Common Traits of Great Leaders (Part 4) Final

by Guy Picken, Guy Picken Consulting

Continuing from last week, we conclude with our final blog on the qualities that make great leaders.

9. Great Leaders are great communicators

Great leaders can explain their strategies in clear simple terms that everyone can understand. The know that if it takes more than 60 seconds to explain the concept you have probably lost your audience.

Great leaders know that human beings inherently dislike change and if they are to get the support of the audience, they must tell them how and why (how they are expected to change and why the change was necessary or will be better). They also explain this is a way that is relevant to the listener.

Great leaders conduct regular and honest performance reviews with their team giving the team members an accurate understanding of their performance and what they need to improve to be their best. Think of a coach’s role in a sporting team, their role is to help the players improve via constructive feedback.

‘A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you always knew you could be” - Tom Landry.

At the same time great leader welcome constructive and respectful challenges of their thinking. They understand that environments where everyone agrees do not mean they have a functional team, to the contrary it could be a sign of disfunction as if the team doesn’t thoroughly test their strategies internally the market surely will.

“When everyone agrees, someone isn’t thinking.” - George Patton.

10. Great Leaders are logical

Great leaders are not swayed by the latest trends nor bamboozled by subject matter experts who bully them into certain decisions by how they frame their advice (you can’t do that, it won’t work, you don’t understand, all experts agree). Often the senior leadership team has been in their roles for many years in an organisation that hasn’t excelled. Great leaders understand that they probably mean well but rather than looking for high impact evolution they are explaining the way they have done things around here.

Dogma is the precursor to ruin. – Thales.

Great leaders take advice, actively listening and insisting that the advice is explained in a way that can be understood. They confidently ask for repeated explanations until they understand.

“The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask” – Paul MacCready

When something doesn’t look right a Great Leader will be skeptical until they find proof one way or another. They are not afraid to trust their instincts and challenge things. They spot trends early and act because they understand the detail.

“To believe without evidence is folly” - Socrates.’

Great leaders use data to challenge their own assumptions and those of their team. They value experience but know it is used to best advantage when coupled with strong analytics. When the data agrees with their instincts they can have high conviction of success.

“Don’t double down on old instincts when presented with new insights” – Fernando De Leon

Common Traits of Great Leaders

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Great leaders