Leadership and...You

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In our now well-known monthly topic survey, we got some very interesting results on leadership. Most of the questions were designed to be open-ended (i.e., not multiple choice), specifically to encourage original answers—to keep our respondents from just checking off a few boxes. Many of the answers were rather intriguing—and unexpected. Here is a breakdown of the survey questions/responses:

QUESTION 1:

What are the three most important traits and skill sets of a great leader today?

The top three responses were:

1. Ability to inspire others - 72.7%

2. Empowerment of employees - 47.7%

3. Integrity - 40.9%

These were closely followed by:

4. Clarity of vision - 38.6%

5. Positive attitude - 34.1%

It’s pretty clear that most people want to be inspired. Perhaps at this moment you may be asking, “Do I inspire others?”

Much further down the list were:

6. Creating a great business plan and following it - 18.1%

7. Passion - 13.6%

And way down the list were the following: courage, commitment to the company, decisiveness, organization and visiting customers. So there you have it. Now you know what to focus on.

QUESTION 2: 

How do you see leadership evolving?

Sometimes it’s hard to notice change because evolution can be…so…slow. Keep in mind, evolution does not happen at the same pace for every person…you could be far behind the next person, which could make you appear to be an outdated leader. Are you?

The responses to this open-ended question were perhaps the most difficult to categorize of all the responses we got. Answers ranged from “becoming more team-based than single hero-based” to “getting more hands-on” to “better organization and execution of plan” to “much more collaborative, less prescriptive.”

To read this entire article, which appeared in the October 2016 issue of The PCB Magazine, click here.