A Brief History of Leadership

A new idea from ancient times
• Today’s behaviours
(what we do) are
influenced by our
biological history
(what we were).
Leadership
development is
possible and
necessary to help us
overcome our more
primitive instincts.

Why study the history of
leadership?
• To explore leadership
concepts (‘map-
reading’)
Map
Map
• To test leadership Testing
Reading
concepts (‘map-
testing’)
• To develop richer
personal leadership Map
maps (‘map-making’) making

Health Warning:
Anthropomorphism
• Anthropomorphism: ‘seeing’ human behaviour
patterns in other animals; inanimate objects; and
symbolic entities (Peter Rabbit; ‘Hal’; The Four
Horsemen of the apocalypse …)

Our ancestors’ tale
• Our ancestors’ tale begins with the earliest
common ancestor (‘concestor’) of all living
creatures.
• If we search, we can find the messages from
over a billion years of evolution …

Concestual links* (1)
Animal concestor
1000 Million years
(?)
Little creepy
Mammals Reptiles
Crawlies
100 Million years 500 Million years
>500 Million years
Herd and pack Modern lizards
Lots of other
Primates Dynosaurs Modern ants, bees
animals Birds, fish
Mammals
* Concestor: A shared common
Homo Sapiens
ancestor (‘Best estimates’ of
dates)

Concestual links (2)
Primate
Concestor
Other Primates
Apes Humanoids
Chimpanzees
Bonobos Homo Sapiens Monkeys
Other apes
Mandrills and
Gorillas
baboons

Concestor links (3)
Humanoids
(3,600,000 -)
Homo Sapiens Other Humanoids
Neadertals
(150,000 -)
(130,000 -28,000)
Hunter Gatherers Agrarians Industrials
(100,000 -) (10,000 -) (200 -)

Leadership: An evolutionary view
• The further back we
go into history, the
broader the definition
of leadership needed
• The closer to our
personal leadership
experiences, the
greater the need for
stipulating context

It depends what you mean by
leadership ..
• Influence processes
• Mobilizing resources
to arouse, engage,
satisfy the motives of
followers
• Making sense [of
what people are
doing] …articulating
purpose and values
•

Insects, instincts and information
• Insects behave primarily
through ‘hard-wired’
instincts
• Scientists have
developed models
based on information
theory
• Insects with valuable
resource information
can ‘lead’ followers to
food, to safety, into
battle …

Do insects show creative
leadership?

Do birds show leadership?

What leadership behaviours can be
seen in other animal families?

Leadership among the primates

Leadership in our closest ancestors
• Early hominoids
• Hunter gatherers
• Agrarian tribalism
• Industrial society
• Our informational age

Atavistic
Prototypes
Animal Animal
Leaders (non Leaders
human) (human)
Heroic
Leaders
Territorial
Leaders
New
Leadership
School
Pack Trait
Leadershi Theories
p
Collective
Style and
Leadership
Contingenc
Thought y
leaders Theories

Do we inherit behaviours from
concestors? *
Insects: Guided foraging, ‘Home’ building
Birds, Fish: Flocking, Shoaling, Attraction displays,
territorialism
Wolves, dogs: Hunting, collaboration, learning through
play(?)
Horses, elephants: Matriarchal ‘schooling’ for herd conformity
(Mature males isolated)
Mandrills: Matriarchal large group: (Mature males isolated)
Chimpanzees: Complex transactions (grooming, nurturing)
provide social stability and status (‘Social capitalists’)
(* Selected examples)

Toward a new idea of evolutionary
leadership
• Leadership today has preserved residual ancient
forms sustained mimetically (through leadership
myths)
• Social and personal development permits
transcendence of more primitive instincts (through
consciousness and learning)
• We become and create ‘the leaders we deserve’

So what?
• ‘What’s the use of a
baby?’ (Faraday)
• Helps explain bullying
leaders (Mandrills);
Charismatic influence
(Peacocks);
Anthropomorphism
(Termites);
Dysfunctional
behaviours (Horses);
Manipulative behaviours
(Chimpanzees)