Your leadership characteristics are the sum of your personality, habits, behaviours and attitude

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Dr John Kenworthy 0

Here we identify the most important leadership characteristics and how you can develop your leadership character.

When we started using the game of golf as our classroom to develop leadership we noticed a similarity between the way people play golf, and their leadership characteristics.

Originally, we created nicknames for our participants as an easy means of communication between us trainers. The nicknames not only stuck, it spurred me to delve in and research. What I found was that there were 9 major styles of golfer that corresponded with their leadership nature. For example, the golf “Conqueror” – the guy (and it was usually a guy) who smacks the ball as a far as possible and uses the biggest baddest club in the bag… well, he was just like that as a leader.

We identified nine different character types and with a little imagination created the “9 Character’s of Leadership.

Nine Leadership Characters

There are nine main ‘styles’ of leadership – the 9 Characters.

By ‘style’, I do not mean to refer to an individual’s personality or their innate character as though this were true. I am, instead, referring to the way in which you perform at your best and most naturally – which may represent your true personality – best to ask your spouse or a close friend who knows you in many other situations as well. This is your character paradigm.

We’ll consider each of the characters or styles in turn, pointing out the dominant leadership characteristics displayed and consider a few well known business leaders who fit each style. Your job is to identify your own style amongst these nine – finding the one which most accurately matches your approach to leadership.

This isn’t about choosing the style you think that you ‘should’ have, or would like to have. This is about understanding where you are now, and knowing that if you lead in this style, it will be the most comfortable. Later you can consider how to compensate for the weaknesses in your leadership.

Your leadership charcater is the combination of your technical competency (how well you do the leadership Skills) and your leadership advantage (have developed the Leadership Qualities).

Leadership Characters

Click on the character box to go straight to the detail.

What’s your leadership character?

Leadership Characteristics Quick Quiz

The Nine Leadership Characters

Each of the nine leadership characters are detailed on the pages linked below.

Whatever your current character, even the few chess-players amongst you, can be developed.

Have you taken our quick quiz yet?

If not, do so now, it really helps to know your starting point. Then you can click on the appropriate link here and find out what you can do to develop your leadership now. Our Leadership Character Quiz is free and easy to use – just click

Are you clumsy? No? already been around a bit then… a little bit Coarse? No, you have the greater aptitude? Yikes, step back and let the conquerer through All for one and one for all? … your are a Cavalier? So much to do, so many opportunities, I know how it feels… let the Conjuror crack on now and find out what to do next.

Alright you sly fox, cunning then?

Aha, you’ve gotten the leadership advantage already. Hey, have you been on our trainings or coaching already? The conductor needs to get set up here!

OK, everyone listen up,it seems that we have a serious player in the room. Someone who is going to teach the rest of us how to do this leadership thing right. The Chess Player

Leadership Qualities – what makes a good leader? Are they born or made? How do I develop these qualities?

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Dr John Kenworthy 1

Developing the leadership qualities necessary for success is possible!

Some people will debate for hours on whether a leader is born or made? Is leadership and management the same thing? Is one particular personality type more or less likely to succeed as a leader?

For every question you have about leadership there are a hundred and more answers.

We all have our own opinion, and everyone is entitled to mine. (:-D sorry just couldn’t resist.)

We can also debate all day, all year in fact on whether these should be called qualities, traits, characteristics, personality and so on. All of these terms are relevant, yet the debate about which is most critical is probably the cause of procrastination and deadlock.

Does it help if we spend some considerable time arguing about whether this should be a trait or a qaulity? For the purists perhaps, the academics certainly, but for you? Don;t you just want to know how to be a better leader and do better leadership?

For those who simply want to get on with developing their leadership – scroll down the page and find the links to the different qualities. For those who want to bear with the academic justification of all this qualities bit… read on.

What is a Quality?

I turn to the trusty and ever-ready dictionary.com

qual·i·ty;[kwol-i-tee] noun, plural -ties,

1. an essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute: the chemical qualities of alcohol.

2. character or nature, as belonging to or distinguishing a thing: the quality of a sound.

3. character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence: food of poor quality; silks of fine quality.

4. high grade; superiority; excellence: wood grain of quality.

5. a personality or character trait: kindness is one of her many good qualities.

