Recommended by Quintin Price, head of Alpha Strategies at Blackrock (the $1trn active arm that is making a comeback against the firm’s passive dominance) on this excellent podcast, is an intriguing essay – “Why Should Anyone be Led by you?“
The authors, two business school professors, find that there are four qualities that make a great leader.
First, leaders must expose vulnerabilities, revealing their approachability. This builds trust, a collaborative atmosphere, and solidarity. Never reveal a weakness that can be seen as a fatal flaw, jeopardising central aspects of one’s professional role.
Second, good leaders must be great situation sensors. They can sense unexpressed feelings. This requires a fine balance as it needs to be validated i.e. observations must be grounded in reality and not just projections.
Third, leaders should care, intensely, about the work employees do, something that is hard to fake. This can’t be soft but requires tough empathy – a respectful “grow or go” mentality.
Finally, and most importantly, leaders must be different and show that difference. This takes time to discover and can’t be over done.
Although these sound like rules to follow it is incredibly hard to fake and authenticity is key as the article concludes – ““Be yourselves—more—with skill.” There can be no advice more difficult to follow than that.“
