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May 22, 2011

The Leadership Equation: Characteristics of a Good Leader

There is no shortage of content written on leadership. A quick google search or visit to Amazon reveals many opinions on traits, qualities, and definitions of leadership. Why contribute yet another series of articles on such a popular topic? Good leaders are in short supply. I believe the popularity of the topic is a result of the continual leadership failures revealed each week in the news.

    \[ l_i = \left ( i_1 + t + f + h + \frac{s_1}{s_2} + c_1 + j\right )\left ( w_1 + u + l + \frac{s_3}{a} + e \right )\left ( w_2 + \frac{m_1}{m_2} + c_2 \right ) \]

where l_i = leadership/influence

Everyone can lead, though some should not. Being a good leader is hard and requires the right set of talent, skill, and character. Do you have what it takes to lead others?

Leader ≠ Manager
Often people will use leader and manager interchangeably. Some individuals are both a leader and manager. However there is a clear difference between the two.

A manager is a steward or administrator of an organization’s resources and/or people. A manager is given authority to make things happen. Managers exercise authority over others. People are required to follow managers.

A leader is an influencer of others. A leader does not force others to make things happen. A leader inspires. People choose to follow leaders.

You don’t have to manage others to be a leader in your organization. Leaders can exist in all roles within the organization regardless of position. Personally, I am cast in both a leader and manager role at my company, though I prefer to motivate others as a leader.

How Does a Leader Influence Others?
Good leaders maximize their influence of others. This influence is simply the product of trust, competence, and vision, although this influence is hard to achieve. Over the next 9 posts, I will unpack trust, competence, and vision, and discuss 15 characteristics of a good leader.

Take a look at the equation above. Can anyone make a guess at the variables? (Hint: each variable/numerator is the first letter of one of the characteristics.)

View Related Posts for the Leadership Equation»

In: Leadership

  • Brian Crawford

    Great post, Ken.  I appreciated those things you taught me about leadership while at Blackbaud, and I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts and opinions on leadership and management.  All the best to you and yours.

    • Anonymous

      Brian, thanks for visiting.  I read you post about your near-death experience at http://briancrawford.com and was so sorry to hear how you suffered though that horrible ordeal but glad you persevered.  Your recounting was compelling as I hung on every word.  It certainly made me reflect on how fragile life is.  It is good to see that you are up and about in France again.   Please take care of yourself, Yvonne, and the kids.

  • http://twitter.com/AndrewBarton Andrew Barton

    “Leaders? We don’t need no stinkin’ leaders!”

    .. or was it badges? ;)

    • Anonymous

      Classic movie.  :-)

  • Jay Boccabello

    Looking forward to seeing you develop this, Ken.   Great job defining leadership as the virtual opposite of management – management is about control and techniques of ‘getting results’ out of people that are all too often coercive and dehumanizing.  Leadership is about acting in such a way that people want to go where you are going.  I think fear and the perception of scarcity are often the wellspring of ‘management.’  Makes for lousy parenting too : ) 

    • Anonymous

      All great points Jay.  Management is completely focused on the “how” through control and technique vs. the “what” and “why”.   Easy to see why it gets abused.

  • Drew Connelly

    Interesting read Ken, looking forward to seeing the variables revealed.  I would expect “Leading by Example” to factor into this equation as a characteristic of a good leader.  Someone I used to work for demonstrated the motivating power of this simple technique for me firsthand ;)

    • Anonymous

      Hi Drew!   Thanks for stopping by.  I hate to give it away.  Come back and see.  :-)  You are right though.  All great leaders “lead by example” and demonstrate great character.

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