What is the Impact of an Individual Leader on the Personal Development of Others?

Ruben E. De Pena
Fort Hays State University

LDRS 600 Seminar in Organizational Leadership

Karl Klein
May 1, 2015

What is the Impact of an Individual Leader ?-De Pea, R. 1

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him he will
stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

What is the Impact of an Individual Leader on the Personal Development of Others?

This paper will attempt to answer the assigned research question based on both anecdotal
and the abundant body of empirical research available. Before developing the topic, it seems
reasonable not only to leader or leadership, but specific related characteristics in order to
associate their impact on the personal development of others. Moreover, while the idea of
personal development should not typically possess a conceptualization challenge for the
reader, it is important to clarify what it means, as the concept seems to be rather broad. Even the
concept of others would beg clarification in order for this paper to stay within the previously
defined parameters of scope and depth. The reason for this is that others could me employees,
church members, etc. For this paper, others would equate to followers, who I can argue will
react differently from a personal development perspective, depending on the leadership style
exercised upon them. Let us first start with the concept of leadership.
Northouse (2013) defines leadership as a process whereby and individual influences a
group of individuals to achieve a common goal.[meaning] that it is not a trait or characteristic
that resides in the leader, but rather a transactional event that occurs between the leader and the
followers (p. 5). This is a vital definition to link with the effects on the personal development of
others. Moreover, renowned authors Bolman & Deal contend (2008) that perhaps for most
Americans the notion of leadership is something extremely positive, like a panacea to solve any
societal problem. They also make a clear distinction between managers and leaders to the extent
that the latter ...think in the long term, look outside as well as inside, [] influence constituents

What is the Impact of an Individual Leader ?-De Pea, R. 2

[] [and] emphasize vision and renewal and have the political skills to cope with the demands
of multiple constituencies (ibid, pp. 342, 344).
I also contend that an individual leader can impact a followers personal development
depending on how such leader exercises power upon his/her follower. This is particularly true
because as Thompson (2011) argues,
[] Leadership always involves power [] Anyone in a leadership position
needs to know about the use of power and how it affects others as well as
themselves [] Power is the capacity to influence; influence is the actual use of
power by specific behaviors [] [There are] five key sources of power that
people use in organizations and teams: expert, legitimate, reward, coercive, and
referent power (pp. 278-279).
Now, regarding coercive power, it is important to mention that Northouse (2013) makes a
clear separation of this concept from leadership,
[] because it allows us to separate out from our examples of leadership the
behavours of individuals such as Hitler, the Taliban, and [Jim] Jones. In our discussions
of leadership, coercive people are not used as models of ideal leadership. Our definition
suggests that leadership is reserved for those who influence a group of individuals toward
a common goal. Leaders who use coercion are interested in their own goals and seldom
interested in the wants and needs of subordinates (p. 11).
In addition, I find the following definition by Mosley et al (2011) very intuitive because it
expands other concepts that I believe would be closely related to the issue at hand on this paper.
Among other things, they state that

What is the Impact of an Individual Leader ?-De Pea, R. 3

Leadership is defined as s process of influencing individual and group activities
toward goal setting and goal achievement. [] Three factors, or variables, have a
major impact on the choice of leadership style: (1) Theory X or Theory Y
management philosophy, (2) the followers readiness level, and (3) the situation
faced by the supervisor (p. 237)
As for personal development, I found two particular definitions of interest. The first
one has a psychological connotation as in
[It] involves mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual growth that allows a
person to live a productive and satisfying life within the customs and regulations
of their society. This is achieved through the development of life skills. These life
skills, skills necessary for successfully living a productive and satisfying life,
generally fall into one of several categories: feeling about self, intimacy, family,
friends, community, job, leisure, and spirituality. They include being able to
recognize and describe one's feelings, giving and receiving feedback, recognizing
assumptions, setting realistic and attainable goals, and employing problemsolving strategies (Personal Growth And Development. (n.d.) (n.p.).
The other definition, refers to personal development from a business perspective, as in
The process of improving oneself through such activities as enhancing
employment skills, increasing consciousness and building wealth. The growing
success of the self-help and personal development movement has assisted many
business managers in obtaining more qualified and motivated personnel for their
companies, and it has also encouraged more people to go into business for
themselves (What is personal development? definition and meaning. (n.d.) (n.p.)

What is the Impact of an Individual Leader ?-De Pea, R. 4

For this paper, I have chosen the latter definition for offering a narrower, more related
explanation to the nature of this paper. Moreover, given the research at hand and anecdotal
evidence, I would like to argue that the impact of an individual leader on the personal
development of others could be very positive or very negative, depending on organizational
nature and structure, the leadership style and follower readiness. Mosley et al (2011) provide a
very concise and compelling definition on the latter:
The Followers Readiness [] is the state of a persons drive and need for
achievement. It results from his or her experience, education, attitudes, and
willingness and ability to accept responsibility. These readiness variables should
be considered only in relation to a specific task to be performed. The readiness
concept is expressed by the following formula: Readiness=Ability+Willingness. If
followers are less ready, the leader should use a different style that if followers
are more ready. Unfortunately, some supervisors fail to take into consideration the
readiness level of their employees (p. 229).
Therefore, in the following pages I will argue that the impact of an individual leader on
the personal development of others is going to depend upon a number of factors. I will
demonstrate that there could be both very positive and negative impact on personal development
of others depending primarily on both the leaders style in exercising his/her influence and the
level of receptiveness and readiness on the part of the follower. I will use both research-based
and anecdotal evidence to substantiate my claim.
Positive Leadership Impact on the Personal Development of Others
As stated previously, an individual leader can influence very positively on the personal
development of others depending on his/her leadership style and the followers readiness; but as

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importantly, on the organizations nature and environment that surround the leader. Moreover,
the leaders servanthood attitude is crucial. On this latter virtue, Alison Levine (2014) could not
make it clearer:
[] [In order to create] effective ways to build loyalty and trust, which are
touchstones of strong leadership []You also need to show your team that you
are willing to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, and work side by side
with them in order to achieve the common goal. You need to demonstrate that you
are willing to take the same risks, endure the same pain, and make the same
sacrifices as everyone else. In others words, your mother liedyou arent special.
You may be accomplished, brilliant, and competent, but you arent special. And
you shouldnt act as if you are, because if you want to earn loyalty and trust, your
team needs to know that you can relate to them. If they have the impression that
you are living in a completely different world than they are and have no idea what
it is like to be in their shoes, then your chances of attaining that feeling of unity
with your team are slim [] Its important for leaders to come off as human. But
for that to happen, they need to tear down the walls that often exist between them
and their employees. Everyone needs to stand together. [The CBS show]
Undercover Boss gave viewers a glimpse of the emotional bonds that form when
leaders and their teams do just that (pp. 156-157, 159).
Moreover, within the Health Care industry, I found sufficient evidence for individual
leadership impact on the personal development of others, more specifically of nurses. According
to Cooper (2013), The essence of good leadership is building people. Great leaders are also the
springboard for others successes (p. 28). What are the basis for that claim?

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[] Great nursing leadership builds the work team and creates a can do culture
which encourages staff to grow and achieve more than they ever thought they
could.[...] Nurse leaders have to be enthusiastic about developing their leadership
ability. They should want to improve themselves and others performances. They
need to understand why people typically do what they do rather than just knowing
what they do. [] A technique of personal development while also creating
leadership skills is through Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). The underlying
principle of NPL is through modeling others, we ourselves can also learn to be the
person we aspire to be. Based on NPL my three tips for learning to lead through
personal development are: 1. Choose your state. [] If you are experiencing
negative emotions, dont infect your team. [] 2. Rapport. [] We use rapport in
our communication to encourage the person we are communicating with to feel
safe and relaxed and to feel a sense of familiarity and comfort in their interaction
with us. In doing this they will then be more receptive to our communication.
Take a genuine interest in getting to know what is important to people you
interact with and whom you need to build rapport with. Work to understand that
person rather than expecting that person to understand you. Find common ground
as people respond well to people that are like them. 3. Behavioural flexibility.
[This is] the ability to vary your own behaviour in order to elicit, or secure a
response from another person. [] You want to be curious about how someone
decides to behave in a particular way and then you behave in a way that will get
you close to the outcome you want (p.28).

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Military leaders in the U.S. and other countries are notorious for instilling discipline and
other virtues in their soldiers. Take for example, West Point U.S. Military Academy, which has
been preparing military and civic leaders since 1802. It is a well-known fact that many U.S.
presidents, foreign heads of states, decorated military leaders, and even astronauts have attended
West Point due to its unmatched leadership program. Leaders at this academy are so good in
affecting others lives that thousands of people from corporate, nonprofit, and governmental
institutions regularly attend to learn on best leadership practices, according to Levine (2014). In
fact, this author attributes West Points success to its credo, which
[] consists of three words that influence cadets lives long after they have left
the United States Military Academy. These words are: Duty. Honor. Country. On
May 12, 1962, Gen. Douglas MacArthur gave a speech to West Point cadets and
gave meaning to those words: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate
what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying
point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there
seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. The
current mission statement of West Point reads as follows: To educate, train, and
inspire the Corp of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of
character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a
career of professional excellence and service to nation as an officer in the United
States Army. Note that the mission statement also mentions a career of selfless
service to the nation. The commitment to Duty, Honor and Country doesnt end
when graduates leave West Point, nor does it end when or if they leave the
military. These words are meant to stay with them for life; no matter where they

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are or what they are doing. A personal credo can help you stay true to yourself
and to your beliefs even in extreme circumstances, when risks to your physical
and mental well-being might threaten your values (pp. 184-185).
One of the most influential leaders, if not the most, in the twentieth century and even
today is, undoubtedly, General Dwight Eisenhower. Most definitely, he symbolized the essence
of exceptional influential leadership on others as supreme commander of the Allied forces during
War World II. Who was this extraordinary man?
[] Eisenhower never led a single soldier into battle. Before World War II, he
had never even heard a shot fired in anger. His only combat wound was the bad
knee, weakened by a West Point football injury, that he twisted helping push a
jeep out of the Normandy mud. Yet it was Ike Eisenhower who, as supreme
Allied commander in Europe, was responsible for leading the greatest military
enterprise in history. Millions of American, British and Commonwealth, Free
French, and other soldiers, sailors, and airmen looked to him and answered to him
in a struggle for nothing less that the salvation of the world. [] Although he was
an accomplished strategist [] the strategies by which the Allied fought World
War II were primarily the work of others. It was others, too, who had the job of
executing the strategies, others who actually led the troops into battle.
Nevertheless, most of the commanders and politicians who made the history of
the war as well as the journalists and scholars who subsequently wrote it agreed:
Eisenhower was at the heart of victory. [] After directing the assault on Sicily
and early operations on the Italian mainland, Eisenhower returned to London to
plan the invasion of France. The greatest amphibious attack in history, D-Day,

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June 6, 1944, involved the landing of 156,000 troops (850,000 more would follow
over the next days and weeks) and the coordinated action of more than 5,000
ships and 13,000 aircraft. Eisenhower instigated and oversaw the creating of the
plans and approved their every detail. One of his most daunting tasks was
persuading Churchill, haunted by the near annihilation of the British army at
Dunkirk early in the war, to sign on to the invasion. (Eisenhower succeeded,
Churchill finally declaring FDR, I am in this thing with you to the end, and if it
fails we will go down together.) (Axelrod, 2006, pp.1, 129).
Another area of individual leaders impact on personal development on others is through
coaching, most specifically, supervisory coaching. Mosley et al (2011) highlight the importance
of this influencing leadership feature when they state that
[] The essence of supervisory coaching [] is helping individuals become
more effective performers. [] Managers jobs [] focus on helping team
members learn, grow, and be the best they can be. [] Think of coaching as the
interpersonal process that supervisors and managers use to help individuals
continually reach their highest levels of performance [] The focus of coaching
conversations is employee performance. The underlying assumption is that
through effective coaching, a supervisor can help an employee become an
increasingly effective performer [] If a topic has a present has a present or
future impact on an employees performance, then it should be considered
suitable for a coaching situation (pp. 329-330).
Coaching, as an essential tool that leaders utilize to instill personal development in
others has been supported by many other researches. According to Cashman (2008),

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Coaching ourselves and others is the key to taking action in leadership and
catalyzing our fullest potential. All traditions through the ages have had
exceptional coachesadvisors, sages, elders, wisdom-keepers, teachers, mentors,
shamans, gurus, mastersto help people look at their lives and behaviors from
new, deeper vantage points. [] For [] coaching of others to have a lasting,
transformative impact, three interrelated pathways need to merge: Awareness,
Commitment, and Practice. If all three are present and operating, breakthroughs
will occur and growth will be sustained (p. 168).
Honesty is another virtue typical of successful leaders. They use it habitually to affect the
personal development of others. One of those successful leaders is Dean Smith, the University of
North Carolina basketball coach legend. For decades leading the team, he was extremely
successful not only through the victories he won, but in shaping the lives of so many young
players. In making a parallel between influencing leadership in the basketball court and
influencing leadership in the business world, he emphasized the following:
Great leaders know if they break their word of honor, they lose everything. They
lead with integrity and take pride in doing the right thing. They treat every person
with respect and dignity. They place a premium on fairness and kindness. When
leaders behave this way in the recruiting process, they generate a high level of
trust from their subordinates. People know that leaders with integrity will do the
honorable thing. They dont manipulate people or sabotage them. Relationships
built on dishonesty become complex and ambiguous. When employees know they
can trust their leaders, they dont have to spend time being on guard to protect
their own interests. They know they will be treated fairly, and they can spend their

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time being productive and creative. Those who work for leaders with this kind of
integrity develop a high degree of respect for them. They admire them so much,
and trust them, that they sometimes to as far to name their children after them
(Smith, 2004, p. 102).
Negative Leadership Impact on the Personal Development of Others
Up to this point, the focus of this paper has been on good leaders impacting the personal
development of others, with positive ramifications. I would like to dedicate the latter part of this
essay to touch briefly on the negative impact that a bad leader can do on his/her followers. Now,
to what extent can bad leaders negatively impact the personal development of others?
[] In the real world, in everyday life, we come into constant contact not only
with good leaders and good followers, but also with bad leaders and bad followers
doing bad things. [] Historically, political theorists have been far more
interested in the question of how to control the proclivities of bad leaders than in
the question of how to promote the virtue of good ones. [] Machiavelli provides
perhaps the best example. He did not wrestle with the idea of badas in coerciveleadership. He simply presumed it. He took it for granted that people do harm as
well as good, and so his advice to princes, to leaders, was to be ruthless. []
today leaders who use coercion are generally judged to be bad. But to
Machiavelli, the only kind of bad leader is the weak leader. [...] to him,
[Machiavelli] the judicious use of cruelty was an important arrow in the leaders
quiver (Kellerman, 2004, pp. 4-5).

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Growing up in the Dominican Republic, located in the island of Hispaniola, a former
Spanish colony, I can attest of what bad political leadership is. Its horrendous effects on the
personal development of individuals is evident everywhere you go. However, this phenomenon
is not only exclusive to my country of birth. I have had the opportunity of travelling to other
countries in Latin America and the situation is very similar. In fact, while only anecdotally
speaking, I believe that not most of the Spanish conquistador, if not all, imposed Machiavellian
principles as they swept through the New World, ransacking aborigines villages, enslaving
young men and women, killing their caciques and even raping their wives and daughters. I have
a theory worth researching in the future, that most of the corruption, dictatorial or quasidictatorial regimes, huge economic disparities, among other woes that have permeated event
until today in Latin America, traces back to the first colonists.
The question we could ask, then, why is it that people follow bad leaders? If it because
of coercion? Maybe. However, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that people follow bad
leaders because Even bad leaders often satisfy our most basic human needs, in particular
safety, simplicity, and certainty (Kellerman, 22). Moreover, Followers follow bad leaders
not only because of their individual need for safety, simplicity, and certainty but also because of
the needs of the group [] In particular, [even bad] leaders main order, provide cohesion and
identity, and do the collective work ( ibid, pp-23-24). I could not agree more with this. Going
back to my prior reference to my country of birth, there was a general by the name of Rafael
Trujillo who ruled the nation from 1930 to 1961 with an iron fist. Thousands of people, including
students protesting his regime were brutally murdered. Others survived either through forced or
voluntary exile. Anecdotally speaking, Trujillo has been attributed to carry out an ethnic
cleansing in 1937, where almost 40,000 people from Haiti, the Dominican Republics

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neighboring country, were viciously killed. Nonetheless, when Trujillo was assassinated after
thirty years of dictatorship, thousands of people turned to the streets weeping in despair for the
loss of their beloved Jefe (as Trujillo was also known), demanding justice or vowing
vengeance for his death.
Therefore, I contend that a lot of what is happening today in the Dominican Republic and
other parts of Latin America is a direct effect of bad leadership transmitted from the
conquistadors and permeated all the way down to the rest of the society. The most prevalent
effect on the negative personal development of others is the rampant corruption that covers all
three branches of power. Admittedly, political corruption is not only a Dominican or Latin
American issue. Corruption is, undoubtedly, a cancer has metastasized into the most advanced
societies as well.
Like a virus that easily insinuates itself, corrupt leaders, and those who follow
them, are everywhere. No place is immune: not churches or charities, not banking
or biotech, not small towns or large cities, not North America or South America
or, for that matter, any other place on the planet. [] The temptations are great,
and for leaders in particular the paths to lying, cheating, and stealing are easy to
follow. Elected officials lie every time they promise what they know they can
never deliver; corporate executives lie every time they pump up the good news to
pump up the companys stock price. Cheating and stealing usually involve
moneymoney to stick under a mattress, money to buy things with, and money
to feel good. The lure of money leads leaders astray and it can explain followers
who become corrupt as wellsome of the time followers profit from the
wrongdoing. We are told not to lie, not to cheat, and not to steal. But leaders and

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follower do lie, and they do cheat, and they do steal (Kellerman, 2004, pp. 147148).
Conclusion
The evidence presented supports the notion that, for the most part, the impact of an
individual leader on the personal development of others is very positive. I can conclude that
overall, organizational leaders affect positively other peoples lives. Obviously, the evidence also
suggest to a lesser extent, that bad leadership has pernicious effects on individuals, communities,
cities, states, and countries. More research needs to be done as to why bad leaders continues to
be promoted, or continue to be reelected, or continue to be relevant at a lesser or larger scale. As
more organizations continue to restructure into a bottom up empowerment model, perhaps bad
leadership will decrease in the same proportion in the near future.

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What is the Impact of an Individual Leader ?-De Pea, R. 16

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