From Heroes to Habit-Breaker

Intro

Leaders don’t fail for lack of strengths—they derail by overusing them, and the real challenge is breaking the habit of relying on those strengths too heavily. We start by puncturing the myth of the single best leadership style and showing why versatility beats charisma in strong teams.

We adopt an evidence-based lens to separate fad from fact. For years, companies have leaned on leadership approaches such as servant leadership, transformational leadership, and agile leadership. What actually predicts leadership effectiveness is balancing opposing demands rather than doubling down on comfort zones. Leadership, it turns out, is not about finding “the one best way.” It’s about versatility (Kaplan & Kaiser, 2006).

Given this evidence, we need to zoom in on personality. Bright- and dark-side traits explain how strengths can become derailers when under pressure. Overusing a strength can easily become a bad habit, with detrimental effects on relationships and organisational success. Thinking about personality in this way gives leaders language and tools to lead themselves rather than be led by their defaults.

And finally, Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory offers leaders a practical bridge from theory to action. According to Deci and Ryan (1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000), human motivation is driven by three fundamental psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The science of motivation helps leaders understand how their derailers might affect others’ motivation under stress or pressure.

Versatility as the New Standard 

There are about 250 documented leadership styles. Most of them advocate a specific style, usually expressed by an adjective such as transformational, servant, or charismatic. However,  research by Kaiser and Kaplan (2003) offers a compelling message: the most effective leaders are those who balance opposing demands—forceful and enabling, operational and strategic—without over-relying on personal comfort zones. Yet only 5% of leaders qualify as truly versatile. 

The problem is not a lack of effort, but the overuse of strengths. A crucial insight from Kaplan & Kaiser (2006) is that leadership strengths can become weaknesses when overused. They argue that effectiveness does not come from maximising strengths indefinitely, but from maintaining balance and versatility.

This means leaders must be flexible, avoiding the trap of relying too heavily on familiar strengths that can backfire when overused.  

Here are some examples:  

Leadership, in other words, fails not just because of weaknesses, but because of “too much of a good thing.” 

The Personality Puzzle 

This is where Personality Assessment enters. We use the Hogan Assessment Suite for its evidence base. Hogan’s research draws on the Five-Factor Model of personality, linking stable personality traits to workplace behaviours and leadership effectiveness. The Hogan leadership assessment is validated through extensive empirical research demonstrating its ability to predict job performance, team dynamics, and derailment risk.  

Dr Robert Hogan and colleagues argue that personality has three sides: the bright side (our everyday strengths), the dark side (traits that emerge under stress or complacency), and the inner side (what drives us). The dark side includes derailers like boldness (overconfidence), caution (paralysis in decision-making), or mischievousness (manipulative charm). 

Crucially, Hogan’s research shows that derailers are not flaws in isolation—they are strengths taken to excess (Hogan & Hogan, 2001). A bold leader can inspire courage, but too much boldness blinds them to feedback. A diligent leader can drive quality, but too much diligence strangles innovation. 

The lesson mirrors the versatility principle: leaders must manage their personalities rather than be managed by them. Here is a case where an executive broke the habit of relying too much on his strengths. 

The Science of Motivation 

Being versatile is difficult. It requires a deep insight into one’s own preferences, needs, and strengths and a deep understanding of how leadership influence really works. If versatility explains what leaders must do, self-determination theory explains why people choose to do it. Human motivation is driven by three fundamental psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. 

For example, understanding motivation enables leaders to see when their own tendencies (e.g., being overly cautious, sceptical, or bold) may demotivate their team. By applying motivational principles, leaders can adapt their behaviour, manage derailers more effectively, and maintain an environment that supports engagement and performance. 

Consider autonomy. A leader who empowers team members to make meaningful choices creates ownership and commitment that no directive could achieve—something that can be undermined if derailers such as Bold (overconfidence) or Dutiful (overreliance on pleasing others) limit true empowerment.  

Or take relatedness. When people feel connected to their colleagues and aligned with a shared purpose, they are more likely to engage willingly and sustainably—yet derailers like Sceptical (distrustful) or Reserved (aloof) can erode these vital connections. These principles remind us that leadership is rarely about issuing orders from the top; it is about creating environments where people are intrinsically motivated to act consistently and with energy—something possible only when leaders manage their derailers and foster motivation rather than unintentionally stifling it. 

These principles remind us that leadership is rarely about orders from the top. It is about creating contexts where people choose to act, willingly and consistently. 

Leadership in Balance 

The convergence of evidence about versatile leadership, Hogan’s personality research, and Ryan and Deci’s science of motivation points to a striking conclusion: leadership is not a fixed style, nor is it just charisma in action. It is the discipline of adapting to context, leveraging influence ethically, and balancing one’s own strengths against their potential excesses. 

This balance is more urgent than ever. Bain’s research (2023) on 1,250 executive teams reports that only about one in five are truly high-performing. Too often, organisations end up with what you could call either “sweatshop leadership” (high output, low well-being) or “country club leadership” (high well-being, low results). The winners are those who combine both. 

A Call to Lead Smarter 

At its core, versatile leadership is not about being everything to everyone. It is about knowing when to push and when to listen, when to drive results and when to invest in resilience. It is about staying humble enough to recognise when your best traits risk becoming liabilities. 

The proof of leadership, as Warren Bennis (1999) put it, is not what leaders do but what their followers achieve. In that sense, the most effective leaders may not always shine the brightest. But they are the ones who create the conditions where others can shine. And that, in today’s uncertain world, might be the highest calling of leadership. 

Both motivation and personality can be powerful assets—but without self-awareness and balance, they can just as easily derail effective leadership.
 

References 

• Barends, E., & Rousseau, D. M. (2018). Evidence-Based Management: How to Use Evidence to Make Better Organizational Decisions. Kogan Page. 
• Bennis, W. (1999). Managing People is Like Herding Cats. Executive Excellence. 
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Springer Science & Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7 
• Hogan, R., & Hogan, J. (2001). “Assessing leadership: A view from the dark side.” International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9(1–2), 40–51. 
• Kaiser, R. B. (2013). “The versatile leader.” Consulting Psychology Journal, 65(2), 93–109. 
• Kaplan, R. E., & Kaiser, R. B. (2003). “Developing versatile leadership.” MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(4), 19–26. 
• Kaplan, R. E., & Kaiser, R. B. (2006). The versatile leader: Make the most of your strengths without overdoing it. Pfeiffer. 
• Le Stage, G., Nilsson DeHanas, S., Gerend, P. & Narula, I. (2023). At the Top, It’s All about Teamwork: Exceptional leadership teams exhibit five collective behaviours. Bain & Company. 
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.