] may characterize important aspects of leadership; however, they have not been proven to be sufficient criteria for predicting leadership [7, 11–13]. The reason for this insufficiency may be that the traditional traits "emerged from the descriptive and lexical approaches to personality, which were aimed mainly at characterizing how people's behavior is described in everyday language" ([14], p. 203). In other words, the traditional traits were based on what people considered to be important. However, a careful examination shows that there are important factors of which people were not aware. The traditional

perception of leadership has also been questioned as lacking a deeper analysis [4, 8].

The concept that this review will present is based on knowledge about early shaped features, features that are basic in the personal development. Some of the abilities that may be distinguished by this concept include the abilities to handle complexity and uncertainty [15, 16], to have an intrinsic sense of good moral judgment [17], to spontaneously cooperate with and understand other persons [18, 19], to have integrity in conflicts [16], and to distinguish

which often will reveal some of the (potential) faults.

ally give us some tools to do this.

98 Leadership

**1.1. A concept founded on basic features**

*1.1.1. A basic construct*

During the last decades, a consensus among scholars in the neuroscience field have developed (with increasing refinement as research methods have improved) that our decisions and actions are controlled by a few information processing networks in the brain. Two of the brain regions that are members in these networks, the cingulate cortex (CC) and the insular cortex (IC), are activated much of the time [22, 23]; you may assume that they have a central or even controlling role in these networks.

#### *1.1.3. Where our mental development started*

Looking back in evolution, when the mammals emerged around 220 million years ago, the development of a new and more advanced brain started at the CC and IC; the neocortex, with six neuron layers instead of three [24]. (The mammals most likely needed to be smarter because they gave birth to an off-spring who demanded more care.) Because these structures (CC and IC) were developed early in the mammal evolution, they also are ready for use early in the individual postnatal development. Therefore, this is where we would expect our first social impressions to be stored [25, 26].

#### *1.1.4. A well-documented development*

Caregivers are very different and give their infants very different early impressions, which are stored in relevant places in the brain, with CC and IC (the becoming control center) as coordinating units [26]. The consequences of these differences have been documented very thoroughly by scholars in the attachment theory field, during the last four decades [27]. The early attachment to a caregiver, which is an effect of these first impressions, can be measured by a well specified method; the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) [28]. This research also includes several longitudinal studies relating the early attachment status to different aspects of adult life [29]. Although attachment is not an issue in leader development, attachment research has contributed with valuable knowledge about the development of personality [16, 17, 30]. This knowledge can explain why some leaders underperform or are detrimental, and thus, it can be used to make predictions in a leadership context.

#### **1.2. Five basic features**

Important parts of this concept are a few basic features that can help us to indicate the general leadership abilities that were mentioned above, features that emerge from fundamental, developmental and controlling processes in a person. The basic features are *trust in others*, *trust in self*, *flexibility*, *truthfulness* and an *intrinsic sense of responsibility*.

The reasons why these features can be believed to be particularly important are because the three first items can be detected very early [28], the first four items are established terms in attachment research [27], they are all fairly stable during life [19, 20], their brain networks have been indicated by neuroscience (with important nodes in CC and IC) [26], and they are important parts of our adult behaviors and decisions. Hence, one may assume that they are important also for leadership behaviors and decisions.

*1.3.3. Life management support*

*1.3.4. General leadership abilities*

**2.1. The early development**

*2.1.1. An analogy*

**2. How important features are shaped**

asked to study the relevant details in the referred literature.

occur when the infant brain is "filled with data—or not."

During childhood and adolescence, a responsive parenting consists of both emotional interaction and different ways of giving the youngster some prerequisites for a good adaptation to the world in which she or he (s/he) is going to live [30, 32, 33]. These prerequisites include some moral and social guidelines (both formal and unspoken rules), knowledge about society and how working life functions, what life goals that may be worth striving for, how to best handle conflicts, troubles and misfortune, and so on. The optimal spectrum of influences varies with age and circumstances, and particularly during adolescence, the same sex parent is commonly the most important in supplying this support [33]). In this the picture of the self, abilities, personal significance and rights that the parents usually imprint is included [32]. Here this will shortly be called *Life management support* (which does not include emotional interaction).

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This term was explained earlier, in the last part of the paragraph in Section 1.1.1.

This section describes some of the theoretical support for the predictions that can be made. This could easily be perceived as much too detailed if all the scientific evidences are presented. So here, a shortened and popularized version will be presented and the reader is

As can be understood from the previous description, the adult decisions and actions are to a high degree controlled by early established processes. You could say that the decisions you make emerge from those processes. When you are born, your brain is a fairly "empty space" with regard to knowledge about the environment. An essential part of the infant brain development is ingestion and structuring of impressions. However, it is the environment, the persons who "deliver" the impressions, who determine the content of the infant brain and its future functionality [18]. If the empty space is not filled with data that fit the intended use (which is to lay a foundation for the following development), the functionality will be severely impaired. Here, some of the typical basic consequences will be highlighted, that may

When discussing the very initial development of the personality one can think of the starting procedures of a computer, which in essence will determine the level of final functionality:

When a computer is powered on, the processor reads and stores in memory a big set of instructions that is called the operative system (OS). The first part of the OS that is loaded is called the

#### *1.2.1. Features important in trusted positions*

Two of these features, truthfulness and an intrinsic sense of responsibility, are particularly important in trusted positions: An essential part of leadership success relies on the ability to convince other people about the leader's visions and goals [21]. Then, it is very important that this ability will not be misused at the disadvantage of the organization.

