Develop your leadership skills- John Adair. -- 2nd ... - About University

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6 ■ Develop your leadership skillsGeneric leadership traitsYou will have noticed that these qualities are very muchanchored in particular fields. There may well be somecommonality, but certainly the degrees to which the qualitiesare required will vary considerably. There are, however, somemore generic or transferable leadership qualities that youshould recognise in yourself – you will certainly see them inother leaders. They are set out in the box below.Qualities of leadership – across theboard■ Enthusiasm. Can you think of any leader who lacks enthusiasm?It is very hard to do so, isn’t it?■ Integrity. This is the quality that makes people trust you. Andtrust is essential in all human relationships – professional orprivate. ‘Integrity’ means both personal wholeness andadherence to values outside yourself – especially goodnessand truth.■ Toughness. Leaders are often demanding people, uncomfortableto have around because their standards are high. Theyare resilient and tenacious. Leaders aim to be respected, butnot necessarily popular.■ Fairness. Effective leaders treat individuals differently butequally. They do not have favourites. They are impartial ingiving rewards and penalties for performance.■ Warmth. Cold fish do not make good leaders. Leadershipinvolves your heart as well as your mind. Loving what youare doing and caring for people are equally essential.
What you have to be ■ 7■ Humility. This is an odd quality, but characteristic of the verybest leaders. The opposite to humility is arrogance. Whowants to work for an arrogant manager? The signs of agood leader are a willingness to listen and a lack of an overweeningego.■ Confidence. Confidence is essential. People will sensewhether or not you have it. So developing self-confidence isalways the preliminary to becoming a leader. But don’t let itbecome overconfidence, the first station on the track leadingto arrogance.Some readers may question the inclusion of integrity in this list.Are there not good leaders, such as Adolf Hitler, who totallylacked integrity? There is a useful distinction between goodleaders and leaders for good. Whether or not Hitler was a goodleader is a debatable matter – in some respects he was and inothers he was not – but he was certainly not a leader for good.But this is all a bit academic. For leadership that does not reston the bedrock of integrity does not last: it always collapses,and usually sooner rather than later. Why? Because that is theway of human nature.You can see that what you are is an important strand in yourleadership. Remember the Zulu proverb, ‘I cannot hear whatyou are saying to me because you are shouting at me.’ Thisstrand in your leadership is also one of the three main paths upthe mountain, the three lines of answering those core questions‘What is leadership?’ and ‘Why does one person rather thananother emerge as the leader in a group?’ (The other twoapproaches are considered in Chapters 2 and 3.)
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