Leadership is often framed as an individual pursuit—leaders must refine their self-awareness, strengthen their personal qualities, and develop traits that inspire others. This view dominates leadership development programmes, executive coaching, and corporate training.
But is leadership really about personal traits? Or is it something far more collective?
A recent Gallup study spanning 52 countries found that followers most need hope, trust, compassion, and stability from their leaders. These findings are important, but Gallup then makes a familiar leap: treating these qualities as individual leadership traits.
This is a fundamental mistake. Research from the Social Identity Approach to Leadership and studies on identity leadership in crises suggest that hope, trust, and stability don’t emerge from a leader’s personality but from their ability to build a shared sense of “us.”
When people feel that a leader is “one of us,” leading “for us,” and embedding “who we are” into lasting structures, they naturally experience trust, security, and a shared sense of purpose.
The social identity approach: leadership as a group process
The Social Identity Approach to Leadership (Haslam, Reicher, & Platow, 2020) shifts the focus from the leader as an individual to the leader as a group member.
Rather than seeing leadership as a set of traits that reside in an individual, this approach argues that leadership emerges from shared identity—leaders are most effective when they are perceived as part of the group they seek to lead.
Why does this matter?
- Trust and hope don’t come from a leader’s personality; they emerge when leaders create a strong sense of “us.”
- Stability isn’t just about personal consistency; it’s about embedding collective values into lasting structures.
- Compassion is not an individual trait—it’s an outcome of leaders who champion the interests of their group.
Instead of asking, “How can I develop my personal leadership traits?” leaders should be asking: “How can I strengthen and serve the group?”
Four key principles of identity leadership
If leadership is about building shared identity, how can leaders develop this skill? Research from the Global Identity Leadership project, which includes data from 5,000 participants across 20 countries, provides a framework. Effective leaders focus on four key principles:
1. Create a sense of us
Leadership begins with fostering a shared identity. People follow leaders when they feel part of something bigger than themselves.
Ask yourself: How do you define what your group stands for? What values unite your team, and how do you make those values visible and real?
Example: Nelson Mandela united a deeply divided South Africa by creating a vision of a shared national identity. His leadership was not about him—it was about South Africa as a whole.
2. Advance us – be a champion for us
Trust and compassion don’t come from personality; they come from leaders being seen as genuinely committed to the group’s interests.
Ask yourself: Are you advancing the team’s goals, or your own? Do your actions show that you are fighting for the collective good, not just personal success?
Example: Jacinda Ardern earned global praise not just for her compassionate leadership during crises, but because she consistently framed her decisions as serving the people of New Zealand.
3. Represent us – be one of us
Leaders are most influential when they embody the group’s identity. Leadership fails when people feel their leader is “above” them rather than “one of them.”
Ask yourself: Do people look at you and see someone who understands them? Do you share their concerns, speak their language, and live by the same values?
Example: Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) successfully transformed Microsoft’s culture by embracing the company’s identity rather than imposing his own personal style.
4. Embed us – make us permanent
True leadership is not about short-term influence—it’s about creating lasting structures and traditions that reinforce the group’s identity.
Ask yourself: How do you build systems, policies, and rituals that sustain your group’s identity, even after you leave?
Example: Martin Luther King Jr.’s impact was not just about his speeches—it was about the structural and legislative change that embedded civil rights into American law.
Social identity and leadership in times of crisis
Insights from Till et al. (2024) show that during crises, people naturally strengthen their social identification with groups to cope with uncertainty.
- A sense of “we are in this together” helps reduce stress and increase resilience.
- People with a high “need to belong” seek strong group ties in crises.
- Perspective-taking enhances social identification—leaders who listen and empathise build stronger group bonds.
This means that in times of crisis, leaders should lean into identity leadership, reinforcing a sense of collective purpose rather than focusing on personal leadership traits.
Why this matters: moving beyond the “great man” view of leadership
Much of leadership theory still clings to the “Great Man” model—the idea that leadership is about individual brilliance. But research (Haslam et al., 2022) increasingly shows that leadership is not a solo act.
- Traditional leadership models say: “Great leaders have special traits that set them apart.”
- The Social Identity Approach says: “Great leaders succeed because they create a strong sense of ‘us’.”
- Traditional leadership development says: “To lead, focus on self-awareness and personal growth.”
- Identity leadership says: “To lead, focus on group awareness and collective growth.”
When we focus only on personal development, we risk alienating leaders from their teams. Leadership is not about standing above others—it’s about standing with them.
Final thought: what should leadership development focus on?
If we take the Social Identity Approach seriously, leadership development programmes need to change. Instead of focusing on individual self-knowledge, they should train leaders to:
- Understand group identity – What makes people feel part of something bigger?
- Communicate as “one of us” – How do leaders make people feel heard and represented?
- Build long-term structures – How do leaders create systems that reinforce the group’s values?
When leaders focus on identity rather than traits, hope, trust, and stability follow naturally.
What do you think? Does this change how we should develop leaders?
Key references and further reading
- Haslam, S. A., Reicher, S., & Platow, M. J. (2020). The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence, and Power.
- Till, F. J., et al. (2024). Social Identification in Times of Crisis: How Need to Belong, Perspective Taking, and Cognitive Closure Relate to Changes in Social Identification.
- Haslam, S. A., Gaffney, A. M., Hogg, M. A., et al. (2022). Reconciling Identity Leadership and Leader Identity: A Dual-Identity Framework.