I want to talk about leadership. Often you hear and you see a lot of things for leadership training or how to be a leader, etc. Just like everything else, just like in business you have many alternatives. There are many different types of leaders that have been incredibly successful in life. What I want to do is go over some of the differences. I’m going to point you in the direction of a particular blog post that was done that really does a nice job of showing the differences with some examples. Now, I haven't done research and analyzed all the other research in this area. This episode is just to point out interesting leadership styles, done very well. For you, it is an opportunity to understand that there really can't be only one type of training and there are different styles that will appeal to different personalities. I was particularly impressed by research done by one individual.

This all started because I was getting a lot of information and hearing a lot of statements that I really had trouble believing. Remember, I’m always asking: “Why? How? What causes this?” questions of that sort. When it doesn’t make sense, I keep asking questions. I ran across this article as I was researching ideas on leadership. It’s by Suzanne Vickberg, PhD, so Dr. Vickberg. She’s a Social Personality Psychologist with very good training. She also has done a great deal of research, statistical and otherwise that gives her a very nice measurement and characteristics that are attributed to four different types of personalities that are leaders.

I’m not saying that there are exactly four types of leaders. What I’m saying is this is what she’s done is good and should be motivational. I’ve also seen examples in other studies and other research of seven, or five, or something, and people make up different categories. What I like is as an example, something to show you that yes, you can become a leader. You don’t necessarily have to be an outgoing, dynamic personality. You may be somebody who has a completely different set of characteristics. You may be that mathematician/engineer that could still be a leader.

Let me first go through an overview of some of these and what they are, and some of the examples that she gives. As I say, keep in mind there are many different types of leaders, so some of these would in a sense turn me off or may turn you off, others are people that you would follow.  Just like we have different personalities, we have different products that go to different people. The idea of how to be a leader is a really loose concept because there are different types. Think of it very much like niche marketing or marketing across the internet. You can pick your industry, you can pick your market, and you will have people follow or buy your products. That’s what you have, in a sense, in a leader. It doesn’t mean that everybody in the world is going to follow you. It means that people that fit into certain norms or certain personality groups will follow you.

Forgetting training for a minute, let’s just talk about what compromises a leader. First of all, the four types that she mentions are a pioneer, a driver, a guardian, and an integrator. What does she mean by each of these? As a pioneer, it’s somebody who’s outgoing, somewhat adverse to detail. You know that person who stands up and is the life of the party? Think of it in that way. Spontaneous, willing to take risks, etc. Jump outside their comfort zone (see Comfort Zone). They don’t really seem to have fear. That may be good or bad in many situations. The driver style, what is the driver? Quantitative, logical, focused, competitive, scientist-oriented, so things that really are much more detailed. There will be many, many people that will follow that direction or leadership style. You can see immediately if you think of the different people who have been around you. You can think of those different types of personalities....