Do you often fight with guilt? Then you have a great potential to be a good leader, at least according to the results of a study by Rebecca Schaumberg, graduate student, and Francis Flynn, organizational behavior professor, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The study involved 520 participants in several experiments. The first experiment used an online personality test to measure whether participants were prone to guilt and shame. Individual degree of extroversion, which is considered a strong indicator of leadership, was measured, too. The participants, who did not know each other, then performed various tasks in small groups and evaluated their leadership skills.
It turned out that those who were considered the strongest leaders had also the strongest tendency to feel guilt. They tended to re-consider their actions and correct them, which is more important for leaders than extroversion according to the results of the study.
The same result was achieved in another experiment focused on real work situations. The study confirmed that feeling guilt might be beneficial for working groups because it makes leaders more accountable.
By contrast, the people who tend to feel shame are worse leaders. They have no tendency to correct their mistakes but rather to hide them. Their leadership skills can be improved if they do not denounce themselves but their mistaken actions.
You can read more information about the study in the Stanford Graduate School of Business press release here.
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