Eight Misconceptions about Leadership

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, an international authority in psychological profiling, talent management, leadership development, and people analytics, sheds light on the most popular misconceptions about leadership:

• Leader selection is meritocratic: It is not! Too many leaders are chosen for reasons other than merit and fail to deliver positive outcomes for their followers and organizations. It explains why 85% of skilled workers are disengaged and demotivated, 65% of workers are willing to earn less just to get rid of their boss, and trust in both corporate and political leaders are continuing to decline.
• It is not easy to pick the right leaders: Well, it is. There are reliable and valid predictors of leadership potential, such as personality (contributing to 30–50% of variability in future leadership performance), intelligence (9%), expertise, integrity, and emotional intelligence. If we keep these measures in mind (while avoiding toxic traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) in leader selection, we will have a lot more competent, smart, and honest leaders, and our teams, organizations, and nations will all be much better off.
• Leadership potential depends on the situation: Mostly not. The core skills and traits of effective leaders are largely stable and consistent in different contexts and challenges. The…