Business Leadership: Core Qualities and Development Methods

Core Qualities of Effective Leaders

Bill Gates. Steve Jobs. Carly Fiorina. What do these names have in common? They are all CEOs of major global corporations—businessmen and women at the tops of their professions, leaders of the international business community. But how did they get there? How did they achieve so much? How did they build organizations that are at once creative, competitive, and most importantly, profitable?

Business leadership is both a science and an art. Yes, there are successful executives who seem to be born with the knack, just as there are painters who seem to have been born with a brush in their hand and great musicians who were composing before they could walk. But we cannot all be Mozarts; most of us must observe, study, and practice the techniques of success. Business is a skill, and like any other skill, its secrets can be learned. First, however, we must look at what exactly constitutes this elusive concept we call "leadership." What exactly is a leader?

Leadership as Inspiration, Ethics, and Planning

Maddock and Fulton provide an excellent overview of the many diverse qualities that make a good leader. These characteristics are not static; they are proactive, responding to changes in time and place. Adaptability, integrity, and understanding may each be desirable traits depending upon the circumstances. Different situations call for different personality skills, but there are two constants found in every great leader: charisma and motivation. Every good leader must be able to attract a following, and every good leader must be able to motivate his or her followers. This is true not only of the business world, but also of politics, education, and society—in every place and every activity that brings groups of people together. Napoleon inspired his troops to victory. Mahatma Gandhi led the people of India to freedom. Britney Spears gets all the kids up on their feet. Leadership comes in many forms, and leaders all have their own style, but in the end they all accomplish the same thing: they inspire others to follow.

Good ethics cannot be ignored. Ciulla offers an excellent discussion of the importance of ethical leadership. While business and ethics may not often seem to have gone hand in hand, today more than ever, a good leader must pay attention to the moral side of leadership. An upright executive inspires both those who work under him or her and those who are the ultimate judges of his or her success—clients and stockholders. To make her point, Ciulla quotes the great Greek historian Thucydides: "Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation." Power should always be tempered by justice, compassion, and moderation.

Understanding Group Dynamics and Team Leadership

A great leader not only inspires followers and sets a good example, but a great leader also knows how to make decisions. Successful executives such as Carly Fiorina are able to optimize their resources. They know how to manage personnel, budget their time, work within available funds, and most significantly, they understand how to plan for the future. A good leader has the experience and foresight to determine what will work and what will not, thus avoiding future problems. Guion discusses the essential steps to formulating a viable business strategy. Once these are mastered, the basic definition of what constitutes a good leader becomes clear. As Thomas A. Edison once said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." We could rephrase that as: "Leadership is one part inspiration, one part ethics, and one part planning."

A leader understands how to work with people. She observes how others work and interact. She realizes the importance of keeping open the lines of communication and making her instructions clear and easily intelligible. There are many techniques for observing worker dynamics. Hare and Hare describe a method called SYMLOG, or Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups. According to their framework, "SYMLOG is a theory of personality and group dynamics that is integrated with a set of practical methods for measuring and changing behavior and values in groups and organizations in a democratic way. Norms of effective behavior and values, derived from ratings made by managers of organizations, are used as criteria for indicating the changes that may be necessary so that leaders and members can bring about desirable changes in group performance."

Adaptation in the Digital Business Environment

The importance of the group is further underscored by Parks and Sanna. An accomplished leader must possess a thorough comprehension of the mechanics of worker interaction. How do groups form? How do they stay together? What is it like to be a member of a group? A manager is not merely a leader; he or she is also a member of a team. Learning how to be a good leader means learning how to work with others. Listening, observing, and reacting are the indispensable tools of the leader.

In today's global, high-tech economy, a group can be much more than a collection of people in one room or a bunch of executives sitting around a conference table. Email and the Internet connect businesspeople all over the planet. The stockbroker in Tokyo can teleconference with counterparts on Wall Street, while his or her bosses discuss prices in real-time with London's financial experts. As Hargrove quotes Steve Case on Millennium Eve, "We are witnessing the beginning of what will probably be known as the Internet century." Nothing has transformed the world of business as the Internet revolution has. No leader who does not understand the intricacies of the e-marketplace will have much of a chance on the global or even the local stage. We are fast approaching the age of the paperless office. The Internet has its own conventions and etiquette, its own techniques and secrets. The ability to master the Internet is the final test of the business leader.

The Leader-Follower Relationship and Corporate Culture

The inability to master the above techniques is what marks the follower. Pfeffer identifies five behavioral models: the economic model, the social model, the retrospectively rational model, the moral model, and the cognitive interpretive model. He also states that while there is considerable overlap between the traits shared by both leaders and followers, there are certain noticeable differences. However, these differences may vary with time and place, just as a leader's ideal personal characteristics may vary according to time and place. A leader is a person who can engender desired actions in others; thus a follower can be expected, Pfeffer presents the case, to respond to a leader's guidance in different ways depending on whether the leader is charismatic or non-charismatic and depending upon what sort of reward he or she expects to receive. Such a reward can be monetary, a change in status, or even a personal feeling of satisfaction over having accomplished a socially desirable goal.

