The 7 Traits of Great Leaders

Are you a leader? Or just a manager? What's the difference, you ask? If you don't know, you're probably in the wrong job. A leader energises and motivates their team to achieve seemingly impossible goals. A manager makes sure the process works. A leader has a powerful sense of mission and purpose. A manager makes sure all reports are in on time. Leaders innovate. Managers... well, they manage. Lest you think this is a bunch of New Age business-seminar babble, know this: in the twenty-first century, understanding the difference between leading and managing is understanding the difference between winning and losing in cutthroat markets. Global competitiveness is so intense today, and there's so much "sameness" in products, that you will succeed or fail ninety-eight percent of the time because of your company's people.

"One of the distinguishing characteristics of great, enduring organisations is that they put a lot of thought into the development of leadership," says Jim Collins, who should know something about leadership. He's the co-author of the acclaimed Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. Ask yourself whether you and the leaders that you recruit possess the following seven key leadership traits identified by our research.

1.You must be Assertive
The best leaders are still the ones who know when—and how—to get tough. They know how to assert their authority.

2. You must have Ego Drive
Ego drive is the desire to persuade. And if you didn't like to persuade people—if you weren’t thrilled with getting the "yes"—you wouldn’t be a leader in the first place.

3. You must possess Resilience
It’s been said that great leaders are like Hall of Fame baseball hitters—they succeed only one out of every three times they come to the plate. When a leader loses a battle, he has to have the ego strength that allows him to maintain his optimism and move on.

4. You must be a Risk Taker
In a competitive marketplace, the winners are often those leaders who are willing to try, dare, even make fools of themselves.

5. You must be Innovative
Hand in hand with being a risk-taker is being innovative. Great leaders know that the "old ways" of doing things aren't always the best ways—especially in a rapidly changing marketplace.

6. You Must be Urgent
In a customer-driven marketplace, the need to get things done now is critical to winning and keeping business. Wait until tomorrow to submit that proposal, and a hungry competitor might get in the door ahead of you. Leave at 5:30 instead of staying late to address a client's problems, and that client may be someone else's before long.

7. You must be Empathic
Leaders are tough, driven, daring. But they also have a heart. They possess as much compassion as they do competitive fire.

We found that the best leaders share these key personality traits, if you would like a copy of the full report or if you would like to know more about Caliper Assessments, please contact Jennifer Ibbetson-Revell at jenniferi@caliperhs.co.uk.