First Level Leadership

Leadership Qualities: Subjective Phenomena

Essential building blocks of leadership qualities

Here is a brief multiple-choice test for you:

What will be the most sought after resource in the coming years?

• Technology

• Conceptual Skills

• Analytical Skills

• Leadership qualities

This is not a test of intelligence but you know the answer. The buzz is that leadership skills will become a meager resource in the years to come.  

This role requires having a correct perception of the reality and the ability to widen perspective by listening. Leadership quality is largely a subjective phenomenon. How can you widen your perspectives? Here are some lessons from literature for you to savor:

In “Othello,” Shakespeare depicts differences between appearance and reality or between masks and faces. All major characters like Othello, Desdemona and Iago appeared to be enigmatic and often justified their actions.

Leo Tolstoy’s "War and Peace" is a superb piece of literature to talk over success and failure.

Henrik Ibsen, often referred to as the “Father of modern drama,” wrote many powerful plays. The one that comes to mind is “THE WILD DUCK” (1950). He specialized in representing the cloaks people wear and the tactics they use to communicate subtle ideas.

There are interesting stories as well

Hans Anderson’s fable: “The Ugly Duckling” is appropriate for understanding self-identity.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” helps us to understand the difference between innocence and cleverness. The list is endless but

What do William Shakespeare, and Leo Tolstoy, etc.…

got to do with leadership qualities or widening your perspective?Is it not true that life puts you in many awkward situations either at work or in personal life as mentioned above? Yet, you have to act. Discussion on such issues against the background of similar plays and stories demonstrate their pedagogic value on leadership decision-making courses.

Such readings give you

a wider perspective of things,greater capacity to respect others' opinions, versatility to deal with many topics simultaneously, greater understanding to perceive and judge, and ability to use your imagination. This kind of mindset will facilitate a conducive thought process for the development of a holistic leader.

Therefore,

to widen your perspective, demands serious efforts. These include the cultivation of reading habits, ability to taste literature by selecting the best and relevant pieces that link with leadership issues.

Leadership qualities go beyond practical experience and managerial skills It also requires the qualities of a great artist. A lot depends on your interpersonal skills.

One of the most important attribute of a leader is passion

However, passion has to be purposeful. In other words, you should have a passion to read, and the reading should be purposeful.

In this context, you have to understand

that leadership techniques (skills) and experience both contribute to building leadership qualities. Experience is much more than just job experience. It includes visiting places, meeting people, seeing classic movies, art exhibits, and cultural performances and above all READING great works of literature and non-fiction as well. All such activities help in the self-development of a leader.

Choosing the best and relevant pieces

Reading history, literature and philosophy has been one of the most popular methods of self-development for leaders. However, it is necessary to choose the right stuff that contributes towards your development. Selection of appropriate reading material is both difficult and an important process.

To do it successfully,

you should constantly be in search of what you really want to know and learn. You have to keep defining and redefining your needs for learning, and search for the selected pieces of literature which could meet those needs.

In order to gain conceptual knowledge

you have to go beyond literature to art, history, philosophy or non-fiction classics.Gain extensive conceptual knowledge through reading of books written by competent authors for general readers.

Some examples are –
Abraham Maslow’s – Motivation and Personality
John Kotter’s Matsushita Leadership
Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence

And the list is endless…

The bottom line is this -

Read literature for leadership stimulation, but do not lose touch with the new trends in management literature as well. It is a continuous process.

You have to keep reading books and select further readings

Such readings will make you a knowledgeable person, which is one of the key leadership qualities. Metaphorically speaking, the first step is to put off the flood lights and put on the spotlights.

PS:
This article has one basic purpose – to encourage you to take the first step towards developing by purposeful reading. Regardless of your age or occupation, you must read and it will pay you back in many forms.

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