Organization 21C: Someday All Organizations Will Lead This Way

The Heroic Model of Leadership

One can distinguish three positions, each advocated by different groups of scholars, in an attempt to answer this question. I refer to the first of these as the heroic model since it views leadership as a personal trait that enables those who possess it to inspire and energize others in productive directions. In one form of this model these leadership qualities are genetically determined, and effective leaders may ultimately be determined by their DNA. Thus, leaders are born, not made. More often, those advocating a heroic position view the trait of leadership as originating, at least in part, in life's experiences, perhaps those occurring early in life. The classic “nature versus nurture” debate is independent ...