Positive Leadership Qualities

Negative leadership has a lasting impact too… the difference between leading for the right and the wrong reasons… Manipulation vs inspiration… Using others or serving others…

I’ve been very intentional about the verbiage I’ve used leading up to this point, emphasizing The Lasting Impact of Positive Leadership. Make no mistake though, the impact of a negative leader can be just as powerful and last just as long. With that in mind, let’s make sure we have a crystal-clear understanding of the differences between the two - and we’re clear on what drives someone in one direction or the other…

Several years ago as Cindy and I were leading a group through an in depth study of John Maxwell’s book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, working through various principles and practices we can apply to communicate effectively with the teams we lead, one participant kept asking what would prevent someone from using the things we were discussing to manipulate the people around them. Quite honestly, I had never considered that before they asked. We bantered back and forth for a while until I finally had my fill. I ended discussion on that particular point by saying that the best way I knew for someone to not be manipulative was for someone to not be manipulative! That individual didn’t receive it all that well but everyone else in the group seemed relieved.

While that exchange was focused on communication, we’re often asked similar questions about what leadership really is. And if you pay much attention to how nearly anyone in a position of authority tends to be referred to as a leader, there’s no wonder! Before we look at any positive leadership qualities at all, let’s make sure we’re on the same page with what leadership truly is… I believe leadership is an action, and that action is seen by others as we work to help those around us become better than they would have been without us. When we do this in a way that inspires them to achieve results that serve everyone involved, it’s the kind of positive leadership that makes a lasting impact. But if we use our position or authority to push the people around us to perform better, serving our own purposes over theirs, that’s manipulation - and not going to make the lasting impact of positive leadership…

If you’d like to dig further into the differences, Cindy shares some excellent examples in lesson two of our Emerging Leader Development course!

When it comes to identifying positive leadership qualities, there’s no shortage of articles to be found through an internet search; I don’t think even Homer Simpson could find the end of that and he’s the one who found the end of the internet! I believe the secret to making sure the rubber meets the road with whatever positive leadership qualities we focus on is for us to be absolutely certain the qualities, traits, skills, or whatever we call them are based on the values we’re building into our organization’s culture! With that in mind, we’ll pick up there next time…