The ‘Big 5’ personality traits could predict who will and won’t become a leader

There’s no magic formula that predicts whether you’ll become president of the United States.

But research suggests there are certain personality traits that make it a lot more likely that you’ll ascend to a leadership position in your company, your government, or your school. One such piece of research is a 2002 review of studies by the psychologist Timothy A. Judge and colleagues.

Judge looked at the prevalence of what are commonly known as “Big Five” personality traits — openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism — among different types of leaders. Among his findings: Extroversion is the strongest predictor of leadership and agreeableness is the weakest.

We should note here that we don’t recommend applying any of this research to individuals on your own. It’s near-impossible to assess someone’s personality unless you know them well, and unless you also happen to be a mental health professional.

We’re simply giving an overview of the personal qualities that typically show up in leaders.

Here’s what Judge’s research found:

Extroversion was the strongest predictor of leadership emergence — who becomes a leader — and leadership effectiveness — who’s successful in a leadership position. But it was a better predictor of emergence than effectiveness.