Existing Personal Leadership Prototypes Versus Organizational Leadership Prototypes: How Individuals Manage Tensions Between Leading With Authenticity and Conformity During Their Socialization as Leaders in Organizations

Abstract

Based on qualitative data collected at the United States Military Academy (West Point), this research enhances our understanding of how individuals manage tensions between leading with authenticity and organizational pressures for conformity, resulting from a lack of alignment between their existing personal leadership prototypes and organizational prototypes of leadership. Our theoretical model moves beyond existing research on leader identity construction− which largely treats individuals as blank slates as they construct who they will be as leaders in organizations− by highlighting how individuals learn to enact a leadership approach during socialization that fits within their personal zone of acceptable authenticity and the organization's zone of acceptable conformity. During socialization, individuals may experiment with discarding certain aspects of their existing leadership prototype and/or ignore certain aspects of the organization's leadership prototype, resulting in four primary types of leader–organization fit: Pretender, Believer, Maverick, or Rogue. Our model uncovers important outcomes associated with the varying levels of conformity and authenticity characteristic of these four types of leader–organization fit and highlights how one's fit might evolve over time as individuals engage with and learn from experiences as leaders.