Leadership Traits

Leadership Traits

The theory of leadership trait was established in 1930, and emphasized that leaders have different characteristics from that of normal people. The theory supposes that people are born with personality characteristics which are mostly inherited in them and the people who have right mix of characteristics can be a leader. Generally, this theory simply looks at the major associations among personality characteristics and the leadership effectiveness. Mental characteristics such as intellect, social traits such as personality attributes, and physical characteristics such as size were all the topics of empirical study. In "The Nicomachean Ethics", Aristotle has described five provisions of the character which are knowledge, rationality, intelligence, practical judgment and wisdom. He has also acknowledged that these traits may exist all together in their highest form. He also believed in the inborn characteristics and he provided with the idea that people, who have these characteristics to the highest level are usually more successful leaders (Fiedler, 2007).

Many researchers, in the twentieth century, have sought for the salient traits to discover the leaders. Each investigator, list each personality characteristic starting with one of the first researchers of trait theory. Ralph M. Stogdill (1974) identified many personality characteristics of leaders such as social awareness, adaptability, the decision making power, the realization oriented, authoritative power, the spirit of domination, assertiveness, spirit of cooperation, persistence, confidence, ability to tolerate stress and sense of responsibility. On the other hand, MM Lombardo and MW McCall (1983) acknowledged four fundamental features, which are emotional stability and peace, the ability to accept mistakes, intellectual ability, and a strong sense of interpersonal relationships. Now, what is essential for the execution of the theory is to find someone who has "good" characteristics to be a successful leader.

Certain personality traits of leaders are given below:

1. The will and ambition are relatively high desires for achievement.

2. The wish to influence and lead other people by representing the willingness to take responsibility.

3. Integrity. The leader set up associations of trust within the team and is sincere and loyal by representing consistency between his or her actions and words.

4. Self-confidence. This is the most important trait of a leadership personality. A person having lack of self-confidence cannot be a leader.

5. Intelligence. Leaders are intelligent enough to synthesize, interpret and collect huge amount of information and to build visions.

6. Professional competence. Effective leaders have a high degree of knowledge of the company, industry and ...