Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Good And Bad Leadership Qualities


..teaching English as a foreign language does very occasionally throw up something interesting; here is a resume of good and bad qualities in any leader, the context being a business English lesson on leadership, naturally enough.

The good points are lifted from here, the bad points came from somewhere we recall not where..

Good ones:

1) Vision - not just having it, which any idiot can do, but doggedly pursuing it, acting and not just visualizing.
2) Integrity - the majority of our leaders probably fall down here.
3) Dedication - remember Roy Castle?! (himself an obnoxious drunk, I seem to remember Victor Lewis-Smith saying).
4) Magnanimity - I couldn't even say it myself initially; essentially giving credit where credit's due and not trying to pass the buck, again something in short supply..
5) Humility - not letting people walk all over you so much as what in modern, inane management-ese would call 'empowering' others.
6) Creativity - yes, thinking outside the box.
7) Openness - even Mikhail Gorbachev was a proponent of this.
8) Fairness - well, yeah.
9) Assertiveness - duh..(don't confuse this with aggressiveness, however)
10) Sense of Humour - in my experience this is the hardest one to cultivate..

Things that good leaders should avoid..(these are no brainers to an even greater extent than the above but worth summarizing, or maybe not..)

1) Too high self-regard.
2) Poor communication skills.
3) Unwillingness to take risks.
4) Indecisiveness.
5) Laissez-Faire attitude.
6) Poor self-discipline.
7) Favouritism.
8) Lying and deceitfulness.
9) Being power-hungry.
10) Seeing the big picture but overlooking the details.
11) Too focused on rules or processes.
12) Authoritarianism.
13) Impulsiveness.
14) Unwillingness to resolve conflicts.
15) Inability to handle criticism.

..Got a boss who exhibits most of the first list and few of the second? Lucky you!


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