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What are the qualities that a leader should have?
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12 Answers
Self-knowledge: know what one's core values are.
Highly task oriented: Is organized and likes to get things done
Learner: Stays abrest of what changes the future may bring
Moderately social: Likes people and forms professional and personal networks to help accomplish goals
Integrity/honesty: Is not willing to do evil that good may come of it.
Adaptable: I'm not talking pragmatic here, but one who understands what is working and what is not and is willing to go where the market is.
Astute: Needs to possess the intelligence, experience and education to see how to fit things together that at first, second or third pass may not be obvious to others.
Resilent: Needs to be strong emotionally and physically.
Naturally there are more that others can and should include, but these to me are foundational traits.
Regardless of the industry or level the following competencies are important for any leader in the 21st century
1. Understanding of the business strategy, products, customers, vision and values of the company
2. Good communicator. Must be able to communicate to all levels of the organization
3. Respect. Need to treat all people with respect regardless of level
4. Coach/Mentor/Teacher
5. Results oriented
That depends on who and what they are to lead. Mother Theresa could not have led a revolution with the effectiveness of of Martin Luther King, Jr. Nor could King have led the pious with equal grace as Mother Theresa.
Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldoncolme@gmail.com
Thanks for chiming in Belldon. I was actually hoping to stir up some healthy debate when I threw the term humility out there. I found very interesting thought over at http://colleensharen.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/what-is-humility-in-leadership/ as well.
Humility, or humbleness is an often misunderstood virtue. I think your definition is too simplistic. To me, one is humble when one appreciates the power, talent, and skills they have been given as a gift and has the ability to give credit to a power greater than him/herself for their presence. I believe that authentic humility involves neither self-abasement nor arrogance. Humility is not needing to exalt yourself. What for - because you are already worth it, and you do not need to show off your successes. This is the confidence of a great leader.
Humility looks like sharing all that we have, knowing that it was not ours to begin with, but has merely been given to us to distribute to others. This goes for money, possessions, knowledge, and... love. It is humanity that needs to be served by it's leaders. Humanity is not an organization, it is all people and all organizations, and we are all just doing the best we can - none of us have it figured out yet. We each play just a small role in the vast universe.
A leader is one who others follow. A leader inspires others and leads them in the things they are to know. I do want a humble leader. If you are truly a leader, please lead by example. Promote the value of humility, even in "today's business environment". I see the state of the world as led by those who lack this important character trait. I am tired of following.
Finally, if none of this resonates, then I submit a different set of qualities altogether:
A leader should light and flexible; nearly invisible; just strong enough to keep the hook attached and the fish from biting through.
1. Recognize individual strengths
2. Willingness to take blame
3. Quality of assertiveness
4. Leadership quality of goal setting
5.Self-confidence is an important quality of good leaders
1. visioning.
2. strategic.
3. structuring choices and desisiveness.
4. depth and breath.
5. ability to break the rules.
6. strong default positions.
7. never stop learning
8. inspiring
9. ethical values
10. stabilizer in adverse situations.
Many valid points in this discussion. I believe it's the leadership in the company that defines the business culture. So with that in mind I would like to add 2 more that contribute to the business culture:
1. Congruency / Integrity - Walk the talk, say what you do, do what you say
2. Consistency / persistence - don't change directions or behavior on a dime without good reason, stay the course
could we add humility?
He should be open-minded and humble. He should be ready to accept his flaws, listen to his team mates, take responsibility, and trust his subordinates.
So many have already replied with great answers. A few more points. Leaders can come in the form of more than one person - they can be teams of people who rise up to overcome a challenge and to inspire. Leadership is often more than a position - it is a process. Having said that a good leader shows (in addition to all that above):
An alignment or complement of personal core values with those values of the organization -
An ability to lead through the brand - through the center - meaning an ability to connect the dots among vision, mission, values and brand promise.
A good leader can hepl to transform the culture and the climate of an organization when needed but also knows when to sit back and allow others to rise..
A good leader has empathy.
Integrity, driive and passion.
hum·ble/ˈhəmbəl/
Adjective: Having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance.
Verb: Lower (someone) in dignity or importance: "I knew he had humbled himself to ask for my help".
It is important, I think, to understand what a leader is not, together with what a leader is. I will take some heat, I am sure, for this, but it is true and important.
Great leaders are not humble. You do not want a humble leader. Leaders are, to greater or lesser degrees, narcissistic and self-serving. They have to be.
Whether you are religious or not (I am not), wisdom comes in many places, and we need to embrace it regardless its source.
When I was a kid, I was told a story of the greatest instance of humility in all of Christian tradition; when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. In that moment he humbled himself, the story goes, became "of the earth" (the root of "humble"), and made himself beneath them.
But he did not.
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 13 verses 12 to 16, Jesus revealed that what he had done was done for a purpose; to instruct his followers in the things they would soon need to know. While an act of humility is selfless, what Jesus did was done on purpose, in the interests of the Church that would soon form around the legacy he left behind.
And here is where we really do learn the most important qualities of a leader.
A leader is pragmatic. A leader serves, not the people who follow them, but the organization they represent. What a leader does, they do on purpose to further the highest and best interests of that organization. A great leader does not look solely to the benefit of their action today, but to the wake left by their action; the legacy of their action, and it's long term effect on the organization.
This does not require humility, but rather an acute sense of one's place in the order of things.
Do they know their weaknesses? Absolutely. They do not, however, apologize for those weaknesses, but instead form their inner circle to compensate for those weaknesses and maintain organizational strength.
Do they see the strengths of others? Certainly. But they will only recognize and build up those strengths to the degree that those strengths strengthen the organization.
Employees very often feel slighted, under-appreciated or even discriminated against when their clear strengths are not recognized, utilized or elevated. Every employee has a reason they believe their skills should be thus viewed. *Team* members, however, are groomed to think differently, and seek out how their skills may be honed to serve the team, rather than wishing the team to serve their skills. A great leader will, like the example above, groom their team accordingly, and weed out those who put self-service above the organization.
Clearly, great leaders are rare.
Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldoncolme@gmail.com
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