Traits of Effective Leaders

Kathleen Melymuka of ComputerWorld interviewed Ronald A. Heifetz who teaches leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and who co-wrote "Leadership on the Line." According to Ms. Melymuka, Heifetz offered the following cautions:

To lead is to live dangerously, and leaders who ignore the danger can find themselves taken down

When you ask people to develop competencies they currently do not have, you are asking them to go through a period of incompetence, and the loss of competence is a terrible thing. Employees faced with this challenge may fight ferociously against the validity of your initiative -- and frequently in ways that will endanger your efforts and you personally.

The dangers are to one's reputation, career or institutional credibility.

Leaders championing change may find themselves increasingly isolated. This is where leaders need allies and confidants along the way to point out what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.

Leaders need to find ways to contain conflict so it does not spread and infect others, particularly the uncommitted. A leader's goal is to bring aboard the uncommitted

To maintain credibility, leaders needs to display authoritative expertise, but it is important for a leader to engage others in the process and not try to address and resolve all the problems personally (Melymuka, 2002, 42).

There is an old expression: "Leaders are born, not made." This suggests that power and

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ome similar characteristics, and all leaders need certain skills. In general, these leadership skills can be divided into three categories: technical skills, social skills, and visionary skills. Outstanding leaders make decisions based on facts, and apply common sense to complex tasks. Leaders act when they have amassed adequate information rather than waiting for 'perfect' information. In this regard, leaders are risk takers. Leaders tend to be well organized, detail-oriented and thorough. They often expect their subordinates to have the same attributes, or at least to be striving to develop these attributes. They have little patience for mediocrity, or for people who aspire to be no better than mediocre. An important leadership trait is flexibility. Leaders are smart enough to know that many times they will have to alter their plans in light of new information or a changing business environment. Thus, flexibility is a critical success factor for a leader. Successful leaders are not only highly motivated, but try to foster the same enthusiasm in their associates. Leaders are not cheerleaders, but an important trait or characteristic of leaders is their ability to encourage and motivate the people around them to share

Category: Psychology - T