From the late 19th century into the early 20th century, leadership studies emerged, examining which traits made a leader rather than a follower. Then came along the American industrial revolution, demonstrating that leaders were not just ‘great men’, rulers, or heroes an average-joe manager could make the difference between a good company and a great company. 4 Yet still, the Great Man theory prevailed: people assumed there were innate characteristics that leaders were born with. Suddenly, people were interested in the characteristics of ‘great men’ and wrote biographies of heroes. Carlyle introduced the idea that progress occurs due to the efforts of great leaders. However, in 1840, thanks to a Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle, who wrote “ the history of the world is but the biography of great men,” 4 a new idea of leadership was born. Since the path to leadership was narrow and strict, there was little interest in discovering what made strong leaders. Leaders often only existed in the form of royalty. Prior to modern society, leaders were born, not made.
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