PRESIDENTIAL EFFECTIVENESS AND THE LEADERSHIP MOTIVE PROFILE

As much as 59% of the variance in measures of presidential performance may be explained by individual differences in power (positive), affiliation (negative), achievement (negative), and number of nots appearing in presidential speeches and letters (positive). Motives and the interactions of power and nots independently predicted presidential performance. An overall index of the leadership motive syndrome did not predict presidential performance independently of motives and the interaction of power and nots. Three supplementary analyses indicated that the nots index measured a style of using power, institutional versus personalistic, rather than activity inhibition, as had been proposed by McClelland, Davis, Kalin, and Wanner (1972).