Which one is Jobs? A psychologist’s analysis reveals “characters suitable for leaders and unsuitable characters”

A team led by psychologist Timothy A. Judge found that of these five traits, extroversion was the most correlated among those who are promoted to leadership positions in business, politics, and academia.

Conversely, the lowest correlation was for cooperativeness.

But don’t start rehearsals trying to imitate Steve Jobs. You might also want to look at a recent paper by researchers at UC Berkeley.

According to Cameron Anderson and other authors of the paper: It’s a misconception, he said, that “if I was more scumbag, I’d be as successful as Jobs.”

Although organizations tend to promote agreeable and uncooperative people alike, the authors found that “thugs in positions of power can seriously damage an organization.” It is said that

After all, being a leader is just the beginning. As Adam Grant and Susan Kane have shown in their studies of introverts, it’s how you lead that matters.

Feel free to interpret these findings for your own personality analysis, but don’t extrapolate them to others. Personality tests are highly specialized skills and are best done by trained professionals.

Here’s what Judge et al.’s study found about the role of the “Big Five” in leadership.

Extraversion is the strongest factor in a leader

In the absence of leaders in business, politics, and academia, extroverts are often the ones who step in. This trait is a predictor of whether a person will develop leadership awareness, rather than whether they will be able to demonstrate their ability as a leader.

When Judge and colleagues broke down the components of extroversion in more detail, they found that “dominance” and “sociability” were particularly relevant to leadership predictions.

The results make sense, the judges said, because “both outgoing and dominant individuals are more likely to be assertive in an organization.”

The second factor that predicts leaders is ‘diligence’

Second, people who are organized and hardworking are also more likely to be promoted to leadership positions.

“A diligent person who is good at organization (note-taking, process facilitation, etc.) can really stand out as a leader,” the judges say.

Diligence, like extroversion, has more to do with a person’s desire to be a leader than with their ability to lead.

Openness is as important as extroversion

Willingness to try new things is the third most powerful predictor of leadership. Especially in business, openness is as strongly associated with leadership as extroversion.

Nervous or not, it doesn’t matter

A nervous personality was not a strong predictor of leadership. Being obsessed with details like Steve Jobs doesn’t necessarily make you an executive.

Cooperation is the lowest correlation

Of all the traits studied, agreeableness and friendliness were the least correlated with organizational leadership (that doesn’t mean being mean).

“Collaborative people tend to be passive and submissive, so it makes sense that they are less likely to rise as leaders,” the judges wrote.

In addition, from the viewpoint of whether it is suitable for leadership, the correlation with cooperativeness is high. In short, being nice is good for the organization.

*This article first appeared on September 14, 2020.