Character Traits – New Horizon Partners

Good Leadership Requires an Open Mind

While managing people can be described as assigning and monitoring tasks, leading people is based on a relationship of influence that is built upon trust and respect for the leader. Demonstration by the leader of strong, positive character traits is what establishes trust and respect. One of the key traits of effective leadership is openness. American scholar and author Warren Bennis, considered by many to be the pioneer of leadership, describes openness as the ability to listen to ideas that are outside of one’s current mental models, and then be able to suspend judgment until after one has heard the ideas of others. Openness can also be described as the willingness to consider every element of “what is”.

Openness indicates an inclination to accept input from various sources and to make decisions or to make changes based on that input. Establishing openness as a character trait requires the demonstration over time of this willingness to hear, understand, evaluate, and take appropriate action based on input from sources outside ourselves. The full process must be consistently demonstrated. It is not difficult to hear input from others, but properly evaluating and changing course based on the input of others can often stretch us.

Openness keeps us and the organizations that we lead from getting stuck in a well-worn rut. It counters the NIH (not invented here) attitude. It breaks down barriers and sparks innovation and energy.

There are some human tendencies that make openness difficult, and some are especially so for personality types that tend to be leaders. Some of these tendencies are:

The fear of not being right. We grow up in a system of “right” and “wrong” answers and tend to believe that we always have the right answer.
The fear of risk or failure. Success is good and failure is bad. We tend to believe that being in control avoids potential failure.
A need for order and rules. People value routines, traditions, and established practice. Openness requires the ability to embrace doing things differently.
A reliance on logic and realism. People make sense of the logical. Sometimes openness requires examining what may on the surface appear illogical.
A limit on human relationships. Being busy doing business often means focusing on numbers and processes. Openness requires that we step away from the processes and increase our human interactions.

We can think of openness in three dimensions, all of which the best leaders exhibit. First, we can demonstrate openness about ourselves. Secondly is the ability to accept and even seek diverse input from the people around us. Finally, the third dimension of openness is seeking input from the external environment.

The first dimension, openness about ourselves, requires a strong level of both self-awareness and self-acceptance that tells us where we have the capacity or need to change some part of our character. This input might come from self-examination or from other people. Those with openness about themselves are not only able to accept input from others, but they actively seek feedback. Open leaders want to know how they are perceived and how their communication is received. When open leaders receive personal input, they consider how they can build appropriate change into their character.

The second dimension of openness is the ability to accept input from others regarding organizational direction and decisions. This openness gives team members the ability to freely voice their opinions and to provide any relevant input. Rather than people wondering “which way the wind blows” before speaking up, they know that their input will be accepted and valued.

The third dimension of openness is seeking input from the external environment. This refers to seeking information from a wide range of sources and being creative in making the connections to potential impact or implications for the organization. This requires open eyes and an open mind to recognize important input.

While there are those human tendencies that make some people struggle with openness, effective leaders are naturally open because of the other character traits they possess. If you desire to be more open, the best way to grow openness is to work on improving these other traits in yourself.

Be people-oriented. Before we can value ideas from other people, we must first value those people.
Be curious. An open mind is a curious mind; look for information and seek input and opinions.
Be forward thinking. The closed mind dwells in the past. The open mind ponders the future and its possibilities.
Be engaging. Openness draws others into an exchange of ideas.
Be inspiring. Expressing the desire for and the value of the thoughts of others makes them feel respected and lifts them up.
Be credible. Seeking the best input from all available sources and not just relying on our own thoughts gives confidence to the team that we are able to lead them to a positive future.
Be engaging. Openness infers a frank exchange of ideas that requires a dialogue of exploration and evaluation.
Be responsive. Expressing the value of the ideas and appreciation for them demonstrates the open mind and open heart of a leader.

Openness is a process as well as a choice, requiring a level of both confidence and vulnerability. It often necessitates some transformational growth. It also requires consistent practice to build an environment in which people recognize and are willing to step into the openness. It is a choice because it requires stepping out of a leader’s comfort zone. In the busy flow of business, it requires that one take time to seek input, to weigh its value, and to appropriately change course.

