What are the Traits of a Leader?

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

--Maya Angelou

Last month, I wrote about what it means to be a leader, or the how of leadership. Today, I will explore the key attributes of leaders, or what it takes to be a good leader - someone that gets noticed and inspires others to follow them. We’ll look at it from three perspectives - key competencies of leaders, leadership presence, and signals of leadership potential.

Leadership competencies

Let’s start with a quick thought exercise. Think of a leader that you admire. It can be someone you know personally and have interacted with, or a public or historical figure. Now as you think of this leader, consider what traits you admire in this leader. If you want, you can write them down.

The following are some common competencies that people look for in a leader

• Takes initiative

• Practices self development

• Displays high integrity and honesty

• Drives for results

• Develops others

• Inspires and motivates others

• Stays calm & confident

• Is self-aware

• Builds relationships

• Collaborates

• Sets ambitious goals

• Champions change

• Solves problems and analyzes issues

• Makes tough decisions

• Has expertise

Keep in mind that this is not meant to be a checklist. You can be a good leader even if not all of these are your strengths. Think of this list as a reference to evaluate your leadership skills - where do you already excel and what skills might be good to focus on developing?

Leadership presence

Leadership presence, also sometimes referred to as executive presence, refers to the qualities that make people pay attention to you and want to hear what you have to say. It’s the difference between being competent in your field and getting noticed for it. It inspires others to follow you. According to Sylvia Ann Hewitt, author, economist, and founder of Center for Talent innovation (now called Coqual), leadership presence comes from the combination of how you act, how you speak, and how you look. 

Gravitas, or how you act, is conveyed through exuding confidence and grace under fire, being decisive and acting with integrity, demonstrating emotional intelligence, maintaining a good reputation, and projecting vision. This is the most important factor in leadership presence. Next is communication, or how you speak, as demonstrated through speaking skills, ability to command a room, and ability to read an audience. Last and least important is appearance, or how you look - good grooming and physical attractiveness. The point is not to make your appearance a distraction that overshadows your capabilities.

CTI/Coqual’s research indicates that while leadership presence alone is not enough to get you a leadership position or role, missing it may be an impediment. What it looks like in practice will vary depending on the culture you are part of, both corporate and societal. The study also found that women and people of color may find themselves held to a higher standard or struggle with conforming to corporate culture while maintaining authenticity. I will caveat that the study was done in 2012, so some aspects may be outdated in 2023. What I take away from the study is that you can influence how others see you through things like confident body language and communication (projecting competence and confidence), emotional intelligence (ability to read the room), staying calm in a crisis, and being decisive.

Leadership potential

If you aren’t currently in a leadership role, how can you get recognized for your potential? Here are some key signals to identify future leaders, according to research by Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm: 

• Learning agility, or growth mindset - the ability to learn from experience and apply the learnings to unfamiliar situations.

• Diverse leadership experiences, including developmental roles and stretch assignments that are challenging and help to develop perspective to be able to handle ambiguity, broad scope, and high visibility.

• Aspiration drivers - motivation to make a difference, gain greater responsibility, and work with others toward shared goals.

• Leadership trails - resilience and persistence in challenging situations, comfort with handling ambiguous/vague information, comfort in taking initiative, and inclusive style when working with others

• Managed Derailment Risks - awareness of and ability to manage undermining risks such as micro-managing, being highly reactive, or being rigid in approaches to work.

As you can see, there are several commonalities when you look across leadership competencies, components of executive presence, and signals of leadership potential. If you aspire to earn a leadership role, consider where you could further develop your skills and presence. If you are already a leader, how could you become even more effective in service of your team?