According to Bennis, ‘the most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born – that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.’ The world’s top companies share a common understanding that strong, effective leadership is essential in their success as an organization (“Leaders Are Made,” 2008). The performance of a company often rides on the many decisions the higher management or company leaders make. Company leaders, for example the chief executive officer, make crucial decisions that determines the direction the company is heading towards, whether resulting in its success or towards its demise. Hence strong leadership is often seen as a key, highly sought after asset in many corporations. Likewise, in ancient times, people have been in awe and in fear of certain great leaders. One good example would be Alexander the Great. He was the most celebrated member in his dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Armed with a brilliant mind, he was undefeated in battle with his usage of superior tactics. Indeed, he was one of the most feared and respected leaders in history.
The basic principles of leadership have been until recent times, discussed by many, but received no formal agreement on definition (Radman, 2007). Much focus has been placed on the leader’s personal characteristics of traits in the past to comprehend leadership success. Samson and Daft (2009, p. 557) define traits as “the distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader, such as intelligence, values and appearance”. The early findings emphasized on leaders who had achieved a level of success and hence, the findings were coined the Great Man Theory (Cawthon, 1996). Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr,