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Seven Qualities of Leadership

1. "Enthusiasm; try naming a leader without it!
2. Integrity: meaning both personal wholeness and sticking to values outside yourself, primarily goodness and truth - integrity makes people trust a leader.
3. Toughness: demanding, with high standards, resilient, tenacious and with the aim of being respected (not necessarily popular).
4. Fairness: impartial, rewarding/penalizing performance without 'favorites,' treating individuals differently but equally.
5. Warmth: the heart as well as the mind being engaged, loving what is being done and caring for people - cold fish do not make good leaders.
6. Humility: the opposite of arrogance, being a listener and without an overwhelming ego.
7. Confidence: not over-confident (which leads to arrogance), but with self-confidence - people know whether you have it or not (Adair, J., 2002, p. 116)."

Reference:  Adair, J. (2002).  100 greatest ideas for effective leadership and management.  Oxford, United Kingdom: Capstone Publishing.

Do you possess these seven qualities?

100 Greatest Ideas for Effective Leadership and Management is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  A complete listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/

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Created: 2008-04-02, Updated: 2009-02-16