What makes an excellent leader? There are many different leadership types or styles. There is also a debate if leadership is a skill that can be learned. No matter the leadership style, or if it is a learned skill or something that great leaders are born with, there seems to be certain traits that people like in a leader and that make them successful. Let’s take a brief look at some of these traits and how they relate to the business or military setting. We will take a deep dive into these individual traits in later blog posts.
Decision-Making Skills
Strong decision-making skills in the military is a vital leadership trait to have. The ability to make sound decisions under pressure can literally mean life or death for the leader and their subordinates.[i] A leader must be confident in their decision because lack of confidence or indecision can get people killed. Now, in a business setting it doesn’t necessarily mean life or death, but it can mean success or failure on a project, in a program, or even the company as a whole.
Justice, Trust, and Loyalty
Within a unit, the leader must be fair and just in dealing with their team members. This may need to be done in a positive manner, for example, with praise and promotion, or in a negative manner, like with discipline.[ii] A leader must always be fair in their dealings. This in turn will build confidence and trust with their subordinates. This confidence and trust can then turn into loyalty, which can develop into a sense of pride for the individual and a sense of pride in the unit or company.[iii] By having a just leader build trust and loyalty within the company, a strong commitment to the job follows.[iv]
Energy, Enthusiasm, and Sense of Humor
A good leader is known to have developed social competences that help them lead and inspire others. By having energy and enthusiasm in general, and even more so for the mission or task at hand, can positively affect and encourage those they are leading. A sense of humor used at appropriate times can also keep the mood positive when things get difficult, and can build a friendly atmosphere to work in.
Physical Fitness
Now, it is not always required for a good leader to be in peak physical condition at all times, but a leader that takes care of themselves and presents themselves well seems to garner more respect.[v] They are able to do the job, look good while doing it, and inspire others, not only as a professional, but as an individual as well. This is part of a holistic approach to leadership. If the individuals you are leading are healthy and happy, they will be more productive at work.
Self-Confidence and Self-Improvement
Self-confidence and self-improvement are placed very high on the list of good traits for a leader to have.[vi] There is a fine line between self-confidence and arrogance, and leaders often flirt with those lines. The key is to add self-improvement to the equation. A leader should be confident but remain humble enough to recognize their fallacies and always seek to improve. When a leader is confident in their actions, they pass that onto their subordinates and strengthen the team.[vii]
Not Covering Up Weaknesses
The leadership trait of not covering up weaknesses could better be described as having humility. Some individuals think that being humble is a weakness, but others consider it one of the greatest traits a leader can have. A leader must be able to admit when they are wrong or when they do not know something. That is when they can turn to the team and work together to come up with a solution. If a leader knew everything, there would be no need for a team. When a group works as a team, they build trust, share responsibility, and delegate tasks to get the mission done.[viii]
Intuition
Intuition can be a difficult thing to develop as a leader. It requires starting with a solid base of knowledge so that intuitive decisions can be made when the time comes. But it also requires the leaders to have situational awareness or a solid pulse on the unit they are leading. They need to know their people and their mission inside and out. This will help them sense and solve issues before they become so large that they negatively affect the whole unit.[ix]
Hard Empathy
Hard empathy from a leader can be likened to being a parent. A child makes decisions based on their limited knowledge and often short-term gains, not thinking about far reaching consequences. A parent has a lot more experience and knowledge gained through life experience and is able to guide the child and help them see those long-term consequences of choices. Much like being a parent, a leader guides their subordinates on their team with hard empathy, oftentimes forgoing what looks like a short-term good decision for the better long-term gains.[x] A great example of this is Navy SEAL Lt. Murphy from the Lone Survivor mission. Lt. Murphy decided to release the shepherd even though he knew that meant their position would be given away because he did not want to risk a larger international incident by killing him. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, I would highly recommend it. Look for the leadership traits that you could apply to your life.
Originality
A good leader should be aware of their own personal attributes, skills, and interests that make them different and use them to be a good leader.[xi] Not everyone is the same. Diversity in a group can be used to strengthen the group with different views and ideas. A leader should be able to use those differences in themselves and the differences among the team and use them as an advantage. This takes a certain amount of social competence that studies have shown are a foundation of good leadership.[xii]
Authority
Authority can be looked at in a couple different ways. One of those ways is through position or rank. This is a position of authority that an individual is placed in and others often see them as having authority over them simply by the position they are in. This happens with leaders, but a good leader should strive to demonstrate the other type of authority. That is, being a model or an example to those they are trying to lead. As mentioned earlier, they should be physically able, have a commanding knowledge of the mission or job, and build that relationship of trust with their subordinates so they recognize and trust the leader as an authority.[xiii]
Defining a good leader can be a difficult task. Various leadership qualities have been studied striving to find the ideal leader. The results from research seem to point to developed social competences as defining features of an effective leader. Developed social competences, many of which were discussed in this list of traits, are found to be extremely important in someone that is going to be a truly effective leader. Leaders must have the knowledge and experience but also be able to inspire and influence people.[xiv]
[i] Marta Gaj, “Selected leadership qualities.” Scientific Journal of the Military University of Land Forces, December 2018, 143.
[ii] Ibid., 144.
[iii] Ibid., 144.
[iv] Ibid., 144.
[v] Ibid., 145.
[vi] Ibid., 145.
[vii] Ibid., 145.
[viii] Ibid., 145.
[ix] Ibid., 146.
[x] Ibid., 146.
[xi] Ibid., 146.
[xii] Ibid., 146.
[xiii] Ibid., 147.
[xiv] Ibid., 148.