Boris Johnson's blundering was political genius. But now that moment has passed | Stephen Reicher | Opinion | The Guardian - 0 views
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One of the most potent and enduring myths in our society is that leadership is reducible to the power of the leader. A few special individuals are blessed with special qualities that set them apart from the rest of us and entitle them to rule. As Thomas Carlyle asserted, “Universal history … is at bottom the history of the great men who have worked here.” If only we could isolate the qualities that make these leaders exceptional.
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Such ideas launched numerous studies that sought to find personality characteristics that predict leadership success – none of them particularly fruitful.
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such an approach misses a very obvious point: leaders only achieve anything through their followers, and “great man” theories write the followers out of history.
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