Archetypes and Leadership

I like the idea of archetypes a lot better than I do the idea of trait based leadership because archetypes give everyone the idea of what type of leader you could be rather than saying this archetype makes you a leader and this one means you’re a big fat loser, yes a slight exaggeration.  I also like the idea of your archetypes changing throughout your life; I think this is a bit more realistic because I do believe who we are as people is constantly being shaped.  The idea that more than one archetype can be dominant is also soemthing I find interesting, a lot of times when you take similar personality type evaluations you are fit into a certain type but archetypes aren’t necessarily who you are all the time but more who you can be under certain circumstances.  I think the one thing that I am left thinking about however, is which archetypes actually influence who I am as a leader.  I can see all four of my dominant archetypes present in different aspects of who I am as a whole but I don’t know if I necessarily see all of them present in who I am as a leader, I think this is something I still would like to further consider.

What PMAI said about me?

PMAI Results

Your PMAI Scores:

Caregiver - 26

Destroyer - 25

Ruler - 25

Sage - 25

Creator - 24

Jester – 24

Orphan - 22

Seeker - 22

Lover - 22

Warrior - 21

Magician - 19

Innocent - 18

So I’m not really sure if it means anything that none of my scores were below an 18.  Does this means I have some access to all of the archetypes just some less than others, or have I managed to do the impossible and I actually just failed a personality test?  For the sake of this post let’s assume I did this correctly and take a closer look at my results.  I had 6 of the archetypes actually fall into the top range of active archetypes but the PMAI told me to just focus on the top four, so today I’m going to explore my thoughts on how I think I relate to the Caregiver, the Destroyer, the Ruler, and the Sage.

The Caregiver you assume you should help others:  I do see that there are places in my life where the Caregiver is probably quite active.  In general I tend to put the needs of others before my own, I don’t like to see others upset or discouraged and when I do my reaction is to want to fix it.  I even would go as far as saying that at times I experience feelings of guilt when I feel I should be putting another person’s needs first but for whatever reason, usually school or work, I am forced to put my needs first.  I don’t know however, if I had taken this test a couple of months ago if this would have come up as my most dominant archetype then. There have been a lot of changes in my life as of late that may have triggered this archetype to become more dominant.  I would be interested to take the PMAI again, maybe with in another year to see if the caregiver reverts back to where it probably would have been a couple of months ago, or if the changes I have experienced have the caregiver here to stay for a while.

The Destroyer you assume you should cut your losses: The Destroyer seems to live with the dilemma of being able to cut things out of their lives that no longer hold meaning to them rather easily and gracefully but when it comes to tragedy or misfortune moving on could mean having to recreate your life in order to move on.  I think I am in the latter process at the moment and have been asking myself some deep existential questions as of late.  This is another archetype that I am not sure would have been as dominant a couple months ago and another one I would like to look at again in the future.

The Ruler you assume that you should exercise control: I definitely can see the Rulers influence in my life.  I think this archetype is definitely more present in my school and work life than my social life.  I am someone who will usually take on the job that nobody else wants or the job that someone is too lazy to do.  I think that one good thing about being in the hospitality major is that most of us have probably experienced a similar situation.  A lot of us were probably the kids who thought we knew how to do things best and took control of situations because of that, and let’s be honest we probably did know best.  The surprising thing for me is that being in this major hasn’t made me feel as obligated to take control of every situation.  I feel more comfortable letting other people take control in certain situations because I am around more people with a work ethic closer to mine. This has allowed me to choose to take control of projects that I am most passionate about and not take control of situations because I feel I am the only one who can.

The Sage you assume that “the truth will set you free”:  The sage is present in the part of my life that requires decision making.  I tend to like to think things through and look at things from multiple perspectives before I commit to anything.  I think that this can be both a benefit and a hindrance.  I think the benefit is my decisions are probably a lot more objective than most, a lot of times I am able to see both sides of an argument, where someone else may get angry trying to look at another perspective.  I also can see where gathering information can become a hindrance to decision making, because I crave information when making a decision I may have a hard time deciding at what point I have gathered enough information and thus I may put off making decisions until I feel comfortable.

