I recently had an assignment in a communications course I am currently taking. The assignment was to find an article of interest, analyze it and make a 7-10 minute presentation. I always like to refer to ideas that I am familiar with, and happened to come across an article titled Leadership Qualities that Matter the Most: Lessons from Davos 2014. I started reading through the article and found it very interesting and very similar to the trait approach discussed during week two of our Leadership Theory course. The article pertains to the 2014 World Economic Forum which holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The forum brings business and political leaders as well as journalist and great thinkers together to examine international issues. The topic of leadership qualities was one of the issues that were addressed at the WEF, whose theme was “Resilient Dynamism”.
To refresh your memory the trait approach emphasizes the critical role of traits in effective leadership (Northouse, 2013). It furthermore generates the idea that leaders are born and not made (Northouse, 2013) The article I analyzed basically recognized must have traits needed be a successful leader, CEO’s in particular. The article starts out with questions like, What are the implications for leadership?, and, What qualities will CEOs need to succeed in this more demanding world? The first trait mentioned was leadership judgment. Leadership judgment was found to be a must have because of the wealth of information available today. Leaders need to be able to sift through the fluff and recognize key points allowing them to make important decisions. The second trait was empathy. Empathy is needed for understanding diversity. Leaders should be able to put themselves in another’s shoes. Third, was self-awareness. Like Stogdill’s 1974 survey, it is very important for a leader to understand how they think and feel as well as what motivates them. It is also very important that they recognize their weaknesses. Adaptability is also mentioned in the article, the ability to think outside the box. Being adaptable allows leaders to change directions when needed. The most important quality integrity, came in fifth place. With no way to depict ones integrity, organizations look for people who tend to avoid temptations and constant distractions. The article suggests asking questions like, Can they understand how their actions and what they say (or even imply) could potentially impact others inside and outside the organization. Last were passion, courage and resilience, listed in that order. All three qualities relate to how a leader performs through tough times and overcome obstacles.
Future leaders need to keep these qualities in mind when looking for leadership positions. Organizations want leaders who will effective use these qualities during the leadership process. Everyone of course, cannot possess these qualities, which suggest that leaders are very special people. The article suggests that leaders who possess these traits have a higher probability to performing better.
Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
The Huffington Post. (2014). HuffPost Business-AOL Money & Finance. Retrieved February 16, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-m-cohn/leadership-qualities-that-matter-the-most_b_4726694.html
Koriann Bollhorst says
I found your post very intriguing, as I discussed a similar topic a few weeks ago. As you mentioned, Integrity is one of the most important traits a leader can possess and can be hard to depict However, in doing a different assignment, I discovered an article that gave great interview questions to ask related to ethics, aka integrity. Asking such questions “As how they handled ethical dilemmas in past jobs?” or “If they’ve received ethical training?” can give insight into the ethical standards of an individual. Integrity is so important because leaders set the ethical tone for a corporation by modeling the behaviors that are expected of all the employees.