Henry Kissinger: a Leadership Analysis Using Erik Erikson's Model of Identity Growth.

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a systematic framework for the study of leadership which would provide a perspective on the dynamics of how individuals achieve leadership competence. The study instrument was based upon Erik Erikson's identity model which delineates eight psycho-social functions of leadership. Erikson's model emphasizes social (exterior) development as opposed to personal (interior) growth and views leadership as the product of proper identity formulation; that is, as the product of a particular learning process. In concrete terms, the study objective was to relate a proven public leader's personality traits and their development to Erikson's model. The study sought to establish a growth pattern in the origin and socializing of the subject, Henry A. Kissinger, to determine to what extent Kissinger fulfills Erikson's model. The instrument employed was an eight part questionnaire, each part corresponding to one of the eight parts of the Erikson model. Underlying the data was an "Ideal" set of responses which posited that some of the questions should have been answered positively or negatively; these were then correlated with the actual responses. The instrument consisted of propositions concerning the subject's behavior and statements indicating how an individual should or should not behave in order to realize certain leadership ends. The respondents (22 Academic Elite, 14 Political Elite and 11 Social Elite), comprised a total of 47 persons who dealt directly with the subject (Kissinger). A 5-point scale measured the degree of positive or negative attitudes of the respondents toward the statements and /or questions associated with the subject's behavioral characteristics. Four questions, or a ninth factor, which encapsuled the values of the questionnaire, were devised to discover how many of the respondents expressed agreement with the questions. The number and percentages of responses were then correlated with each indicator. Variable informational analysis of the indices revealed close correspondence between the ideal and the actual responses of the respondents, indicating that Kissinger fits the model. The total for all three categories of respondents was 70% in agreement with the "Ideal" response, well over the expected value of 50%. The Academic and Social Elite showed the same percentage of agreement with the appropriate responses (77%). The Political Elite showed 57% agreement. Analysis of "no opinion" response pattern, which clustered around Kissinger's personal life, were high (22%). Respondents presumably had insufficient information to answer the questions or the portions of the model represented by the questions which had little bearing on the respondents' view of leadership. Again, all categories of respondents showed the same bias on these questions. In order that there would not be complete reliance on the survey-based data, the survey questionnaire was correlated with samples of other studies, specifically, four full-scale published biographies of Kissinger. Examination of the survey-based data and the published data showed a striking degree of agreement.