28 Examples of Leadership Qualities

John Spacey, February 10, 2019

Leadership qualities are talents, characteristics and capabilities that are associated with effective leadership. These are commonly used in job descriptions, resumes and as decision criteria in areas such as recruiting and performance management. The following are illustrative examples of leadership qualities.

Intelligent

Intelligence including verbal, visual, spatial, mathematical, logical, social and emotional intelligence. Some leadership roles may focus on a particular type of intelligence. For example, a leadership role in nursing that requires social, emotional and verbal intelligence.

Resilient

The ability to push through stress and problems without loss of energy and direction.

Self-Directing

An ability to find direction on your own.

Ethical

An individual with high ethical standards and the character strength to uphold these standards.

Risk Taking

The bravery to take calculated risks in an environment of ambiguity and change.

Competitive

An intense motivation to win and willingness to make sacrifices to do what is required to win.

Strategic

The ability to develop and execute long term strategic plans as opposed to being stuck in a reactive or tactical mode.

Humble

The recognition of the factors that contribute to your success such as other people.

Candid

An openness and directness in communication. For example, the ability to criticise.

Fair

Treating people impartially without favoritism or discrimination.

Consistent

Leaders provide stability to a group such as a consistent long term strategy.

Decisive

The ability to make reasonable decisions quickly without hesitation in an environment of change and unknowns.

Adaptable

The ability to quickly adapt to change and to change your mind when you are wrong.

Creative

The ability to generate non-obvious ideas that are valuable.

Influential

Building relationships and influencing the ideas and actions of others. This includes the relational capital and cultural capital of a leader.

Management

A talent for controlling resources and directing people.

Measurement

The discipline to measure results, improve and measure again.

Transparency

Managing relationships with stakeholders and providing them with transparency. For example, providing investors with an accurate picture of the current financial and strategic position of a firm.

Knowledge

Leadership requires knowledge of the domain in which you are leading.

Learning

The fluid intelligence required to learn, develop and change. For example, a leader who constantly learns from their team.

Communication

Highly developed communication skills including a talent for public speaking.

Storytelling

The ability apply storytelling techniques to make information interesting.

Agent of Change

A talent for making change happen including the ability to defeat resistance to change.

Personal Presence

A formidable personal presence that people respect such that they are willing to follow your direction.

Abundance Mentality

The bravery to build-up others and support their success without feeling threatened.

Motivation

The ability to motivate others. This can include an ability to inspire people to build intrinsic motivation, provide teams with incentives and manage poor performance.

Delegation

The ability to delegate work and allow people the freedom to work as they want as long as they produce results in a reasonable way that is ethical. This allows a leader to be productive at the big picture level.

Diligence

Exercising diligence in confirming that work is done properly. This may require attention to detail to manage issues and remain in touch with working level realities.

Overview: Leadership Qualities
Type	Types Of Leadership
Definition	Talents, characteristics and capabilities that are associated with effective leadership.
Related Concepts	Types Of Leadership » Talents » Decision Criteria » Recruiting » Performance Management » Intelligence »