Born to Lead? The Pattern Behind Leadership Emergence

Are Leaders Born or Made? The Hidden Pattern Behind Who Rises to the Top
In this episode of The Leadership Laboratory, we dive into one of the most underappreciated — and uncomfortable — truths in leadership psychology: not everyone is equally likely to emerge as a leader. And it might have nothing to do with your resume.

Based on the groundbreaking study by Jeffrey Smith and Roseanne Foti (1998), we explore a simple but powerful finding: leadership emergence isn’t random — it follows a consistent personality pattern.

According to the research, people high in:

Dominance (the drive to assert and influence),

Self-Efficacy (the belief they can succeed), and

Intelligence (cognitive capability)

...are significantly more likely to be seen as leaders — even in leaderless, team-based environments.

But here’s the catch: if you're missing even one of those traits, your chances of rising drop dramatically. And if you're low in all three? You’re almost invisible.

In this episode, we break down:

The structure of the experiment

What “leader emergence” actually means

Why this matters for leadership development, equity, and talent strategy

And the elephant in the room: what this means for women and underrepresented leaders

Key Topics:

The "HHH" leadership pattern

The psychology of leader perception

Trait-based vs teachable leadership

Implications for hiring, training, and DEI

Study Reference:

Smith, J. A., & Foti, R. J. (1998). A pattern approach to the study of leader emergence. The Leadership Quarterly, 9(2), 147–160.

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#leadership #emergentleadership #Personality #HighPerformance #pscyhologyofleadership #leadershipdevelopment