Reflection 4: Adaptive ILTs for Members of Congress

This past week I, and the three other interns in my office, got the opportunity to have a Brown Bag with the Congressman. While I have had short conversations with him while I have been in the office these past two weeks, the Brown Bag was the longest conservation I had with it and covered the most information. As such, I gained more of an understanding of his leadership style.

In this post, I am going to attempt to compare the reality of the Congressman’s leadership style with the my “congressional leadership” ILT that I held prior to my internship. While my assumptions about my ILT will not be completely implicit, because I am sitting here reflecting back on my opinions of how a member of Congress would behave as a leader, I am still going to attempt to compare my previous ILT with my current understanding of my boss’s leadership.

An ILT, or implicit leadership theory, is the assumptions that a person makes about what an archetypical leader would be within different situations. For example, an ILT for a professor at University of Richmond may hinge on open communication and support for their students while and ILT for professors at large, research universities may hinge solely on intelligence.

For members of Congress, my previous ILT, and I assume other people’s ILTs, hinge on trait theory. For example, I assume an effective member of Congress would be extraverted, charismatic, and passionate. However, I would then think that part of that personality is cultivated because the person is in an elected person. In other words, they are not as extraverted, charismatic, or passionate as the general public would assume. Their personality is, at some ways, a facade to assist in electability and ability to push legislation in Congress.

My ILT has changed based on my conversations with my boss. While the cultivation of a personality for the public image may be true for some politicians, I do not think that it is necessary for effective leadership in Congress. During the Brown Bag, the Congressman answered my questions and the questions from the other interns bluntly. He was genuine in a way that often does not come across when people try to be, in my opinion, too charismatic. For example, when asked what his favorite restaurant is, instead of picking something from his district (which may be the “politician answer”), he was honest and cited Apple Bees as his favorited. Additionally, he gave honest advice and opinions about politics to better assist us as we try to figure out the next steps in our careers. From my other conservations I have had with the Congressman, this personality holds, helping to showcase the ability for trait theory to differ within different leadership positions. Further, assisting to show how ILTs can adapt as new knowledge about leadership and experiences come to light.