Henderson makes another interesting point regarding the follower: he or she must be loyal and dedicated because, no matter how well-equipped and well-trained the leader, ultimately all workers bear the responsibility for success. A follower is thus not simply a person who does not lead—in that case we would include loud, disgruntled employees among the corporate leaders—rather, he or she is an employee who contributes to the company by following the directions of management and giving his or her all to the enterprise.

Methods for Developing and Identifying Future Leaders

Interestingly enough, it is from the point of view of the follower that the leader is most important. Large corporations, in particular, have been criticized for placing too much emphasis on the bottom line and too little emphasis on good business practice. The good and ill effects of corporate culture, or "groupthink," are major themes in Sims's work. Leaders set the tone of a corporate culture. Bad leaders send a message that unethical acts or shortcuts are perfectly acceptable. On the other hand, good leaders guide their employees along the path of growth and improvement. Gilley and Cunich stress the importance of corporate organization and leadership in developing a lifelong learning curve. If a company sets a good example, its workers will not only always be driven to do their best, but they will also always be learning and adapting. Adaptation—that is the key in today's fast-paced global environment. The corporate body must be conditioned to adapt. The leader is all-important.

Once one understands all the qualities of a good leader, as well as the different ways in which leadership can be learned and the respective roles of leader and follower, it is necessary to examine the specific methods used to produce new leaders. Mentoring and grooming, formal classroom instruction, and on-the-job training all have their place in the world of business leadership. London provides a good discussion on how to inculcate a managerial mindset. He presents the different personality traits needed to be a good business leader and, equally importantly, those characteristics that one would like to eliminate in potential managers. A mentor is a role model. A good role model will teach pupils how to build character and self-reliance. It is extremely important that the manager in training not lose confidence when left on his or her own. He or she must not view the world as coming apart and must not imagine himself or herself incapable of making decisions without the guiding hand of the mentor. The mentor must act as a kind of coach, first teaching by example and then watching from the sidelines while providing the occasional tip.

Today's mentor must be sensitive to more than just the needs of the marketplace. The modern office is increasingly multicultural, and Murrell, Crosby, and Ely address the specific problems involved in the mentoring of minorities. Women, though a majority of the population, often face their own unique complications in the workplace regardless of their racial or ethnic background. Fredrick and Atkinson give a detailed look at the entire spectrum of office ethics as it affects women, specifically addressing the possible problems inherent in cross-gender mentoring. They note that "not only is the potential for sexual innuendo or harassment ever present in cross-sex mentoring, but women have problems with mentoring for other reasons as well: the lack of access to informal networks of information, tokenism, stereotyping, the sheer absence of older or more experienced women available, and the apparent unwillingness of men to mentor younger women." A good mentor and a good leader must never forget to take into account the legal ramifications of his or her actions. In the contemporary business world, sexual harassment is a serious issue and is not to be taken lightly.

All the good work of a mentor or classroom instructor can be undone, however, if the leadership development program has little practical application. Often a complaint against standardized tests—such as civil service exams—is that the knowledge they test has little or nothing to do with the job for which the test is required. Management must always be very careful in designing appropriate programs for the training of future leaders. Gratton recommends detailed analyses of worker competencies as well as the establishment of clear lines of succession. That way, employees with their eyes on advancement can have some idea of what they should be learning. Miller emphasizes the need for reinforcing the creative impulse. Certainly, creativity is one of the outstanding attributes of the good leader, and its inculcation and encouragement should be taken into account when designing any leadership training program. Similarly, a company whose focus is sales might examine Bauer's description of the different techniques and mindsets required by today's salesperson. Even the hard sell is often now a team effort requiring complex interpersonal and leadership skills.

Conclusion: Selecting and Training Leaders for Organizational Success

Now that you understand what does and does not make a good leader, you can distinguish better kinds of programs from worse and have a working knowledge of what considerations go into designing a good program. It should be obvious that only those people who fit the most essential of all these different characteristics—from your organization's point of view—and who suit one or more of these teaching and learning styles will make good leaders. Nevertheless, it is still possible to use various kinds of psychological and career profiles. While sizing up your employees has been mentioned before, there are still a few good resources available that might help you and your bosses tackle this complicated issue. Queendom.com offers a number of examinations that test management ability, career potential, and personal traits such as capacity to deal with stress. Also available online is the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, an excellent guidepost to possible talents and strengths.