In considering some of the basic The Origin and Psychology of Leadership, Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson (Professors in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University), made a study in Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Leadership.
The study present evidence that only humans and chimpanzees, among all the animals living on earth, share a similar tendency for a cluster of behaviors: leadership, violence, territoriality, and competition for uniting behind the one chief male of the land.
Many of you might think and argue that many animals beyond apes are territorial and exhibit violence, and have a social structure controlled by a dominant male (lions, wolves, etc.).......which is all true. This is where Wrangham and Peterson's evidence point that there is a difference of their competitive urge and drive to lead.
The study concludes that leadership has something to do with being competitive! The reason I like this is that in the coaching work I do with so many executives, I meet a lot of executives who are more mangers instead of leaders. And I believe this points very much out the missing aspects that many times these administrators (mangers) miss.
Regards – Mark von Rosing
