What makes a good leader? Each leader surely has his or her own thoughts on this. And so do those who are required to follow that leader. If leader and follower do not value the same characteristics, trouble may follow. A recent survey may provide some helpful insight to this question. The survey looked at the attributes that individuals value most in a leader.
Respondents ranked the following characteristics as contributing the most to an individual's ability to lead:
85% Accountable
82% Knowledgeable
81% Honest
78% Effective
78% Integrity
76% Good listener
72% Flexible
69% People Person
68% Visionary
62% Inspiring
59% Intelligent
57% Creative
55% Experienced
54% Strong
The highest rank trait, "Accountable," is defined as "is responsible, admits and learns from mistakes." Not too surprising. Accountability is integral to gaining respect from others. Accountability includes not just taking blame but it also means not taking credit that belongs to others. Those who are charged with the responsibility of a leader but who steal credit from their reports will not likely go far in the leadership ring.
But, as BusinessWeek reports in Gen Y: It's What You Know, the results of the survey that are a bit more surprising involve generational perspectives. Once again, Gen Y stands apart from its Boomer and Gen X colleagues.
Gen Xers and Boomers both selected "Accountable" as the most important quality in leaders, with Boomers ranking it slightly higher. (88% vs. 83%). But Gen Y didn't see accountability as the most important. Instead, Gen Y selected "Knowledgeable" as most important. (79%).
The quality rated the most different? Integrity. It was rated as Very Important by 66% of Ys, while 76% of Xers and 84% of Boomers thought it was Very Important.
