In the very first paragraph in the body of this reading, the authors introduced the evolutionary approach to leadership. One particularly interesting idea was the “mismatch hypothesis” where we judge and select candidates somewhat on their physical attributes when the more important aspects of that person are their intellectual abilities and past experiences that would help that individual become a more successful business or political leader. This reminded me of an activity that we did in either this class or Bezio’s 101 class where we pictured a leader and then listed out our thoughts on leadership examples on the board. My mind personally went to presidents who are pretty much all tall, decently fit males; I had to do a self-check to instead suggest non-traditional leaders even though those are the people that inspire me more than the white male presidents of the past. In this instance, I think it is hard to tell whether this is an example of my own evolutionary bias (which I’m sure I hold to some degree) or whether it is more the product of past voters/generations choosing these evolutionarily-qualified men as what leaders are.

In the “functions of leaders in SSSs,” I felt that the duties of the US President were somewhat shaped by these ideas, whether conscious or not. (Sorry to keep talking about the US Presidency but it’s kinda on my mind right now.) He is responsible for managing relations with other nations, as with other groups, as well as the “power to quell conflict” aka being Commander in Chief for all military branches. The reading also says that the leader is not always granted large amounts of power/control but usually is well-respected so their opinion holds more weight. While the US President no doubt has lots of power/control, his position is designed to not be the only voice in the room, through having a designated cabinet who acts as advisors and specialists in a variety of areas, and through having two other branches of government that check his power and actions.

The connection between the US Presidency and the leaders of SSSs did not end there. The description of leaders closely aligns with who our past presidents were. They were all on the older side, as is with SSSs leaders, except for times of institutional change (think JFK). As mentioned before with the evolutionary portion, we gravitate towards taller and stronger people who are pretty much always men as indicated in the “Gender” section of this reading. I think the “hubs of social networks” part translates to a presidential candidate being popular, being the type of person that you want to be friends with. For the most part, presidential candidates from both parties are already involved in politics in some way, making them already known and giving them a group of people who inherently support them. I think this makes Donald Trump’s election more interesting because it breaks this idea of society.