The culture of an organization generally reflects the character of its leadership. Openness on the part of the leader demonstrated over time develops into openness in the organization. As this openness is woven into the fabric of the organization’s culture, it breaks down barriers and encourages collaboration. The best ideas from within the organization then surface to improve products and processes. As they do so, the organization becomes a more satisfying place to work.

Are you able to keep an open mind in most situations? Where do you find this challenging?

(Note: This article, or one very similar, was originally published in a monthly leadership blog that I wrote for PolymerOhio Manufacturing Solutions.)

Leadership: Reward or Responsibility?

People have different perspectives on what leadership is. People also have different motivations for seeking a role as leader. Some of those motivations are self-focused and others are focused on others. Some see leadership as a reward, some see it as a responsibility.

For some people, the motivation to achieve a leadership role is status. They crave the respect and admiration of others and hope that it will come with the title of CEO, president, or some other leadership role.

For some people, the motivation is money. They crave more money; perhaps more than they have or more than people around them have. With higher level positions in organizations comes larger salaries and benefits.

For some people, the motivation is power. They crave the ability to give orders and make demands, the power to tell people what to do rather than being told themselves.

For some people, the motivation is simply seen as a reward for hard work or accomplishment. If they work harder anyone else in the organization, then their view is that surely they deserve the recognition of being named to some leadership role. Perhaps this is driven by some need for an assurance of self-worth.

All of these motivations listed so far are driven by self-focus. They are based on some internal need. Achieving a role that might seem to be leadership, when driven by self-centeredness is actually more of a badge to be worn rather than a role to be achieved. The person that achieves or seeks to achieve a position of leadership as a reward is not, in fact, a leader. When given a role that might seem like leadership, they continue to operate for their own best interests.

True and effective leadership is a calling to a position of responsibility. It is not focused on what the leader is or does or can do. It, instead, is a recognition of the character and ability of a person to commit to serve others. Those who lead out of a sense of responsibility operate based on the best interests for those that they lead. In leading others, a true and effective leader recognizes his/her responsibility to communicate clearly with, to develop and shape, to guide and motivate, and to care for those that have either been placed within or have sought to be within the leader’s influence.

Do you view your leadership as a reward or a responsibility? How do you best fulfill that responsibility?

The Smartest Person in the Room?

As a leader, if you are the smartest person in the room, you need to find some smarter people.

It’s true that intelligence is important for effective leadership. It is helpful in making good decisions. It is helpful in building strong, positive relationships. It is helpful in identifying the right questions to ask. But does the leader need to be the smartest person in the room? Even if he or she is, they are best off if they don’t always show it.

Constantly being the smartest person in the room robs your team of effectiveness. There are three common scenarios for trap of the leader as the font of knowledge:

One common driver of knowledge from on high is expediency. A leader might feel that discussion or seeking input from others is simply a waste of valuable time. “Why not just get to the bottom line and move on?” Therefore, the leader is quick to offer his/her opinion.

A second common scenario is based on volume. If the leader tends to continually have the loudest (literally or figuratively) or most important voice in the room, then other voices deem themselves to be unimportant and are therefore mute. If there is only one voice that has importance, then it must be the smartest voice in the room.

A third scenario is the leader that is driven by ego. To admit that other voices might have greater knowledge or even any relative value would be an affront to the ego-driven self-importance. Therefore, this leader must only value his/her own voice. In fact, this sort of person often belittles other voices in the room to soothe his/her own ego.

