Leadership: Key Characteristics Of A Good Leader

Abstract

This caselet helps introduce the participants to the concepts of Leadership.

We look at what makes an effective leader and what differentiates leaders from non-leaders.

What is Leadership?

Ability to influence a group of people or members of an organization towards the achievement of a set of goals is called Leadership. In an organization, not all managers are leaders, nor, all leaders are managers. In other words, leaders can emerge from within a group as well as by formal appointment.

Need for Leadership

Organizations need strong leadership and strong management to challenge the status quo, create visions of the future and inspire/motivate members.

“Without leaders, things drift along”. They go where they want to go, following the path of least resistance. A leader’s job is to overcome this resistance and make the things flow in a different direction.

Key Characteristics of a Good Leader

1). Vision – A good leader has vision, expressed as a goal, that proposes a better future, and is able to clarify the importance of the vision in terms that are understandable to others.

2). Risk – Willing to take on a high risk, and engage in self-sacrifice to

Employee perception of their leaders’ behaviour are significant predictors of whether they blame the leader for failure. We can also make demographic assumptions about leaders. One large-scale study found that many individuals hold stereotypes of men as having more leader characteristics than women. Teams prefer male leaders when aggressively competing against other teams, but they generally prefer female leaders when the competition in within teams. How do you lead people who are physically separated from you? Leaders have to think carefully about what actions they want? They confront unique challenges, the greatest of which appears to be developing and maintaining