A Brief History of Leadership

A new idea from ancient times

• Today’s behaviours (what we do) are influenced by our biological history (what we were). Leadership development is possible and necessary to help us overcome our more primitive instincts.

Why study the history of leadership?

• To explore leadership concepts (‘map-reading’)

• To test leadership concepts (‘map-testing’)

• To develop richer personal leadership maps (‘map-making’)

Map Testing

Map making

MapReading

Health Warning: Anthropomorphism

• Anthropomorphism: ‘seeing’ human behaviour patterns in other animals; inanimate objects; and symbolic entities (Peter Rabbit; ‘Hal’; The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse …)

Our ancestors’ tale

• Our ancestors’ tale begins with the earliest common ancestor (‘concestor’) of all living creatures.

• If we search, we can find the messages from over a billion years of evolution …

Concestual links* (1)

Animal concestor1000 Million years

(?)

Mammals100 Million years

Lots of otherMammals

Reptiles500 Million years

Primates

Little creepy Crawlies

>500 Million years

Dynosaurs Modern ants, beesHerd and pack

animals Modern lizards

Birds, fish

Homo Sapiens* Concestor: A shared common ancestor (‘Best estimates’ of dates)

Concestual links (2)

PrimateConcestor

Apes

Other apes

Humanoids

Bonobos

Other Primates

Gorillas

Homo Sapiens Monkeys

Mandrills and baboons

Chimpanzees

Concestor links (3)

Humanoids(3,600,000 -)

Neadertals(130,000 -28,000)

Homo Sapiens(150,000 -)

Other Humanoids

Hunter Gatherers(100,000 -)

Agrarians(10,000 -)

Industrials(200 -)

Leadership: An evolutionary view

• The further back we go into history, the broader the definition of leadership needed

• The closer to our personal leadership experiences, the greater the need for stipulating context

It depends what you mean by leadership ..

• Influence processes• Mobilizing resources

to arouse, engage, satisfy the motives of followers

• Making sense [of what people are doing] …articulating purpose and values

•

Insects, instincts and information

• Insects behave primarily through ‘hard-wired’ instincts

• Scientists have developed models based on information theory

• Insects with valuable resource information can ‘lead’ followers to food, to safety, into battle …

Do insects show creative leadership?

Do birds show leadership?

What leadership behaviours can be seen in other animal families?

Leadership among the primates

Leadership in our closest ancestors

• Early hominoids• Hunter gatherers • Agrarian tribalism• Industrial society• Our informational age

HeroicLeaders

HeroicLeaders

New LeadershipSchool

New LeadershipSchool

Trait Theories

Trait Theories

Style and ContingencyTheories

Style and ContingencyTheories

AtavisticPrototypes

AtavisticPrototypes

TerritorialLeaders

TerritorialLeaders

Pack Leadership

Pack Leadership

CollectiveLeadership

CollectiveLeadership

AnimalLeaders (non human)

AnimalLeaders (non human)

AnimalLeaders (human)

AnimalLeaders (human)

Thoughtleaders

Thoughtleaders

Do we inherit behaviours fromconcestors? *

Insects: Guided foraging, ‘Home’ building

Birds, Fish: Flocking, Shoaling, Attraction displays, territorialism

Wolves, dogs: Hunting, collaboration, learning through play(?)

Horses, elephants: Matriarchal ‘schooling’ for herd conformity (Mature males isolated)

Mandrills: Matriarchal large group: (Mature males isolated)

Chimpanzees: Complex transactions (grooming, nurturing) provide social stability and status (‘Social capitalists’)

(* Selected examples)

Toward a new idea of evolutionary leadership

• Leadership today has preserved residual ancient forms sustained mimetically (through leadership myths)

• Social and personal development permits transcendence of more primitive instincts (through consciousness and learning)

• We become and create ‘the leaders we deserve’

So what?

• ‘What’s the use of a baby?’ (Faraday)

• Helps explain bullying leaders (Mandrills); Charismatic influence (Peacocks); Anthropomorphism (Termites); Dysfunctional behaviours (Horses); Manipulative behaviours (Chimpanzees)