There are lots of reasons why any of these scenarios are damaging to the organization. Here are just a few:

Not valuing the knowledge of others will drive away capable and intelligent people. The organization is then left with less capability in its people.
Even if they don’t leave, overpowering the voice of people leaves them disengaged and dissatisfied. Therefore, people will be less productive.
We should all be seeking to learn and grow. One of the ways to do so is to consistently seek to share in the knowledge of others.
There is knowledge and wisdom in the group. By sharing, discussing, even debating ideas, the team is likely to find greater or better answers than even the smartest person in the room could provide on their own.
By encouraging discussion and by valuing equally all members of the team, the cohesiveness of the team grows. The strength of the team leads to unity and collaboration, resulting in higher performance of the overall organization.
Effective leadership is built on a relationship of trust and respect. One of the character traits that leads to this relationship is humility. Obviously, the leader who only values his/her own intelligence is not demonstrating the humility required to effectively lead.

Research has shown that the most effective leaders tend to be above average in intelligence but not extremely so. Perhaps this is because those extreme eggheads often have a difficult time relating to others. They too quickly fall into the traps described above.

The lesson for leaders here is not so much a matter of knowledge or intelligence. Rather, the lesson is about character and relationships. Effective leaders value and respect others; they demonstrate this respect in the humility that guides their interactions. Effective leaders want to grow themselves but have an even greater desire to help others to grow and develop. Therefore, the best leaders draw out the knowledge of others and make it a point to not consistently appear as the smartest person in the room.

Is your intelligence a strength or a weakness in your leadership? Do you strive to be the smartest person in the room or are you comfortable drawing out the knowledge of those around you?

Perfectly Imperfect

As a leader (as opposed to a boss or a manager), we often find ourselves being affirmed for our leadership qualities. These qualities, which might be our intelligence, wisdom, common sense, decision-making skills, relational skills, strategic skills, or other qualities, lead to our ability to influence. People choose to follow leaders because they recognize the character traits, skills, and other qualities that make the leader stand out and be more effective.

When we grow accustomed to this repeated affirmation, we run the danger of becoming overly focused on it. This can lead us to believe that we cannot show any failure or weakness for fear of losing the high opinion in which we are held. Even worse, some people begin to believe their own press, believing that they are indeed pretty close to perfect. No human being is perfect, and it is both a fallacy and a weakness to believe either that you are perfect or that you need to be perfect.

Understanding and embracing our imperfections is, in fact, an important character trait that does two important things that strengthen our ability to lead. First, as we recognize our imperfections, we can be motivated to grow, addressing those imperfections and seeking to grow past them. Secondly, understanding and admitting our imperfections to others makes us more relatable. Let’s take a further look at how we can lead better by recognizing and accepting our imperfections.

Benefit of Growth

One of the traits of effective leaders is self-awareness. They know their strengths and capitalize on them. They also know their weaknesses and find ways to compensate for them and to grow past them. We can compensate for our weaknesses by drawing people around us who are able to fill the gap, so to speak, taking assignments where we might be ill-suited or providing counsel or support that shores up our weaknesses.

An effective leader is also continually striving to grow. When we are aware of weaknesses or imperfections, we first prioritize our growth needs or opportunities and then develop and execute a plan for growth to fill in these weak spots in our character or skillset. But before we can grow, it is necessary to admit our need for growth.

Benefit of Authenticity

Where some might think that allowing others to see our imperfections might weaken our leadership, the opposite is true. Authenticity is one of the character traits that draws people into relationship. If we, as leaders, try to maintain an aura of perfection, we run the risk of being unapproachable. Hiding ourselves from being known by our team members builds a relational chasm that separates us. On the other hand, authentically acknowledging that we have imperfections and weaknesses demonstrates our humanity. Humans relate best to other humans, so that this authenticity, in fact, draws others into relationship.

Admitting our imperfections does not mean that we are a failure. Since all humans have some imperfections, admitting them simply means that we are admitting to be human and not superhuman or divine.

Effective leadership is built upon a relationship of trust and respect. This relationship works best when we are able to know and be known, requiring authenticity, in other words, allowing ourselves to be perfectly imperfect.

Are you aware and able to embrace your own imperfections? Are you willing for others to see those imperfections?

The Problem of Arrogance

One of the primary reasons for the downfall of many leaders is the problem of arrogance. Arrogance defeats leadership in many ways, especially in these two: 1) arrogance inhibits a person’s ability to learn or take in information and 2) arrogance inhibits a person’s ability to build meaningful relationships with others.

Arrogance has these two definitions in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: 1) exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one’s own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner and 2) showing an offensive attitude of superiority. Arrogance is very much the opposite of humility.

It is easy for a leader to fall into the trap of arrogance. First of all, the leader is placed in a position within the organization above others. He or she most probably has been elevated in organizational position above one-time peers, often many times. Both the position and the process of being elevated can go to one’s head, making him/her begin to believe that they are superior in some way (or in many ways) compared to others. Arrogance is a mindset as well as a character trait.

The first problem with an arrogant person is that they begin to believe that they are always correct and that they have all the answers. When someone begins to think this way, they no longer need to take in more information. They ignore or dismiss the input of those around them. By ignoring information, the arrogant person becomes just that, ignorant. They stifle the conversation around them and force others to accept their viewpoint. In doing so, the arrogant person can easily miss out on important information or alternative viewpoints, thus jeopardizing their decision-making process.

The second problem can be a corollary to the first. An arrogant person dismisses information from others and, in doing so, is perceived as dismissive of the other person. By human nature, we are not likely to build a relationship of trust and respect with a person who is dismissive of us, who shows no value for us. People only follow a leader when there is an established relationship of trust and respect. Therefore, the arrogant leader cannot inspire others, they can only rely upon command and control.

Arrogance should not be confused with confidence or self-esteem. Self-esteem is a realistic respect for or favorable impression of oneself. Confidence is a realistic belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities. As a leader, we can be aware of the special gifts and abilities with which we have been endowed while still being open to listening and learning as well as valuing the person of those around us. Confidence is one of the character traits that make a leader effective as opposed to arrogance, which will make a person ineffective.

Arrogance is the opposite of humility. Where arrogance dismisses or devalues those around us, humility regards others as of equal value. Human value is not a function of either position or gifting.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2 (ESV)

Arrogance is a trait that can creep up on us, so we need to be aware and vigilant that it does not overtake us. If you find yourself feeling increasingly arrogant, be quick to stomp it out. Here are some possible ways to keep arrogance at bay:

Be vulnerable and authentic. Be quick to recognize and admit mistakes. Be quick to seek the input and advice of others.
Practice humility. Express the value that you see in those around you. Recognize that many of your gifts and talents are not of your own doing but are provided to you by your Creator.
Be vigilant for any expressions of arrogance. Catch yourself and examine the impact that any signs of arrogance have on your effectiveness and your relationships.
Keep a journal of daily successes and failures and successes and failures. Use it as a guide for reflection and for setting personal development goals.
Ask those that are close to you to hold you accountable. The simple act of asking for accountability will heighten your awareness.

Remember that effective leadership is built upon relationships of trust and respect. Humility is one of the traits that build these relationships and arrogance is like dynamite, destroying relationships and our ability to lead.

Do you show signs of arrogance in your leadership relationships? What are you doing to tame that arrogance?

A People Person

An effective leader must be a people person.

But what is a people person. Some expect a people person to be highly sociable, perhaps even gregarious. You know this type. At an event, they know everyone and make the rounds having small talk with as many people as possible.

Others might describe a people person as one with charisma, one to whom other people are attracted. This person draws others by their charm, presence, or force of personality. When this person walks into the room, people take notice.

This is not a negative view of either trait of sociability or charisma. Both of these traits can serve people well, especially so with leaders. These traits can open the door to leader/follower relationships, but they are not sufficient for building a solid and successful relationship.

There is a different definition of a people person that is truly necessary for the most effective leader. Because leadership is a relationship built upon mutual trust and respect, the interpersonal skills and traits are those necessary for building this relationship of trust and respect. People are generally not quick to award a leader trust and respect. It must be earned over time and under fire by demonstrating that it is truly deserved. A leader’s life, their character and practices, must be tested to prove worthiness of this relationship of trust and respect.

This “people person” leader must demonstrate character traits and leadership skills, such as the following, that draw people into this relationship by enabling them to build, over time and through a process, the trust and respect necessary.

