According to Freud, the first five years of our life plays a crucial role in the later stages of our lives. Essentially, all later developments are a product of experiences from our childhood. Psychologists and sociologists cannot deny that childhood upbringing leaves a stamp on every phase of further development, although genes do matter as well! So, the same applies to the leadership style you lean on. Many factors from childhood, like parenting style, learning, methods for instilling discipline and more will have an effect on the type of leader you become in your adult life.
Before we move on to understand how childhood makes the leader you are today, let’s take a look at the major types of leadership styles:
- Autocratic Leader: An autocratic leader believes that they know more than the followers. They delegate responsibilities and run operations on their terms. There exists a one-way route of communication only.
- Democratic Leader: A democratic leader, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of an autocratic leader. They consider themselves to be part of the team and every decision is taken, taking into consideration the voices of everyone in the team. The communication is mutual here.
- Laissez-Faire Leader: A Laissez-Faire Leader entrusts responsibilities to the group members entirely and provides maximum freedom. It is a permissive style of leadership.
While these are the most important styles of leadership, the others include paternalistic leader, authoritative leader, transformational leader, charismatic leader, bureaucratic leader and more.
Now that we are acquainted with the different styles of leadership, let’s take a look at how childhood plays a part in the development of a particular style of leadership in adults:
Parenting Style
When reciprocating with a leader, there is a psychological residue that takes us back to our childhood. In essence, people often respond or look up to a leader like they did with their parents. On the other hand, the kind of parenting style that a person was exposed to in childhood plays an important role in the style of leadership which shows as an adult.
More times than not it has been seen that leaders often try to mimic the parenting style they were exposed to in childhood. This comes from observational learning that has been widely reported by Bandura through his theory of social learning. Since parents are viewed as the primary authoritative figure in childhood it has an imminent effect on the leadership style one chooses as an adult.
Upbringing
How a person has been brought up, the family environment and the general outlook of the family members have a long-lasting effect on their psyche. This also affects the style of leadership they choose in the future. For example, a person who was disciplined using force and even physical punishment might lean into an autocratic style of leadership. Trying to mimic their parents, they might feel the need to be assertive, to a point of disregarding others opinion.
However, if the upbringing of a child was particularly permissive and kept the channels of communications open, this might be adopted by the child when becoming a leader as well. In a way, the experiences gathered as a child and the level and method of discipline dissipated affect the leader you become today.
Past Experience
While adults often try to mimic their parents’ style of parenting and incorporate it into their style of leadership, it is not always a direct relationship. For children who have resented the amount of discipline they were put through might want to break the chain instead. They might want to adopt a more relaxed style of leadership to not follow in their parent’s footsteps. Memories that are often associated with negativity are often reversed in our unconscious. In this way, a person might want to compensate for bad memories of childhood.
Nature of Childhood Relationships
Some people generally excel in understanding the various aspects of social relationships. Not only do they have the required skills to prosper in their social life but they have an extroverted personality. For people who have always been able to build relationships even during tender years with family and peers, leadership might come a little more naturally to them.
On the other hand, people who have had traumatic personal relationships during childhood years might suffer when wanting to build relationships as an adult as well. Certain inhibiting forces are repressed in our unconscious but affect our conscious mind. Such people might find it extremely difficult to take on leadership roles or be effective communicators.
Leadership is defined as one of the most elegant and highly glorified positions in our society. However, leadership might not come naturally to everyone and this might just be the product of our childhood. Even the leaders we become today are modulated and influenced by deep-seated issues and experiences from our childhood.
So what do you think is the impact of your childhood on your leadership style?
What traits are working in your favour?
What traits would you like to rewire to be a better leader?
