I was just researching the current market perception of good leadership when I came across this interesting article on Jim Collins For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big. As I was reading I recognized some interesting leadership parallels in Jim Collins own work ethics and approach to personal goals.

Whilst the article claims that “anyone looking for code-cracking formulas for success in business is going to be disappointed” in my view, the account of Mr Collins demonstrates ten core traits of a good leader:

1. Very clear vision – of what he wants to do in his life
2. Very clear strategy – of how he goes about achieving his life vision
3. Use of analytics and metrics – to define ideal opportunities and leading indicators of performance
4. Logic – Isolation of emotional decision making from logical decision making – to ensure he makes objective, rather than subjective decisions about people
5. Focus – willing to say ‘No’ to anything that falls outside his personal preferences or goals for the year
6. Perseverance – to do what needs to be done to win, as defined in his own terms, even when the going gets tough
7. Curiosity – asking the questions that need to be asked, however painful
8. Collaborative Humility – he asks the questions, and pushes the clients to create the answers
9. Wisdom – to recognize that inferences from data often still rely on judgement. i.e. the inadequacy of some research to be conclusive and understanding the impact of brain bias on judgements
10. Storytelling – an author is a leader, leading the reader through a maze of analogies and metaphors to illustrate the key points of his story.

Well worth reading!

Author: Gail La Grouw. Insight Mastery Program Director, and Strategic Performance Consultant for Coded Vision Ltd.