Character Traits of a “People Person” Leader

They value people – A people person recognizes the value in every person. They can be described as affectionate or caring towards the people with whom they interact.
They are humble – A people person does not regard himself/herself as better or more important than those around them. Just the opposite, they are selfless or self-giving, placing the interests and importance of others above their own interests.
They are considerate of others – A people person is kind and courteous towards others. They take an interest in the person, not just the task at hand. They are sensitive to the feelings, beliefs, and emotions of others. They take the time to engage and understand.
They demonstrate faith in others – A people person is thoughtful towards others. They are willing to trust others until that trust is proven not to be deserved. They have an interest in the other person’s future and seek to help them along the way.

Some Important Skills of a “People Person” Leader

They are communicators – A people person is a communicator. They speak and write well and otherwise know how to convey thoughts and information. But equally, if not more importantly, they are great listeners. They know how to listen actively so as to draw out the full story, not just the facts on the surface, but the underlying background and emotions.
They are strong in emotional intelligence – A people person not only is strong at understanding and managing their own emotions, but also at understanding and dealing with the emotions of the other. They are able to pick up on the indicators, both verbal and non-verbal, and then to lean in to better understand and assist the other in dealing with their emotions.
They are authentic and vulnerable – A people person is able to be fully human, so that those around them feel comfortable and confident that they can relate to the leader on common ground. They are able to let their guard down and let those around them see both their strengths and weaknesses. While confident in their overall person, they are aware of weaknesses and mistakes and see no need to pretend that there are none.

With a strong bond of trust and respect, team members are quick to embrace a common vision and then to work hard together to achieve it. In such a culture, people are ready to run through walls to achieve the leader’s/team’s vision and objectives. The results achieved by such a team far exceed those achieved by a work group that is driven by a taskmaster or a group that feels it necessary to play politics and backstab each other.

Do you have the character and skills needed to build a relationship of trust and respect?

Congruity in Leadership

Congruity is a quality of agreement and appropriateness. Where there’s congruity, things fit together in a way that makes sense. In terms of our leadership, congruity is being the same person or leader in every situation.

Leaders who lack congruity believe that they need to lead differently in various contexts of their life. For example, a person might believe that in the work context he/she must be the hard-charging, driven, command-control boss that gives out orders and expects them to be followed quickly and without question. When they are at home, they might be a caring and compassionate leader showing high empathy. And when they are in a leadership role in their church or community, they might be something different yet, perhaps the deep thinker seeking to weigh everyone’s input and building consensus. Sometimes we see a lack of congruity between when someone is leading up in the organization’s hierarchy as opposed to when they are leading down in the hierachy.

A character trait closely related to congruity is integrity. Especially thinking here of the broader definition of integrity, which is the quality or state of being complete or undivided. Integrity carries the concept of consistency of actions, values, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In other words, integrity means we act or behave in a way that is consistent with our values and principles.

When a leader lacks congruity, behaving in a different way in different contexts, there are problems. First, there is a lack of integrity. Our values are deeply embedded, and we can only have one set of values in which we truly believe. Therefore, the different ways that we show up cannot be consistent with one set of values. To operate without integrity, causes an inner conflict as our values subconsciously question our actions. Additionally, in an effort to maintain different leadership personas, they will naturally blend into each other. The people who we are trying to lead, when they get glimpses of the alternate leadership personas or a gap between our values and actions, will be unsure of who we really are and what we actually believe. Therefore, the relationship of influence is weakened.

To build and maintain congruity requires that we, as leaders, first clearly know our values. Secondly, we need to be confident in our ability to lead from our values. Then we need to transition from any inauthentic leadership styles to our true leadership. This process may cause us to re-examine our values or it may cause us to re-assess the various contexts in which we lead. If we believe that they require a different style of leadership than our true leadership, perhaps we don’t belong in those situations.

Practicing congruity in our leadership brings energy and peace to our lives. And we are most effective in our true leadership. Congruity and integrity are key building blocks of effective leadership.