#### *1.2.2. These features are not statistically orthogonal*

These basic features are developed in the same environment (the brain) and, although they may belong to different networks, their developments are highly intertwined. Therefore, the developments of these features can be assumed to progress in similar amounts and directions: When compared between adult persons, they are internally fairly covariant [20], which can be used to detect features that are not apparent at first sight. This is an important property since such indirect indications often are the only way to detect poor abilities that are disguised.

#### **1.3. A few terms explained**

In the following description a few terms that are important will be used; "adaptive model," "static schema," and "life management support," that are explained here before they are used:

#### *1.3.1. Adaptive model*

An *adaptive model* in this chapter is an early founded dynamic mental structure—like a flowchart—that guides a person on how to decide and act in a situation [18]. The guiding output may depend on the current state of things or a predicted future outcome, and so on. Persons who habitually use adaptive models often enhance their general ability to handle complex problems [25]. An adaptive model may be more or less well connected to the formal and informal structures in the environment, and in different ways, as is described as "Life management support" further down.

#### *1.3.2. Static schema*

A *static schema* is a fixed pattern of behaviors, procedures, attitudes, habits, symbols, templates, and emotions that are used in or are applied to the current situation [18, 31]. A static schema may also include interpretations of others' behaviors, attitudes, or symbols [25]. Everybody has a repertoire of schemas that are used in appropriate contexts. Some people (almost only) rely on a vast amount of static schemas and others are more inclined to use flexible models.

#### *1.3.3. Life management support*

The reasons why these features can be believed to be particularly important are because the three first items can be detected very early [28], the first four items are established terms in attachment research [27], they are all fairly stable during life [19, 20], their brain networks have been indicated by neuroscience (with important nodes in CC and IC) [26], and they are important parts of our adult behaviors and decisions. Hence, one may assume that they are

Two of these features, truthfulness and an intrinsic sense of responsibility, are particularly important in trusted positions: An essential part of leadership success relies on the ability to convince other people about the leader's visions and goals [21]. Then, it is very important that

These basic features are developed in the same environment (the brain) and, although they may belong to different networks, their developments are highly intertwined. Therefore, the developments of these features can be assumed to progress in similar amounts and directions: When compared between adult persons, they are internally fairly covariant [20], which can be used to detect features that are not apparent at first sight. This is an important property since such indirect indications often are the only way to detect poor abilities that are disguised.

In the following description a few terms that are important will be used; "adaptive model," "static schema," and "life management support," that are explained here before they are used:

An *adaptive model* in this chapter is an early founded dynamic mental structure—like a flowchart—that guides a person on how to decide and act in a situation [18]. The guiding output may depend on the current state of things or a predicted future outcome, and so on. Persons who habitually use adaptive models often enhance their general ability to handle complex problems [25]. An adaptive model may be more or less well connected to the formal and informal structures in the environment, and in different ways, as is described as "Life management

A *static schema* is a fixed pattern of behaviors, procedures, attitudes, habits, symbols, templates, and emotions that are used in or are applied to the current situation [18, 31]. A static schema may also include interpretations of others' behaviors, attitudes, or symbols [25]. Everybody has a repertoire of schemas that are used in appropriate contexts. Some people (almost only) rely on a vast amount of static schemas and others are more inclined to use flexible models.

important also for leadership behaviors and decisions.

this ability will not be misused at the disadvantage of the organization.

*1.2.1. Features important in trusted positions*

100 Leadership

*1.2.2. These features are not statistically orthogonal*

**1.3. A few terms explained**

*1.3.1. Adaptive model*

support" further down.

*1.3.2. Static schema*

During childhood and adolescence, a responsive parenting consists of both emotional interaction and different ways of giving the youngster some prerequisites for a good adaptation to the world in which she or he (s/he) is going to live [30, 32, 33]. These prerequisites include some moral and social guidelines (both formal and unspoken rules), knowledge about society and how working life functions, what life goals that may be worth striving for, how to best handle conflicts, troubles and misfortune, and so on. The optimal spectrum of influences varies with age and circumstances, and particularly during adolescence, the same sex parent is commonly the most important in supplying this support [33]). In this the picture of the self, abilities, personal significance and rights that the parents usually imprint is included [32]. Here this will shortly be called *Life management support* (which does not include emotional interaction).

#### *1.3.4. General leadership abilities*

This term was explained earlier, in the last part of the paragraph in Section 1.1.1.
