The famous management consultant Peter Drucker once described leadership as essentially the ability to make others want to follow the leader. That may sound obvious, but according to Hogan, the reality is much deeper. Hogan has been studying leadership for several decades and is now a global authority on the link between leadership, personality, and performance at work. Yet for non-experts, the topic can sometimes feel complex.
Many people instinctively associate leadership with titles and management positions. Managers who seem “made to lead” or who fit cultural norms of leadership are often seen as good leaders. But being charismatic, assertive, or high-ranking has very little to do with true leadership ability.
So, what is leadership?
“Leadership is not a title, but the ability to inspire the desire to follow the leader.”
According to Hogan, leadership is measured by team results: it is the ability to build and sustain a group that outperforms its competitors. In other words, an effective leader is someone who can organize people in a way that enables their team to outperform others.
This view is rooted in socioanalytic theory of personality, which combines psychoanalysis, role theory, and evolutionary theory. Throughout human history, major achievements have relied on coordinated efforts between team members and their leaders.
Socioanalytic theory identifies three core evolutionary needs, called “master motives”:
• Getting along (cooperating to be socially accepted)
• Getting ahead (competing for status and survival)
• Finding meaning (through philosophy, science, or religion)
Individual differences in how people pursue and satisfy these needs directly affect group success.
Historically, war made cooperation indispensable. Organized groups always defeated disorganized ones, so the primary role of leadership was to encourage people to temporarily set aside their individual desires for the greater good. Leadership is, first and foremost, a collective survival resource.
From an organizational standpoint, performance largely depends on leaders’ ability to build and maintain high-performing teams. Although external factors can play a role, leadership impact remains decisive: researchers estimate that between 14% and 45% of an organization’s financial results are linked to the quality of its executive leadership.
Finally, at an individual level, poor leadership comes at a high cost to our well-being. Most of us have experienced an incompetent, hostile, or absent manager. Sixty-five percent of employees say their direct supervisor is their main source of stress in life. Conversely, a good leader creates an environment that supports engagement and employee well-being.
Hogan often states: “Who we are determines how we lead.”
Personality therefore plays a critical role in understanding and assessing leadership.
It has two dimensions:
• Identity: our inner view of ourselves, shaped by the story we tell about who we are and the image we want to project.
• Reputation: the external view, built from others’ observations of our behavior.
It is reputation, not identity, that serves as the basis for social evaluation.
Problems appear when identity diverges too far from reputation, especially when we significantly overestimate or underestimate our abilities. Objective personality assessment data helps calibrate this perception by providing an individual with a realistic picture of how others see them.
In practice:
• Personality predicts leadership style.
• Leadership style shapes team culture and employee engagement.
• Team engagement and performance directly impact organizational performance.
Hogan identifies four major leadership domains that shape a leader’s style:
• Intrapersonal: managing pressure, challenges, and learning.
• Interpersonal: facilitating communication and relationships.
• Operational: driving results, accountability, and structure.
• Strategic: creating a vision and future strategy.
An effective leader knows how to draw on each of these domains in turn, depending on the context and the team’s needs.
Management refers to a role, with specific tasks depending on level and sector.
Leadership, by contrast, is defined by the ability to create and sustain a high-performing team.
Hogan distinguishes two types of leadership:
• Emergent leadership: gaining status, often through charisma and personal ambition.
• Effective leadership: improving collective performance, inspiring trust, fostering engagement, and setting a clear vision.
Only about 10% of leaders combine both dimensions. Research also suggests that 50% to 75% of managers are not effective leaders.
We all have personality strengths that are useful at work.
Effective leaders share certain characteristics that enable them to excel at building high-performing teams.
However, not everyone has the interest or inclination for leadership. Personal values and unconscious biases guide each person toward roles and environments where they find meaning. Decoupling career success from hierarchical status allows all talent—leaders, potential leaders, and individual contributors—to truly thrive.
Leadership potential depends on reputation—observable, measurable, and predictive of performance. Reliable personality assessments help identify:
• strengths,
• derailment risks,
• and the values that support success in a given role.
Hogan’s three flagship instruments that serve this aim are
:1. HPI (Hogan Personality Inventory): measures the “bright side” of personality (how we relate to others, our everyday effectiveness).
2. HDS (Hogan Development Survey): measures the “dark side” (strengths that can become weaknesses under stress).
3. MVPI (Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory): explores values and preferences that determine the kind of culture a leader will create.
These tools reveal both the strengths and watch-outs in a leader’s profile and, depending on the organizational context, make it possible to effectively support and anticipate the leader’s integration and development within the structure.
The most essential competencies are those that make people want to follow the leader.
According to Hogan, they cluster into four major qualities:
• Integrity: the foundation of trust and engagement.
• Judgment: the ability to learn from mistakes and make sound decisions.
• Credibility: perseverance, expertise, and business acumen.
• Support: the ability to encourage and help teams grow.
Leadership development is based on strategic self-awareness and the ability to adapt one’s behavior. It is not about changing personality, but about changing reputation through observable behavior.
An effective process unfolds in three stages:
1. Assessment: building awareness of one’s strengths and risk areas.
2. Learning: acquiring new skills and behavioral strategies.
3. Development: putting them into practice and creating lasting change.
A well-designed leadership development program delivers tangible benefits: succession planning, attraction and retention of talent, leader engagement, and impact on enterprise value.
The best strategies combine:
• structured training,
• personality assessments,
• mentoring and coaching,
• on-the-job development,
• and time for personal reflection throughout the process.
In conclusion, according to Hogan, leadership is not a status but a rare and valuable capability: the ability to build high-performing teams that can succeed sustainably in a complex, competitive environment.
At Authentic Talent, we support organizations with their Talent Management and Leadership challenges. If this article has inspired you or sparked questions, contact us to continue the conversation!
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