The Leadership Theory: The Great Man Theory

Leaders are made, not born. The Great Man Theory suggests that people inherit qualities and traits that make them better suited for leadership. “To suggest that leaders do not enter the world with extraordinary endowment is to imply that people enter the world with equal abilities, with equal talents.” (Thomas Carlyle 1840) While it is true that there are certain characteristics that leaders are born with that predispose them to become leaders, the influence of these characteristics are often overexaggerated. In the case of Eugene Kranz, the flight director for NASA’s Apollo 13 mission, he was a successful leader due to his many years of experience leading missions and his vast knowledge of this surrounding team. The skills and knowledge that

Her mission was to create an all-female expedition team to climb Annapurna in the Himalayas. Blum recruited a team of nine seasoned climbers, all from diverse backgrounds. One climber was a surgeon, another was and artist and one was a student in college. Blum led her team and successfully fundraised over 80,000 to pay for the expedition. While on the mountain, Blum selected three women to summit Annapurna. While she achieved goal to prove that an all women team is capable of summit the mountain, two team members died while trying to

The Great Man approach is a perspective that identifies inherited traits that leader possess. These traits are optimism, Self-confidence, honesty, integrity and drive. All the traits are critical for successful leaders, and evidenced in the Apollo 13 and Annapurna case. However, it is paramount that the leaders have relevant, mission specific knowledge as well. If Eugene Kranz did not have an expansive knowledge of his team, technical skills and flight director experience, the mission could have failed. If Arlene Blum did not have mountaineering experience, her followers would not respect her as a leader, and consequently, her mission may not have been a success. Michael Useem argues that, “Leadership is a leaned skill” because one cannot simply leader a team if they do not have the relevant knowledge. Due to the instrumentality of knowledge and skills and the notion that relevant knowledge and skills must be used in conjunction with the inherited traits, I conclude that leaders are made, not