Monday, December 15, 2008

Nope. No defintive leadership strengths

Sometimes I am asked, "What strengths are necessary to be an effective leader?" That question leads to an odd response -- "all of them" and "none of them" both seem to work! The reason is, there is NO single strength shared by leaders. The essential component of using your strengths to lead is not possessing a particular strength -- it is knowing and using your own unique combination of strengths in the service of leadership that creates effective leadership.

Donald Clifton researched leader strengths for 30 years. You know his name -- after his death, the StrengthsFinder instrument was renamed to honor him, the Clifton StengthsFinder. When asked about his greatest discovery after all those years of research, Clifton replied: "A leader needs to know his strengths as a carpenter knows his tools, or a physician knows the instruments at her disposal. What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths -- and can call on the right strength at the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that defines all leaders."

Know your strengths intimately, and apply them when you serve as a leader...that's the key! You already have the right strengths to enable your leadership.

(quote from The Gallup Management Journal newsletter, Finding Your Leadership Strengths published by Gallup Press, Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, December 11 2008)

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