Leadership Traits and Characteristics
There is no magic formula for great leadership, but there are a number of character traits and skills that great leaders seem to share. We’ll explore six of the most important ones in this chapter.
Integrity
Integrity is absolutely essential in a leader—perhaps more essential than any other factor. People need to be able to respect their leaders and know that they have moral and ethical principles that they live by without compromise. A true leader acts and leads consistent with these principles. Others will exert pressure on a leader to compromise his or her principles to fit the needs of a particular situation or decision; a leader with high integrity will resist the temptation to make a decision that people like, and instead make the decision that is right. It won’t be the easiest path and it won’t always be the popular path, but if the leader possesses integrity, it will be the right path.
There is perhaps no better example of a leader who exemplified integrity than the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln led a then-divided country back to unification on the principle that all men should be free. Lincoln had to fight for this principle, sometimes within his own party, though he knew it might bring the nation into war. Lincoln would not compromise his principles, and did what was right despite great personal cost.
Vision
A great leader is visionary—he or she must be able to see possibilities even before others are aware that they exist. Visionaries set new standards, change the status quo, create new possibilities, render the competition irrelevant, and ultimately change the lives of many people for the better. The history books are filled with the accomplishments of men and women with vision. Just think what vision it must have taken to enable man to fly for the first time in the beginning of the twentieth century! The Wright brothers disproved the skeptics who maintained that man was not meant to fly, and ushered in the era of aviation for the world to follow. Our lives are better because of the inventions of others who dreamed great things, mechanical, scientific, artistic, and conceptual—people who possessed sufficient leadership qualities to convince others of the soundness of their ideas, and then led the way.
We look to our leaders to share their vision and teach us how to help this vision become a reality. It makes the future less uncertain and scary, because it is in our nature to want to head in the right direction toward a better tomorrow. A good leader is always forward-thinking and mindful of the long-term impact of their decisions and how this should shape their vision. You don’t have to be a clairvoyant—just start thinking about the future every day and in every action and decision you make.
Common Sense
It has been said that the problem with common sense is that everyone’s common sense is different. The reality is that common sense is not always so common, but there is such a thing as leadership common sense. Decisions must be made on facts and circumstances, among other things, and frequently the entire picture is not visible to all employees. A leader with a history of making sensible decisions is more likely to be respected and given the benefit of the doubt because the employees have confidence in his or her common sense.
President Ronald Reagan was known for his commonsense approach to leadership. Reagan once said, “The lessons of leadership were the same; hard work, knowledge of the facts, a willingness to listen and be understanding, a strong sense of duty and direction, and a determination to do your best on behalf of the people you serve.”
Adaptability
Today’s leader must be able to adapt to change and help the organization adapt. Business models are changing faster than organizational structure; it is impossible to constantly align the organization to the changes that are occurring every day. Finding ways to manage complex systems is becoming more difficult. Change usually comes with little warning or preparation; it is like a thief that sneaks in at night and steals what is accepted as standard practice, altering the rules of the game forever in terms of technology, products, world events, new regulations, consumer demand, and so on.
Leaders must be able to adapt on the fly, react instantaneously, and know when it is better to take one’s time in making a big decision or go with the gut. Leaders ultimately are the sum result of their decisions, both good and bad, but it is their ability to adapt that brings them to those decisions.
Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001, spearheaded massive organizational changes within the company during his years at the helm. He worked to streamline GE and make it a more competitive company, shutting down inefficient factories, reducing payrolls, trimming inventories, and cutting lackluster old-line units of the company. He would push managers to perform, but he would reward those who did with bonuses and stock options.
Welch helped his company adapt to changing times and modernized GE by emphasizing a shift from manufacturing to services. He also initiated hundreds of acquisitions (including the purchase of NBC in 1986), and made a push to dominate markets abroad.
Communication
The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important components of great leadership. If an individual is a poor communicator, he or she is not likely to be a leader for long—and certainly not a great one. There are countless examples of people who showed great potential at the start of their careers yet never lived up to expectations because they were poor communicators.
Not being able to get your message across at a critical time can have tragic consequences, but communication involves much more than one's speaking or writing ability. Great leaders consider themselves part of a team, freely sharing information when it is appropriate and treating employees as important parts of the organization and its mission. The leader's personality and management style can often determine what is communicated: Some leaders believe that sharing information is critically important, while others restrict it to a need-to-know.
Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan were considered great communicators. In our own time, we can learn from former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, who became the company’s pitchman with a series of television commercials that featured this plain-talking challenge to consumers: “If you can find a better car, buy it!” Iacocca became a household name because he spoke to people in their living rooms, and it was his effectiveness as a communicator that led Chrysler from almost-certain bankruptcy in the 1980s to becoming a profitable American car company.
An important part of good communication is listening. Unfortunately, many leaders think that they are already good communicators, and that if there are problems, it is because the others aren’t listening. (“Doesn't anyone ever listen to me around here?”) The problem is not that employees aren’t listening as much as it is that the leader isn’t! How many of us have been witness to the “shoot the messenger” syndrome, where the bearer of the bad news is treated as if he or she is responsible for the bad news? This discourages employees from telling the boss anything for fear of repercussion, and virtually isolates the leader from information that is common knowledge at lower levels of the organization. What’s worse, it sets in place a culture where the leader surrounds himself with “yes” men who validate all his bad ideas and withhold the information that he should have to help or protect the organization.
Great leaders seek staff members who are willing to tell them the truth, no matter how painful or unpopular. Make sure you have an accurate picture of just how effectively you communicate, and work on your shortcomings. This is a critically important competency for success.
Motivation
Motivating employees is a greater challenge than it was in the past. The downsized or economized organizations of today have relatively limited rewards available for employees who deserve them, and there are fewer opportunities to promote and develop on any level. Those “golden carrots” are few and far between at a time when pressures to succeed are increasing, roles are becoming more complex and demanding, and yesterday’s stretch goals are now today’s performance standards. Complicating this motivational equation is this new reality: job skills and knowledge are becoming outdated almost overnight. Roles are constantly changing, and employees must work harder than ever before to keep their job skills and knowledge up to date.
Rewards are sometimes the only motivators, but what happens when these rewards become limited? How to motivate the workforce is one of a leader’s greatest challenges. What is too much to ask? What are the downsides of pushing employees too hard, versus not getting the maximum performance for your payroll investment or not motivating employees to reach their greatest potential? Many people say that their most-admired leaders are those who motivated them to do their very best— people who brought out the best in them, demanding excellence and refusing to accept anything less. But just where is that distinction between the tyrannical slave driver and a great motivator? Why are some leaders considered great motivators, while others are remembered with anger and distain for pushing so hard to get the job done? Was it their leadership style, credibility, sensitivity, or other personal characteristic? Be sure you have at least some awareness of how motivated others are to follow you and when you might be pushing people beyond what is fair or reasonable.
The Leadership Maestro
Being a leader is a little like being a conductor of an orchestra—you really are orchestrating the organization. An orchestra’s maestro must make sure everyone is playing the same piece at the same time, blend very different sounds together into a melodic work, give each kind of instrument the opportunity to be recognized, get everyone in the orchestra to finish at the same time, find different works that they can perform that will showcase the talents of the orchestra, bring out the greatest ability of the musicians, and make sure that everyone is in tune with each other. The maestro makes fine adjustments as he or she conducts the orchestra, ensuring that each musician performs his or her instrument exactly as needed to achieve the desired group result.
Your organizational orchestra has all of the instruments needed to make beautiful sounds, but in order to achieve this objective, you need to have the right music. Music for an orchestra is like a strategic plan for an organization. Both tell the players what roles they are to perform, how each contributes to the entire process, when and how often each person’s role is to be performed, and what is the expected end result.
Imagine what would happen if an orchestra did not have a conductor or had one who failed to perform his or her role properly. The result would undoubtedly be total chaos. The orchestra members wouldn’t even know what symphony they were supposed to be playing, and there would be a lot of screeching.
Think about your organization as if it were an orchestra. Ask yourself if everyone in your orchestra knows what instrument they are supposed to be playing, what part they are to play, or even what symphony they are to be performing. Do they look to you for direction? Are the goals reached? Think about what conductors do to correct these problems: Make sure each person is able to perform their role, make sure that everyone is properly prepared, make sure there is a piece of music that makes the most of individual talents, and so on. You as a leader should do these same things.