Despite all studies and research for detecting the key factors in which the effectiveness of a good leader can be understood, many of these factors are still undetected and not understood. It is interesting to know that however ordinary people do not have much trouble in identifying qualified leaders, researchers face some difficulties in this area. People typically describe a good leader by some characteristics such as high intelligence, high courage, social insight, high expressiveness, frankness, commitment, and hard work. For instance in the US presidential election one important factor in a candidate’s success is to be considered as a true leader by the society.
The failure of many candidates, such as Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and … have all been assessed for the lack of being able to show an image of an effective leader. They performed poorly in displaying characteristics such as being decisive and reliable. This may seem a Machiavellian advice: “If you are not a good leader, at least pretend to be one.” You can pretend to be smart, honorable, decisive and hardworking. Can this guarantee your leadership success? This is not something to be answered here. But if you can pretend to maintain these qualities, your teammates, employees and managers will be more likely to feel like you are a capable leader.
To be able to impress others by indicating an image of a capable leader, it is enough to pretend to be a qualified leader however you may not be one.
Imaging management [1]: is a process in which a person consciously tries to shape, control or manage other people’s perceptions.
from the book “Human Resource Management” by Stephen Robbins
