Leadership Personality Traits

Society’s perception of the personality traits that make a leader have become increasingly narrow. Our modern culture, particularly pop culture, has influenced the image of a leader: driven, focused, high energy, and loving of the limelight. However, in actual practice, that is not always true. Some of the most notable leaders in recent years have not fit that; consider Bill Gates or Bill Clinton examples.

When it comes to leadership personality traits, each leader is unique in their individual character strengths, but there are a few common traits among all great leaders:

• Honesty, displaying integrity, honor, and candor.
• Competence, sound judgments based on reason and moral principles.
• A goal-oriented, clear vision of the future and envision a shared future for the organization.
• Inspiring, displaying confidence in all actions; mental, physical, and spiritual endurance.
• Fair-minded treatment is shown to all; prejudice is the enemy to all. Display empathy.
• Broad-minded, actively seek out diversity in thought, ideas, and persons. Embrace different opinions and viewpoints, and be willing to listen.
• Courageous, perseverance to accomplish goals, regardless of seemingly insurmountable odds. 
• Imaginative, timely, and appropriate changes to thinking, plans, and methods. Creatively aspire for new and better goals.

In all great leaders, these are some of the shared personality traits. Furthermore, there are many other essential aspects to consider as a good leader in any position, regardless of personal characteristics:

1. Perspective, when assuming a leadership role, one’s perspective inherently changes. Thinking evolves into long-term rather than short-term and from reactive and proactive.
2. The attitude should naturally be positive and passionate, believing in possibilities or problem-solving.
3. Skills and knowledge, leaders should know and acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses.

Some weaknesses grow, develop, and should be avoided, but leadership is more than just strengths and requires continuous growth and development of strengths and skills.

Leaders are constantly thinking and evaluating, envisioning future possibilities. As a leader, it is your responsibility to look for ethical win-win solutions that benefit the most people. The last additional aspect to consider is that of emotional intelligence. Great leaders often exhibit several emotional intelligence characteristics, including self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills. All of which are inherently important in modern society, but even more so in leadership positions and roles. 

Overall, the characteristics of a leader can vary greatly; each person is unique and brings individual strengths to the leadership table. Still, strong leaders often share many of these key personality traits, another part of what makes a great leader. 

References

Advanced Controller and CFO Skills: Leadership Styles; Change Management. e-book, Durham, NC, Association of International Certified Public Accountants, 2021.