Simon Sinek created quite a stir with his 2009 TED video titled “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.”
With more than 15 million views, Sinek made an impact on how business leaders operate. He sold a few copies of his book, “Start With Why,” as well. His Golden Circle concept suggested that leaders who understood and were able to articulate why they were in business had a competitive advantage over those who only knew what their companies did and how they did it.
I noticed some similarities to Sinek’s Golden Circle concept when talking with leaders about leadership. I polled my TEC members to see what they thought of the qualities or attributes of great leaders. The feedback suggested we know quite a bit about what leaders do and how they do it.
TEC members agreed that leaders set vision and think strategically. They knew that leaders communicated effectively by speaking well and listening aggressively. TEC members knew great leaders enlisted great people and empowered them to accomplish the goals of the organization.
We all knew the what and the how. But we didn’t know the why.
So why are leaders the way they are? Were they born leaders? What are the inner characteristics or traits of leaders? And perhaps more importantly, can these inner attributes be learned, acquired and developed?
Here are some suggestions about the inner qualities that make great leaders.
1. Leaders are courageous.
Leaders take risks. They have the ability to analyze alternatives and select a course of action. They have skin in the game.
Leaders scare themselves. They know they will be embarrassed or hurt along the way. Like rock star David Lee Roth said: “You stick your head above the crowd and attract attention, and sometimes, maybe someone will throw a rock at you. That’s the territory. You buy the land, you get the Indians.”
2. Leaders are decisive.
Once the risks are calculated, leaders decide what to do. No dithering. They make up their minds and accept the consequences.
We can certainly learn better decision making skills and processes. The key is to get on with it and get on to something new.
3. Leaders are charismatic.
I balked when TEC member Jane Dauffenbach suggested this attribute, remembering that Jim Collins declared the end of the charismatic CEO when he created Level 5 Leadership in his book “Good To Great.”
Jane shared the work of Olivia Fox Cabane and suggested that charisma is not exclusively reserved for back-slapping extroverts. By Fox Cabane’s definition, charisma requires exhibiting behaviors that make other people, “feel intelligent, impressive and interesting.”
Fox Cabane says, “Those following charismatic leaders perform better, experience their work as more meaningful, and have more trust in their leaders.” Her book, The Charisma Myth, suggests a process for enhancing personal magnetism.
4. Leaders are vulnerable.
This one probably would not have made a more traditional list of leadership qualities either. But according to researcher Brene Brown, vulnerability is the “birthplace of joy, creativity, innovation and change.”
Her 2010 TEC talk, The Power of Vulnerability, has almost 14 million views on Ted.com and almost 2 million more on YouTube. Brown argues that we can learn this leadership attribute, as well. Understand you’re not perfect…but you are good enough.
5. Leaders are self-aware.
TEC speaker James Newton concludes that most of us are walking around in some state of “asleepedness” most of the time. We are essentially unconscious, living our lives based on our perceptions of past experiences and the defensive strategies developed to protect ourselves from future pain and injury.
Unfortunately, these protective strategies cause future pain and injury. Leaders catch themselves awake more often. According to Newton, we can learn to be conscious more often.
6. Leaders are flawed.
They make mistakes. They know failure is not good, but a normal part of making progress.
They see setbacks as learning experiences. They solve problems rather than place blame. They are resilient. They let go of past failures.
Can we do better? Of course. As long as leaders are human, there will be room for improvement.
None of these leadership attributes explain why leaders are leaders. We may never know the why. The answer, however, may be buried inside someplace. A quote from Chris Lowney’s book Heroic Leadership provides some guidance, “Leadership springs from within. It is about who I am as much as what I do.”
While the qualities and attributes discussed here are closer to the inside moves of great leaders than the usual what/how checklist, they seem somewhat limited compared to the values – personal values – of the individual.
Those certainly come from the inside. And they were learned a long time ago.
Dennis Ellmaurer is a management consultant working primarily as a TEC chairman, leading three CEO mastermind groups in southeastern Wisconsin. He is also a speaker and executive coach. He can be reached at (414) 271-5780 or dennis@globenational.com.
