Some debate whether leaders are born or made. We’ll leave that question for another day.
Today, let’s debate the next best leadership angle: What do you think is the single most important quality of a leader?
Honesty, vision, inspiration, competence, integrity, charisma, intelligence, decisiveness, or your choice . . .
Which one is the most important? Why?
Authenticity. If you are behaving authentically then leadership comes naturally.
All of the discussed traits are important. If I had to pick a #1, I have to say that it’s the ability to create buy-in from your followers/team/employees. A leader has to make believers out of his followers and ingrain in them the importance of the message, product, service, etc. that they are offering. Why does the guy at your local deli care so much about making the best sandwich that he can for you? He doesn’t see any extra money, he doesn’t own the deli. He has bought in (in a good way) to the deli owner’s vision of that deli. To me, it’s fascinating.
I’ve worked at a deli, for what is now below minimum wage. It’s a job that I would never have taken if I hadn’t needed the money and there was certainly no buy-in to the store’s vision. In fact, my tenure there made me somewhat disillusioned from what was THE place in high school. Did I strive to make a great sandwhich, every time? You bet. For me, it was a matter of personal pride to know that I was doing the best job I knew how to do, no matter the task.
Getting Results.
It requires all the other skills blended perfectly for each unique situation. Someone who can get results is a great leader.
The single most important leadership quality would be the ability to delegate. You are not going to be able to do everything and know everything. You can pretend for a while, but in the long run, it doesn’t work. You have to trust other people to fill in your knowledge gaps and get the work done.
From a purely functional point of view, I think you’re right on target. I’ve experienced folks that could delegate well, but were missing some of the other integrity-based qualities. And their leadership tenure was short lived as well.
Great thoughts. Thanks for adding to the discussion!
My feeling is that integrity isn’t a leadership quality, it’s an essential human quality. No matter what you do, leader or no, without integrity gains are short lived.
The single most to me would be integrity. I have known some leaders who if you stopped with charisma or intelligence they had me on board. When it came up they were short on integrity they lost my support.
I think a leader is a combination of both born and made. Experiences make our view on the world and how we are able to relay that to others. However, our personality and who we are as a person also plays into effect. The most important qualities for me are charisma, inspiration, and authenticity.
Jenny – Great point about experiences. In recent years, I’ve learned that they shape us more than I would have expected. I agree that authenticity is a big one too.