Traits worth Admiring

“In matters of style, swim with the current;

In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Even though I don’t necessarily believe in the idea of trait based leadership there are leadership traits I admire.  Among them are commitment, honesty and compassion. 

Commitment: A person who can stand by their beliefs is someone I believe is strong enough to be a leader.  Sometimes people may feel it is easier to go with the beliefs of others, but a person who can truly stand by their beliefs is someone who can be resilient when they encounter the difficult.

Honesty: I think commitment walks hand in hand with honesty, being able to commit to something and then actually do it instills faith in your followers.  Being honest in good times is easy; being honest in bad times is difficult.  People may not always like what the truth is, but you will never gain respect by being dishonest.

Compassion: Keeps a leader grounded; someone who is able to feel empathy will consider others.  When people feel like they are present in your decisions they are more likely to respect and agree with them.

Trait based Leadership…The Good and the Bad

The Good…

To begin I really don’t believe in trait based leadership, but for the sake of this post I will pretend I do.  So hypothetically if I was someone who believed in trait based leadership I would say that it would allow people to identify potential leaders early on and help develop them to be better leaders.  It would also allow people to better understand the work they were better suited for. 

The Bad…

Trait based leadership is just depressing.  I think it would leave people who feel like they have something to offer to leadership and didn’t possess the standard traits a bit defeated.  A problem I find in trait based leadership is traits can be used to hide a lack of knowledge or even malice.  A confident and charismatic person could come along and be able to speak eloquently and end up in a position of power and not have any idea what they are doing. Another issue I have with trait based leadership, and it may be with this whole trying to define leadership thing, is that not everyone admires the same things in people.  Some people may apply more weight to certain traits then others when discussing what they think makes a good leader.  Character is something we build throughout life and through our experiences.  So much life happens between birth and when people are put in a leadership position, and I think more goes on than just developing the traits you were born with. Traits are a part of who we are but there is so much more that can be explored in a person and in a leader. 

My Highly Philosophical View of Leadership (sarcasm)

Ok so here we go….what I have been contemplating as of late is the difference between a good leader and a successful leader.  For some of you there may be no difference, however my thought is people can go their whole lives being a good leader without ever being a successful one, I know completely depressing.  To make matters worse I also believe a bad leader can be a successful leader, now if you’re still with me this may be the point where you are going oh god what is wrong with this girl; there is hope however, I do believe a good leader can be successful as well. 

Now please, take a deep breath you are about to read my opinion on where it all went wrong, it all starts with charisma.  Insert poor metaphor: Charisma is something we have been trained to admire in people. It’s nobody’s fault people naturally gifted with charisma just have this bright, shiny, and enchanting glow about them, but then again so does the sun and if you look at that for too long, yes I’m going to say it, you go a little blind.  Now, I know that was tough for many of you to hear, many of you picked charisma as a trait you admired, and let me address your concerns upfront I am not saying you are wrong.  In fact I am going to go as far as to say charisma is a major element to becoming a successful leader.  This next point however, may be where we differ I do not believe charisma is a necessary part of being a good leader.  To be clear I am operating under the assumption that you can be a good leader without being a successful leader, some of you may treat the words good and successful completely differently, so for the sake of following my argument I am going to say just go with it.

So now you may be asking yourself what is it that I do think makes a good leader.  And my answer is you must read on because first of all I have gone over the 300 word limit and I am unsure how strict that limit is and secondly well it just makes more sense to address that in the Traits I Admire post.  However, I do want to leave you with a few thoughts, I know shocking I want to talk some more.  I want to challenge everyone to think of three traits they admire that aren't charisma and in the future, when we are successful managers holding interviews of our own and looking for people to inspire our employees look for those three traits first because that person may be someone who was only going to be a good leader, but us with our vast insight and knowledge of leadership, let’s hope we have accumulated some by that point, can help them become a successful leader, the good kind, not the bad.  Oh, and if they are naturally charismatic that’s totally a bonus.