What makes a great leader?
88% said that it includes facilitating collaboration and enabling others to contribute… and influencing others – even without a formal title or position.
I’m doing some research with leaders who navigate complexity to lead, design, and deliver change. There’s been a great response with some interesting patterns emerging from the data.
One of the questions is: what does it mean to be a leader? Some other stats so far…
96% agreed that being a leader means bringing people together with a clear purpose to achieve shared goals.
82% said it means adapting your style and approach based on the situation and context.
72% agree leadership starts with and includes self-leadership.
Less than 2% felt that leadership requires a title or position of authority.
But what makes a great leader?
When asked to think about the qualities of a great leader they’d worked with, the most common traits in order of frequency are empathy, vision, clarity (or being clear), team (or teamwork), communication, growth, and authenticity.
Some quotes to give you more of a flavour of what people value in their leaders…
“Humility, empathy, and commitment to serving others. He prioritised the team’s well-being, listened actively, and empowered us to excel. His leadership fostered trust, collaboration, and a positive work environment.”
Healthcare Company Leader (Singapore)
“They cared about their team, expected greatness and supported you to achieve it, lived the values even when it was hard.”
Financial Services Company People & Culture Leader (Australia)
“Clear, constructive, willing to have the hard conversations, available, pragmatic and action orientated. Someone I can learn from.”
Energy Company Innovation & Sustainability Leader (NZ)
Research insights
This is just a taste and more themes, stats, quotes, and insights will be coming soon… in the meantime, why not get involved if you haven’t already 😃
Get involved!
I’m curious to learn more about how you’re adapting to meet the rapidly shifting expectations of your teams, customers, investors, and regulators. I’ll present the findings from my research in a report. It might even evolve into my next book.
Join the waitlist for the report now to be the first to get it. When you join the waitlist, you’re also invited to complete the survey that takes ~5 minutes, and you can express interest in being interviewed.
There’s been a great response since I started in April… a huge thanks to the more than 80 people who’ve already shared their experience and insights.
More soon…
