The initial argument put forth is that whether or not there are traits and/or a personality that a leader must have in order to be affective. Taking one issue at a time I would argue that there are definitely traits that a leader must contain in order to be successful. Leaders must have the ability to be empowering of others. A leader cannot complete all tasks at hand alone but by empowering others they can achieve goals faster and more effectively. A leader must also have experience, be compassionate, humble, honest, and a visionary. Leaders must see things unfold before they do in order to drive people in the right direction. The most important character trait about a leader is that an effective leader has to be confident. A leader that is not confident in their decisions is not a leader at all. People do not follow people that they lack faith in.
Does personality matter when it comes to leadership? I would argue that personality matters to a point. When looking at the five variables of personality, a leader should rank high on conscientiousness because a leader needs to be well organized, reliable, and careful. They would also need to rank high in extraversion because leaders need to be well spoken and liked in order to get things accomplished. The leader would also need to achieve a high score on agreeableness and a low score on neuroticism. The last factor that is important in the personality model would be whether or not the leader would be open to experiences or intellect. An effective leader would score high in this category. Although a leaders personality would be expected to meet all these variables that does not mean that someone who does not meet these standards, cannot be a leader. Everyone can be a leader if they try but the best leaders show a certain set of traits important to leader a large majority of people.
I definitely agree in the section when you talk about confidence. I also talked about confidence in my blog because it's such an important factor when it comes to being a leader. Your right, a leader who isn't confident in decision making can't be a leader. How is someone who can't make decisions suppose to instill confidence in their followers when they're not even confident in theirselves. Without that characteristic, being a leader, to me, is just impossible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you say about a leader having experience, without it a leader doesn't know what to expect and isn't as prepared as someone with experience. Confidence is also a huge factor in a leader, I also mentioned this is my blog. I also agree that the five character traits have an importance in creating an effective leader too.
ReplyDelete