Week 6: Implicit Theories

Implicit theory of leadership is often defined as people having preconceived notions of a what a leader should be, act, think, look, etc. These assumptions, in general, reflect whether that leader will be an effective or ineffective leader. The types of qualities that characterizes leaders often come from cognitive processes, which affect our perceptions of the leaders. These qualities could include personality, traits, gender, intelligence, experience, and many others.

I see this at work all of the time – mainly with gender, unfortunately. Ali is the sole owner and founder of The Broad. She had this idea and created the space herself (with the help of female designers, female accountants, and female lawyers of course). But when she is giving a tour, or describing the space at an event, many people – women and men – gasp at the fact that she is the one person leading this whole thing (with the help of a few interns). Learning that Ali is quite a leader, and seeing what she created firsthand, challenges everyone’s preconceived notions of a successful leader. Although surprising many, I think that she is also an idol within the Richmond community, especially to women. Ali defies these implicit theories of leadership through her own entrepreneurship, as well as by helping other women’s voices/businesses be heard in the Richmond community through events and promotions. She is challenging these implicit ideas of gender and leadership and what a successful leader should be. The mission of The Broad is to create a space for women, by women.

Ali, and many other women, are not the leader prototype. This prototype has been created over time through history, but it thankfully has been recently changing.