6. native excellence or superiority.

7. an accomplishment or attainment.

8. good or high social position: a man of quality.

9. the superiority or distinction associated with high social position.

Check this out yourself at dictionary.com

You can see that the word “quality” subsumes trait, character, personality, nature, native and is suggestive of superiority.

Why does superiority matter?

Between you and me OK, there are some characteristics of leaders, some traits if you prefer, that whilst they do indeed make up who that leader is and how they behave… these are not the sort of things that we really want to encourage.

I had a teacher in primary school for example, Miss Cripps her name (I kid you not). She was the leader in our classroom. Now she ruled that classroom and dominanted it. Speak out of turn, or God forbid, desperately need a bathroom break and raise a hand to actually ask permission resulted in a swift ruler over the knuckles. (When I said ruled I mean metaphorically and as it happens her weapon of choice).

Yes I probably deserved many of the beatings I received. Was she a leader? Yep! Was she a good leader? In the sense that order reigned supreme, a classroom of thirty 7 year olds was quiet and respectful… I guess she was then. Did we learn stuff? I think so, I certainly remembered to not drink water, juice or milk before school (just in case) and I definitely learned that tattle taling on my best friend was far better than taking the balme for a misdemenor…

She had character, she had traits and she had a ruler! Do I think that anyone else should emulate these? No way.

Did she posses leadership qualities? Maybe, but I never saw them.

So, I stick with Leadership Qualities as my preferred term.

The Clumsy Leader – where we all start

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Dr John Kenworthy 1

The Clumsy Leader is where we all start !

Am I a clumsy leader?

Everyone is a clumsy leader at first and there is no shame in being here. In fact some leaders stay here their entire lives and still manage to succeed.

We all start at the bottom left corner! Low technical aptitude, and low attitude or leadership advantage.

I hear often about “natural born leaders” – usually from the same people who believe that leadership cannot be developed (and when I dig deeper, I find that these same people are not ‘natural born leaders’ and cannot be bothered to put in the effort to actually develop their leadership thus, leadership is ‘natural’ becomes the excuse.)

Let me put my stake in the ground here.

No-one is a born leader!

via The Clumsy Leader – where we all start.

Are YOU to blame for THEIR poor performance?

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Dr John Kenworthy 0

The best way to measure a manager’s performance is to look at the performance of their team, says leadership author Bruce Rosengarten.

Leaders and managers are “incredibly accountable” for every member of their team – “70 per cent of how an employee performs is directly related to how well he or she is led and managed”, he says.

Rosengarten, the former vice president of petroleum giant Shell, says leaders who bear this in mind are more likely to cultivate successful teams.

“Determining their performance determines your performance,” he explains in his new book, Passionate Leadership.

When “so-called leaders” blame employees, the environment or “the company” for the issues they face, they betray a failure to recognise their role and responsibilities, he says.

Before blaming an employee for poor performance, leaders should ask themselves what they are doing to help the worker to perform.

via Are YOU to blame for THEIR poor performance? | All articles.

Eight key drivers of success #1 – What the heck is success anyway? (leadershiptoolbox.gapps3.sg)
Is Leadership more than Management, or is it just an aspiration? (celsim.com)
Competence and Competency (leadershiptoolbox.gapps3.sg)

Assess and compare simulation – game and case study

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Dr John Kenworthy 1

Developing managers using simulations book cover

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This research evaluates the effectiveness of using a management simulation, a management game or case studies within a strategic management training programme. The literature suggests that there is anecdotal evidence that both simulations and games surpass the use of case studies, but there is much criticism of the lack of robust research models used to validate the claims.

Using a quasi-experimental design with a reliable managerial competency assessment instrument, the authors assess the impact of different programme groups, the assessed change in workplace behaviour on a 180° basis and participant learning as demonstrated to their own senior managers.

Most training consultancies and company training is still done in classrooms, using case studies at best and lecture at worst. The big upside of using simulations is the business impact (transfer of learning into the workplace as new behaviours) is vastly better and quicker. So why don’t more people use simulations and games?

by Dr. John Kenworthy

Assess and Compare Simulation – Game and Case Study

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Nine Leadership Characters

What’s your leadership character?

The Nine Leadership Characters

What is a Quality?

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