Leadership Traits
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- Last Updated: Tuesday, 06 April 2021
Nurture, Nature and Leadership Traits
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Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman has written extensively about what makes a person a leader. In his book Emotional Intelligence, Goleman divides leadership traits into two broad categories:- Self Management Skills, and
- The Ability to Relate to Others
Self-Management Skills
This first broad category of traits has to do with the abilities of leaders to "manage" themselves. The hypothesis here is they must first look inwards, and be in control of themselves, before they can start to lead others.- Self-Awareness: When someone has a deep understanding of themselves, including their strengths and weaknesses, they are said to be self aware. For example, if an individual knows they don't work well under pressure, they're exhibiting the trait of self awareness.
- Self-Regulation: The leadership trait of self regulation leverages self awareness but takes it one step further. People that exhibit self regulation are able to not only understand their impulsive behaviors, but also control them.
- Motivation: Managers oftentimes wonder to themselves: How can I get this worker motivated? Unfortunately, it's not possible to motivate others. Motivation comes from within, and is a driving passion that exists inside a person. The most a leader can do is to create an environment where motivation thrives. Understanding these nuances is an essential trait for anyone in a leadership role.
The Ability to Relate to Others
The second broad category of leadership traits are those involving the ability to relate to people. They describe, quite simply, a leader's ability to relate to others.- Empathy: A successful leader must be able to deal effectively with others. The first step in understanding another person's viewpoint is through the leadership trait of empathy. This means managers must put themselves in their follower's shoes, and take into account their reaction to the managers' decisions.
- Social Skills: Goleman maintains that all of the other leadership traits culminate in this skill. In this context, social skills are defined as the ability to build rapport with others, and get them to work together towards a common goal.

Leadership Traits versus Styles
As a reminder, the above traits should not be confused with leadership styles. These are the characteristics of a person. The things someone might see in themselves, or in others. This is not to be confused with how to effectively lead others, which has more to do with styles.About the Author - Leadership Traits
