Discovering Leadership Traits

In psychology, a trait is a stable characteristic--potentially lasting throughout one's entire life. Coming up with an exact list set of leadership traits is difficult due to:

1. Culture - What works in the West does not work in the East, a trait that works in France will be less successful in America.

2. Context - What trait is appropriate depends on the context one finds oneself.

3. Paradox - Leadership is paradoxical. It defies logic due to unconscious factors and emotions.

4. Means and Ends - Leadership is both a means when it focuses on process and behaviors and an end when leaders focuses on goals and outcomes.

Having said that an exact list in impossible to come up with, does not mean that leadership traits are not important in leadership development. It simply means that different experts will come up with different lists, so a certain amount of confusion will need to be tolerated.

It's reasonable to assume that certain personality traits are associated with leadership, while others are not. Take out time to research articles which talk about traits associated with leadership success and failure.

> Leadership Traits Associated With Failure:
Many times we focus on leadership traits associated with success, but it is interesting to understand failures of leadership as well. This article mentions 6 "warning signs." or traits associated with leadership failures. This includes:

* A Shift in Focus. It discusses when leaders forget the big picture and shift focus on the little things. Like making money or fixating on fame as the reason why they are doing what they are doing.

* Poor Communication. Great leaders understand that followers don't read minds. Great leadership is about communicate ideas.

* Risk Aversion. This trait talks about the fear of failure and how past successes can be a treasure.
* Ethics Slip. There has to be a close relationship between what a leader does and what he/she is.
* Poor Self-Management. It's very important that the leader takes care of him/herself to be able to achieve goals. (Physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs)
*Lost Love. Leaders have to remember the vision that brought them there. Stay on track—stay the course.


> Five Enemies of Effective Leadership:
This area talks about how employees don't want to be managed, but need to be lead. It covers five "enemies" to successful leadership that include:

* Selfishness. here we focus on what we want and don't consider what other people want and need.
* Power Struggles. as leaders, we have to learn to serve, not demand.
* Poor Communication. If we don't communicate well, our message will be misunderstood, misinterpreted and misplaced. We often use wrong words, tone of voice, or our body sends a different message than our mouth.
* Behavior: we need to know ourselves and what are the things that get us out of control, we need to learn when we have to delegate.
* Jealousy. we need to learn that more does not always lead to happiness.


> Six Air Force Leadership Traits:
The Civil Air Patrol is a organization brach of the U.S. Air Force. The organization lists 6 traits important to success in a military context. They are:

* Selflessness
* Decisiveness
* Energy
* Commitment
* Loyalty
* Integrity


> Leadership Traits According to the SBA:
Leadership traits are a subset of personality traits. According to Raymond Cattell, a pioneer in the field of personality assessments, good leaders have these personality characteristics.

* Emotional stability
* Enthusiasm
* Conscientiousness
* Tough-mindedness
* Self-assurance
* Compulsiveness
* Dominance

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