Do you have congruity across your various leadership roles?

Get Real!

Authenticity brings the real person.

Authenticity is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “the quality of being real or true.” It is also frequently defined as being genuine or worthy of belief. Of course, the opposite of being authentic is to be inauthentic, which would be false, fake, or untrue.

Authenticity is one of the most important character traits of an effective leader. Without authenticity there is a chasm between the ingenuine leader and the reality of the lives around him/her. Our ability to lead effectively is built upon a relationship of trust and respect. But the gap that results from the lack of authenticity makes it impossible to build this relationship. On the other hand, authenticity in the leader draws followers into relationship, establishing the foundation for influence and motivation.

While authenticity may be one of the most important character traits of leadership, it is also one of the most easily compromised character traits. Developing a strong level of authenticity is challenging. There are two general reasons that leaders struggle to incorporate authenticity into their character.

The first hurdle is a cultural bias against authenticity. We grow up being told to “grow up”, to “be strong”, not to show emotions, to “never let them see you sweat”, etc. We develop the perception that a leader must be a superhero, never making a mistake, never feeling pressure, always upbeat and charging forward. Being genuine is devalued in our culture, while success, achievement, and avoiding criticism are highly prized. Then, when we are in a position of leadership, we subconsciously try to play this role.

The second reason that leaders struggle with authenticity is fear. Because of fear people develop self-limiting beliefs. Their subconscious self tells them not to say something because they might be judged and found unacceptable or less than what they should be. Or they fear the perceived embarrassment of a potential failure or mistake. Because of these self-limiting beliefs, people bring less than their real selves to their leadership relationship.

What are the elements of authenticity in leadership? What does authenticity look like in practice?

Self-awareness and self-acceptance – a prerequisite for being real is first knowing what is real. Authenticity requires that the leader know themselves well and are comfortable with who they are and who they are not. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t seeking growth and change within (leaders are learners and continually seek personal growth), but it means that they don’t feel the need to hide who they are and their strengths and weaknesses.

Integrity – leaders with authenticity are very clear about their values and their thoughts and actions are consistent with their values. People around them can recognize the leader’s values by their actions. The leader with authenticity has a consistency in their actions and decsions because they are all based on clear, positive values.

Emotional awareness – a part of authenticity is emotional intelligence, especially emotional awareness and the ability to manage emotions appropriately. Leaders with authenticity do not feel the need to always hide their emotions, rather they are able to recognize and appropriately share them with those that they lead.

Thoughtful and caring – in the other half of emotional intelligence, leaders with high authenticity are strong in their awareness of the emotions of others and their ability to be appropriately empathetic. As part of this, he/she is able to listen well to others, even when there is strong emotion or disagreement.

Accepting, admitting, and learning from mistakes – an important part of being real, is understanding that we are not perfect. A leader with authenticity is always ready to admit his/her mistakes and even to take responsibility for the mistakes and failures of the team that he/she leads.

Truth and transparency – authenticity is truth. This means that the leader with authenticity is ready to speak truth and present facts and opinions without fear. The self-limiting beliefs are overcome with the ability to vulnerably speak truth.

How do we develop this high level of authenticity? Building character traits like authenticity is not like building a skill. Building character is a matter of changing on the inside. It requires understanding the current state, the desired state, the gap to be bridged, and then building practices into our lives that transform the way that we think and act to the desired state.

Without a high level of authenticity, a leader does not bring his/her real power to leadership. The fear or inability to fully bring our truth and reality leaves us separated from those we lead. Authenticity is a requirement for a strong leadership relationship.

How authentic are you? What are your challenges to becoming more authentic?

The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses

“After decades of screening potential leaders for charm and charisma, some employers are realizing they’ve been missing one of the most important traits of all: humility.” Thus begins an article by Sue Shellenbarger in an article written for The Wall Street Journal in October 2018. She goes on to say, “Humility is a core quality of leaders who inspire close teamwork, rapid learning and high performance in their teams.”

