Great Man Theory Analysis

Introduction
Leaders have been experiencing an increasing evolution in their characteristics and behaviour. They have the desire to improve their skills, yet the circumstances has forced them to develop in a way where skills have become something learnable in stead of being born with it. During the centuries, different types of leaderships, such as Charismatic, Transactional, Transformational, Authentic and Distributive have been developed and all of them have one thing in common: having a vision and a mission. Most people are shattered by their failure but leaders normally are happy by failing as it makes them stronger. Leadership is hard to define since there are many aspects, designs and is seen both as science and art. Leadership affects

However, it is not every person that can become this type of leader. According to Thomas Carlyle, this type of leader is born with unique characters, such as the way they act and their look. Furthermore, the theory assumes that the traits of leadership are intrinsic, as they are born as leaders. This emphasises that leaders are born with or without the necessary traits of leadership. These leaders are seen as heroes and Godlike due to the memory, courage and vision they carry to the society. Nonetheless, there is a double-edged sword that implies giving credit for positive outcomes, although, someone is also going to be blamed for downturns, since it is a ritualistic scapegoating. Moreover, they are seen as charismatic due to their personal charisma that illustrate that they have the passion to emerge great against all chances allowing them to use the power needed to fulfil their goals. However, this type of leader only appeared, when there was a strong need of such a leader (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991: pp.

This theory is applied in current days to make new role models that both have positive and negative traits, meaning that the concept of being Godlike has disappeared. As Slater and Bennis state, "given the coup de grace to another force that has retarded democratization - the 'great man' who with brilliance and farsightedness could preside with dictatorial powers as the head of a growing organisation." (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991: pp. 48). However, the Great Man theory has developed into trait theory in the early 20th century, implying that leaders have different traits than non-leaders (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991: pp. 48). Subsequently, this theory became sceptical as Ralph Stogdill argued, "A person does not become a leader by virtue of the possession of some combination of traits.” (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991: pp. 48). This has led to the present, where it has gone from born as a leader to can become a leader, since most of the traits that a leader possesses can be learned. Additionally, this means that a leader cannot be perfect as it was stated in the Great Man theory. It is rather seen, as leaders are not perfect for the reason that they make decisions and actions that are not ideal. Leadership has moved to the authentic, where followers look at the intentions of a leader, what the leader’s values are and what they stand for (Compendium, 2014: