Analyzing Effective Leaders - Case Study Example

Leadership requires that the leading figure be influential and able to work through others to achieve personal or common goals. This implies that leadership is a matter of convincing people to follow a policy, support an idea or be part of a proposed move or change. Leaders are therefore expected to be in contact with the people, identify with them, and also be able to emphasize and live like their followers (Cavazotte, Moreno, & Hickmann, 2012). Great leaders are therefore those who are not merely able to communicate with others but also able to make the subjects feel a crucial part of the topic or subject matter. Extraverts lack this quality and are therefore less effective in leadership. This paper is an analysis of an article o leadership and how extroverts are poor leaders.

First, the article brings out a point about conventional leadership and the perception that it creates among the masses. In this perspective, leaders are thought to be individuals who stand up, order and speak out to and on behalf of the people they lead. The article, therefore, seems to bring out an implication that people who are extremely outgoing and love to interact with people will make better and more effective leaders (University of Pennsylvania, 2010). This is because extroverts seem more connected with people. However, the article takes a different turn when deeper insight into the extroverts is provided.

First, extroverts are described as dominant leaders who command the center of attention. Having a boss who is an extrovert, therefore, means that you have to be ready to have a commanding boss. This means that every order is given with such a self-centered authority that may sometimes be intimidating or patronizing. Whereas an extravert may be a better leader in the respect of socializing and connecting with the subjects, it is rather risky to be extremely extravert because of the self-centeredness that comes with it (Andersen, 2006).

Secondly, from the study on which the article is based, an extrovert is more worried about the image and the perception that people will have towards them than about introducing ideas and leading the people towards these ideas. The introvert, on the other hand, will be more focused on leading the people and will rarely worry about being the center of attention or the supreme in charge of the situation. However, a second study represented in the article gives a more varied perspective. The T-shirt challenge did not bring out extraverts as less effective but as more proactive and conscious of the leadership situation, despite this varied view, it is agreeable that although an extravert can make a great leader, as a boss he or she may be less successful in bringing people to action (University of Pennsylvania, 2010).

The personality of a leader largely determines how the subjects perceive and view him or her. This follows directly from how the leader interacts with the people and how easily the subjects can interact and share with them. Extraverts are largely social beings, able to interact with the subjects and to lead effectively. However, due to their great concern for self-image, they tend to become self-centered, commanding, and authoritative (Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002). This leads to ineffective leadership qualities.