Leaders demonstrate certain qualities and attributes that cause others to want to follow them. In my recent travel vacation to the province of Newfoundland in Canada, I was exposed to a lot of history and visited some historic sites. One of those sites was where the Vikings or Norseman first came to North America in the 10th century. Learning about these first settlers got me thinking about how societies got organized and how the first leaders took their positions.

Lief Erikson was the explorer who first came to L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland with his crew to find resources for shipbuilding back in Iceland. His father was Erik the Red  and both he and his father were banished from Iceland for being accused of killing people. They ended up in what they later named Greenland.

Lief Erikson was the explorer who first came to L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland with his crew to find resources for shipbuilding back in Iceland. His father was Erik the Red  and both he and his father were banished from Iceland for being accused of killing people. They ended up in what they later named Greenland.

It seems evident that these first leaders or those before them took power because they were at times violent and had people fear them.  Certain types of people are prone to violence because they are physical instinctive types, while others who may have similar physical strength are much less prone to being aggressive.

Fritz Glaus in his book CrazyZoo, Know-Thyself Made Easy explains the different types of people and he uses animals as a starting point to help readers choose their type from one of the six classic types. The Lion is the physical/instinctive type, the St-Bernard the emotional type and the Fox the intellectual type.

It’s easy to think of how those born with the qualities of the Lion type could easily have become the first leaders or rulers. Perhaps as man evolved the Fox would take over as they could outwit the Lion types and even have them become their generals to fight the battles while they sat in their palaces and strategized.

In todays’ workplace we no longer need a Lion leader to shout orders and instill fear in people. We need balanced leaders who can develop all the positive qualities of their dominant type and utilize the qualities of the other types. Qualities such as emotional intelligence and compassion.    

Understanding one’s self through a system of types is crucial in personal and leadership development. Although at times leaders need to be aggressive and take charge, it is more rare than common, even for a police chief.     

The problem that still seems to interfere with good leadership is greed and this is another weakness that man must conquer in order to provide the leadership to solve the most pressing issues of our time.