The entire article is worth a read but here are some key points:

The article cites research supporting the headline and anecdotal reports of companies that now are making the demonstration of humility a key factor in hiring or promotion decisions for leaders. Companies are using personality profiles and the interview process to judge the level of humility in candidates.

Companies with CEOs that demonstrate a high level of humility are said to develop management teams that work more effectively with each other. In general humility in leadership results in lower employee turnover and absenteeism, due to the relationships that are established.

Teams are more effective because of the relationships established. However, leaders with high humility often fly beneath the radar because they are quick to step back and give the credit to the team members. Humble leaders also are not afraid to ask for help and listen to feedback from others. They set an example that causes subordinates to do the same.

Traditional thinking often was that leaders should be charismatic, attention-seeking and persuasive. Instead, those that grab the spotlight can demotivate those around them. As the workplace increasingly moves to team-based work, the advantage of humility in leadership becomes more obvious.

See some of our articles on humility such as Humility and Leadership, Be a Better Leader by Avoiding the Arrogance Trap, and an article that describes the difference between Humility, Confidence, and Arrogance.

Leaders: Extroverts or Introverts?

Which personality type makes the best leader, extroverts or introverts? For perhaps the past century there has been a bias toward extroverts, although this is much different than the prior historical view. Wharton professor, Adam Grant, conducted research that found 96% of leaders self-identify as extroverts. Of course, part of the explanation of this high number could be the cultural bias that extroversion is more preferable than introversion. In fact, there are reasons why introverts make great leaders and there are reasons why extroverts might be the better leaders. But rather than a preference for a certain personality type, it seems that the best explanation for leadership capability is character.

People often think of introverts as quiet and extroverts as gregarious or outgoing, but this is an oversimplification. Introverts focus inward, into their own thoughts, and extroverts focus outward, into the world. The difference is sensitivity to stimulation. An introvert is prone to being overstimulated by intense or prolonged social interaction. Extroverts crave stimulating activities like social interaction, social gatherings, and even activities that provide stimulus such as amusement parks or mountain climbing. Another simple way to describe the difference is extroverts gain energy from social interaction while introverts use energy.

At one time it was thought that people were one or the other – extrovert or introvert. It seems more logical that everyone has some of both, with one being more predominant. Also, the predominance of either extroversion or introversion can vary in different settings or circumstances. And people can train themselves to be more of what they deem desirable. Since extroversion is more socially acceptable, at least in the western world, there are many people that would naturally be introverts but have developed the habits of an extrovert, except that they may find it more tiring than a true extrovert would.

The strength that the extrovert personality type brings in leadership is perhaps boldness or persuasiveness. An extrovert is especially effective when leading a group of passive followers, providing energy and direction. The downfall of an extrovert in leadership can be failing to listen and allow team members to express their own thoughts and feelings, resulting in dissatisfaction of those that want to be heard.

The strength that the introvert personality brings to leadership is the ability to think deeply and seek out the input of those around them. An introvert is especially effective when leading a team of highly capable and motivated people where the group’s input and interaction are crucial. The downfall of an introvert could be some degree of isolation or the inability to energize certain followers.

While they differ in how they seek and react to stimuli, both extroverts and introverts are capable of building the character of an effective leader. And it is character more than personality type that determines the effectiveness of a leader. Character traits such as honesty, integrity, authenticity, and humility are not a function of personality type. Both extroverts and introverts can be strong in their respect and appreciation of other people and the thoughts and feelings of others. Extroverts may need to restrain their voice to hear others and introverts may need to become more intentional about seeking out interaction with others. But the personality type of extroversion – introversion does not define a leader.

The lesson for organizations is to not be caught up in what shows on the surface, which is where introversion and extroversion reside. Rather, organizations should make decisions on hiring and promotion based on underlying character traits, the more important definition of leadership ability.

For an interesting discussion of the societal shift toward extroversion, see the TED talk by Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.

Where are you on the introversion / extroversion scales? What do you see as the advantages or disadvantages of these two personality types?