The Application of “The Looking Glass Self” to Leadership Development.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue III, March 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Application of “The Looking Glass Self” to Leadership Development.

Dr. Ambrues M. Nebo Sr.
Department of Sociology, Department of Law Enforcement Criminal Justice & Forensic Science Program- African Methodist Episcopal University. Department of Political, University of Liberia

Abstract
This article introduces “The Looking Glass Self” as one of the widely discussed sociological concepts in academic settings across culture. It proffers the argument that “The Looking Glass Self” could be experimented as an approach to leadership development in the formal sector or private organization. It opines that in the context of “The Looking Glass Self” followers act as the “mirror” in which a leader must imagine how he/she appears in the eyes of followers, how he/she is evaluated based on followers’’ observation and perceptions, and how the feedbacks that comes from observation and perceptions can help influence the development of a leader’s sense of self. It employs the competency model and the values model as the theoretical framework that guided the study.
Regarding the methodology, the qualitative approach was used to explore this topic. Precisely, it employs content analysis of relevant document, articles, or papers as source of the data from Google search engine.
The paper concludes that although followers’ perception plays one of the main roles in leadership development, it all depends on how leaders interpret their followers’ perceptions.
The article recommends that as an experimental concept, “The Looking Glass Self” could be inculcated or infused into leadership development training module

Introduction

Doubtlessly, the urge for leadership development seems to be an endless quest researched by gurus, academicians, academic institutions, prelates, or religious scholars, etc. For example, the Harvard Business School offers Leadership Development Course designed to develop leadership style germane to effective organizational performance.
Robin Abrahams and Boris Groysberg (2021) focused their attention on listening skills as one of the templates to leadership development. For his contribution, the prominent prelate, Dr. Myles Munroe, has authored dozens of fascinating presentations and books on leadership development. One of his famous presentations widely used in both religious and academic environment is “The Ten Attitudes for Leadership Development” in which he employed the lion as an analogy to leadership with main emphasis on attitude that uniquely distinguished the loin as the king of the jungle (Munroe, 2005).
According to Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, “Leadership is all about people…and getting the most out of people.” It is about conveying a sense of purpose in a selfless manner, he said, and creating conditions of trust while displaying moral and physical courage. “Never show fear or anger,” he added. “You have to have a sense of optimism.” (Stanford Report, 2005).
As for their contribution, the Myers-Briggs Company has over 20 years’ experience focusing their attention on helping people to develop leadership styles through diverse tools such as communication, self-awareness, conflict management, stress and resilience (Srivastava, 2016).
In her excellent program, Maggie Wooll (2021) drew attention to exposure and access to current management, individual groups for peer support and shared learning, and formalized mentorship as the foundation for developing leadership skills.
A team of experts chaired by Dr. John Kotter also focused their approach to leadership development on experiential and apprentice-style learning, team facilitation, and educational courses and program.
No doubt, leadership success could point to the efficacy of the above innovations or contributions. Conversely, it is safe to imply that the indisputable leadership failures continued to be witnessed in both public administrations and society at large explains potential problem that can be addressed through a research imperative.

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