The greatest presidents were least congruent with their society’s motives

Evidence

These results suggest two conclusions. First, among American presidents at least, leader appeal is a function of how well the leader’s own motives fit the motive imagery profile of the times. Presidential leadership performance, however, is a very different matter. Both rated performance and several of the most significant outcomes were functions more of leader attributes (especially power motivation) than of leader-situation match. Indeed, among American presidents it appears that the greatest presidents were those who were least congruent with the followers of their society. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1361

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the ‘contingency’ leadership theories that dominate management literature and common intuition that leaders succeed by matching the moment. — connects to: Discrepant presidents historically outperform congruent ones — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 1362
• SEED: Angle: the leader most out of step with their era may be the one who changes it — a counterintuitive theory of historical greatness.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1361