What Makes a Good Leader? Cast Your Vote

Previous Tuesday Tutor articles embraced the idea that getting input from all stakeholders plays an important role both in developing great ideas and in promoting team spirit and positive action. So this week, I’d like to open the discussion for you to tell me about the people who you admire (or not—examples of mistakes can often be more valuable than success stories) and what leadership lessons you’ve learned from them, and perhaps incorporated in your own style.

So, what do you think makes a good leader? Leadership classes and textbooks see certain terminology occurring frequently in descriptions of leadership types. The titles vary from source to source, but a few of the more common archetypes go by these names and short definitions:

   The Visionary—An inspirational leader with a mission mindset

   The Coach—A motivational leader who seeks to inspire the team

   The Servant—A humble, protective leader with a familial outlook

   The Commandant—An autocratic leader who issues orders

   The Bureaucrat—A procedures-based leader who operates by the book

   The Trader—A transactional leader using a system of goals and rewards

I consider myself a conscious leader and feel my style is a combination of the useful elements of many leadership styles. Maybe that makes me The Adapter or something like that. It sure seems like that’s the norm for navigating the constantly changing waters of the pandemic—especially while working to restore the ability for large groups to return to face-to-face events.

Anyway, tell me your experiences from these last few years. Who have been the great leaders and role models in your professional life? How did they respond to the pandemic? Were they adapters or did they try to maintain business-as-usual? Did their approach work for you and your team?

Your replies may be incorporated in future Tuesday Tutor articles.

I look forward to hearing your stories. Thank you.