The noise around leadership on LinkedIn is almost deafening at times. Blogs, group discussions, updates and comments curiously and convincingly chattering about leadership, what it means and how to do it. It seems to me that every type of leadership style has been offered, discussed, dissected and evaluated. And as the majority of users on LinkedIn are business professionals we have to assume that their opinions are probably based on real world experiences and therefore relatively credible.

I have to admit though that I find reading through the multitude of perspectives discombobulating at times. However, it seems to me that the sum total of all the thoughts and theories add up to probably no more than two conclusions.

There’s more than just one way to be a leader

Not everyone is cut out to be one

But I don’t just want to leave there because I really enjoy learning and stimulating discussion. So, in a bid to create more noise I decided to add another voice to the general din by literally summarising (in 5 simple sums) what I believe most people agree to be the universal qualities for great leadership.

#1 Honesty + Wholeness = INTEGRITY

The first sum involves the quality of honesty which is essentially a commitment to being truthful and transparent. First with yourself and then with others. Many people are obsessed with the idea of being authentic without a clear and definite understanding of what is actually authentic about them. Which is the authentic you? The person at home alone, or with the family? The person at work or the person in social settings? The person on holiday or the person after a few drinks? Some may say all of them and I would agree. So, this is why developing a sense of wholeness becomes a vital ingredient to being honest. Wholeness means having fully integrated all your selves in all their guises. Your physical self, your emotional self, your intellectual self and your trans-personal or spiritual self. Each of these dimensions will inform your ethical and moral standpoint in any and every situation.

For example: if you are attacked physically, perhaps by someone threatening you with a heavy object, a knife or even a gun, you will more than likely react very differently than you would if you are attacked intellectually. For some people an attack on their spiritual beliefs is a more serious threat than a physical attack and can result in a very powerful and destructive response. If you are in physical danger and yet emotionally you are totally depressed and exhausted, you may fail to take the appropriate action to save yourself. In this instance the emotional dimension overwhelms the body’s survival mechanisms. Wholeness then is a key component to making honesty a real quality in the sum of integrity.

#2 Open mindedness + Intelligence = FLEXIBILITY

The old adage of 'you must believe in something or you’ll fall for anything' definitely applies here. To be open-minded requires a high level of intelligence to be truly useful in leadership. Leading by consensus is often the least effective strategy. In a bid to be open to everything I may end up deciding on nothing for risk of offending someone. Therefore It is important to have enough intelligence to take a systems perspective to support an open-minded approach. Understanding how mutual influence emerges as actors within a system exert force and pressure on each other. Also recognising and identifying how the unseen and sometimes unnoticed power of the system can influence people, even to the degree of separating them within it's structure. Being open minded with intelligence also means acknowledging the role blame plays in magnifying separation between people in a dysfunctional system. Knowing who is doing what, when, why, how and with whom and then being able to communicate a vision and manage expectations is the key to flexibility as a leadership quality.

#3 Energy + Attitude = CONTAGION

Human beings are natural imitators and research has revealed that we are easily influenced by the behaviours of those around us. A growing body of research is revealing that people modelling the behaviours of key influencers in an organisation can spread behaviours and attitudes very quickly and efficiently. In his book the ‘Tipping Point’ Malcolm Gladwell highlights ‘The Law of the Few, also known as the 80/20 Principle which states that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the 'effect' will be created by 20 percent of the cause.

Some interesting research conducted by Professor Paul Connolly and two pairs of psychologists Cote and Saavedra (2005) and Bono and llies (2006) demonstrated that leaders considered to be contagious transmit their energy through attitudes that affect emotions more effectively than compared with other leaders. Contagious leaders were observed to be able to literally change the mood of their employees, merely by walking into a room. It was discovered that this effect was due to the leaders level of personal energy, which increased their ability to communicate attitudes and emotions, both verbally and non verbally. Their mood became contagious in a very short time with the workforce imitating the behaviours of the leaders. This sum has a number of variations:

  • High Energy + Positive attitude: Can be experienced as a motivational and inspiring leader in appropriate situations and contexts.
  • High Energy + Negative attitude: Can be experienced as an aggressive, de-motivating, critical and depressing leader.
  • Low Energy + Positive attitude: May be experienced as a calming and supportive leader.
  • Low Energy + Negative attitude: Draining and dull but still highly contagious.

Learning how to manage the quantity of your energy and quality of your attitude is the key to developing a contagious leadership style.

#4 Compassion + Understanding = CONNECTION

Deep listening becomes the important component that makes this sum add up correctly. Hearing someone’s point of view is very different from understanding his or her plight from a place of compassion. only when a leader has a dropped their own stuff can they approach others with an open heart and the capacity to authentically connect making compassion the ideal partner to understanding.

#5 Intention + Behaviour = IMPACT

If you’ve ever confronted someone you felt had offended you and they said: “I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean to upset you” you will have experienced a mismatch between intention and behavior. This happens because many of us are unaware that our intentions are not always as visible as we like to think they are.

Just because we think something it doesn’t mean we’ve said it.

Just because we’ve said it doesn’t mean it’s been heard.

Just because something we said has been heard doesn’t mean it was understood.

And just because it was understood doesn’t mean it will have the impact we wanted.

The most obvious demonstration of the dangers of this mismatch is when we rely on email as a mode of informing people of our intentions. Email is probably the most riskiest and least effective way to communicate with someone about important and sensitive matters, unless of course you have the skills of a best selling novelist. The truth is, there is usually a gap between how we think we are perceived and the reality of how people experience us in each and every moment. Unless you are very self aware and able to present a full 4 dimensional ｅxpression of your intentions to everyone you meet, the perception gap can sometimes be huge. A leader needs to be fully conscious of the impact they make and this requires that they ensure their intentions translate into real behavior. I call this consciously creating the impact you choose. A vital quality for effective leadership.

Well, that’s my contribution to the cacophony around leadership skills and qualities for now. Looking forward to reading your thoughts.