When we think of traits leaders typically exhibit, many come to mind—including strength, charisma, enthusiasm, and vision. One important component is often overlooked: humility. Humility is an attribute of truly great leaders according to Jim Collins in his book Good to Great and in his classic article for Harvard Business Review, “Level 5 Leadership: The …
Failure in the corporate world means not being where you said you would be when you said you would to be there. Your team may miss a deadline. A product may not meet expectations. A new procedure has unintended and undesirable consequences. A contract is awarded to a competitor. Admitting failure and accepting responsibility is …
Physical courage allows you to act in the face of pain, hardship, or threat of death. Shepherding your career rarely requires physical courage, although it may as you can see from the example at the end of this element. However, moral courage is quite another thing. It is very likely in your career that you …
Competence is doing things well, repeatedly. Competence requires study, practice, and reflection. There are many skills in which you need to be competent as a manager and leader. Effective communicating, decision making, planning, organizing, motivating, conflict managing, and problem solving are but a few of them. Leadership & Life a Guide to Building Trust provides …
Being trustworthy is more than a desirable characteristic of leadership and management—it is an essential characteristic. If you aren’t trustworthy, employees and customers won’t feel they can count on you when the going is tough, nor will they give you honest information or opinions. You are perceived as trustworthy when your actions are consistent. You …
A shortcoming seems like a bad thing—a character flaw, perhaps. “Short” before a word means inadequate—shortsighted, short-lived, short shrift. However, there is another way to think of shortcomings: they are the natural complement to your skills. For example, as a leader, you have a vision or a view of the way the future could be. …
A value is a belief or philosophy that underlies our worldview and the way we treat our family, employees, the community, and the environment. Values may be deep-seated, such as our view of the importance of empathy and our responsibility in determining right from wrong, or more superficial, such as the value we place on …
Effective leaders are optimistic. They are optimistic and confident by nature, and they can convey their optimism to others in ways that are motivating—this is not Pollyanna optimism but a strong belief in their vision and their ability to make it happen. The optimism of a leader is founded in reality. Optimistic leaders focus on …
Humor plays a serious role in your communication with other people. Humor can be used to make a point or to diffuse a situation. When used about yourself, humor demonstrates your humility and can sometimes disarm a difficult situation. Before we discuss using humor, it is important to understand that humor in a business setting is not …
Knowing yourself is one of the most challenging and important tasks of your life. If you know what you believe in, what you value, and how you define yourself, you will be in a better position to understand what you want. You will also be empowered to achieve your goals both in business and in …