Traits of an Effective Leader

1260 Words3 Pages

In order to be an effective leader there are traits involved as well as a competency to lead. Failure to take into account the personality traits a successful leader should possess can lead to employing a leader who is ineffective. Many times people are promoted into leadership positions due to the longevity of their tenure with a company or how they perform in their current positions. As a member of the management team of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group I have observed that there is more to becoming a successful leader than experience and tenure. We are managing various people who possess different personalities and work ethics and we are constantly adjusting our leadership skills to meet the diversity of the workforce. It is in this realization that it essential that an effective leader possess certain personality traits in order to effectively lead. The traits an effective leader should possess are honesty, vision, competence, inspiration, and intelligence (Hirschfeld, Jordan, Thomas & Feild, 2008). The possession of these traits will undoubtedly lead to a successful and effective leadership opportunity regardless of the organization.

As a leader you must show that you are honest even when it means admitting to a mistake. People will trust someone who actively displays honesty as someone who is worth following. In one of my companies various changes to processes, I instructed my satellite branches to institute one of the processes before it was released into use. I was thinking that we would get ahead of the game and be more aggressive in our implementation. However, only the basis of the process was fully operational at the time and by my team jumping the gun, the financials, stocks and data integrity of the process was negatively...

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...d, R. R., Jordan, M. H., Thomas, C. H., & Feild, H. S. (2008). Observed leadership potential of personnel in a team setting: Big five traits and proximal factors as predictors. International Journal of Selection & Assessment, 16(4), 385-402. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2389.2008.00443.x

Johns, H. E., & Moser, H. (1989). From trait to transformation: The evolution of leadership theories. Education, 110(1), 115. from EBSCOhost.

van Eeden, R., Cilliers, F., & van Deventer, V. (2008). Leadership styles and associated personality traits: Support for the conceptualisation of transactional and transformational leadership. South African Journal of Psychology, 38(2), 253-267. from EBSCOhost.

Van Vugt, M. (2006). Evolutionary origins of leadership and followership. Personality & Social Psychology Review (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), 10(4), 354-371. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1004_5

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