Hallmarks of Leadership:
The Qualities/Characters of a True Leader that makes him different than an ordinary Leader. The characters of a True Leader which define an organization & its vision its work force.
2. Over the years, many authors, leaders have written about the
importance of strong leadership in business and the essential
qualities a leader must have.
These qualities are timeless, and they are especially important
when times get tough. In the face of difficult challenges, great
leaders do not retrench. Just the opposite – they step up.
Good professional organizations have always institutionalized and
perpetuated a great culture and excellent leaders !
In fact, it is the leader who builds such company and company
provides that conducive environment ….. They are complimentary
to each other
3. CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT
• A creative & dynamic organization provides excellent
growing environment including the training, the
retention of talent and the creation of work force that is
continually learning.
• Every reflects a culture of character and integrity, which
comes from fostering an open environment, where
people speak their minds freely, to treating people with
respect – at all levels, from the CEO to clerks in the
mailroom – to setting the highest standards combined
with recognizing and admitting mistakes.
• Leadership is an honor, a privilege, when leaders make
mistakes a lot of people can get hurt, being true to
oneself and avoiding self-deception are as important to
4. • Good people want to
work for good leaders
& in the good spirit.
• Bad leaders can drive
out almost anyone
who’s good because
they are corrosive to an
organization;
• Since many are
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
5. The Great Author Dave Carpen writes about the
Hallmarks of a True Leader which moves the
organization always in the right directions:
• Discipline
• Fortitude
• Hugh Standards
• Ability to face facts
• Openness
• Moral building
• Loyalty
• Meritocracy & Team-
work
• Fair Treatment
• Humility
6. 1. DISCIPLINE
• Holding regular business reviews, talent reviews and
team Meetings & constantly striving for improvement, in
the forming of character in the life of a leader, discipline
is an essential element.
• Leadership is like exercise; the effect has to be
sustained for it to do any good, discipline means having
the vision to see the long term picture and keep things
in balance.
US President Harry S. Truman once said:
"In reading the lives of great men, I found
that the first victory they won was over
themselves ... self-discipline with all of them
came first.”
7. 2. FORTITUDE
• This attribute often is missing in leaders: they need to
have a fierce resolve to act. It means driving change,
fighting bureaucracy and politics, and taking ownership
and responsibility.
• Steve Jobs once said: In an organization, a great leader
best displays his or her fortitude not by the bold risks
taken and aggressive programs implemented, but by the
honesty with which he or she delivers feedback to his or
her staffers.
• Execution is the missing link between goals and
achievement, the only difference between the leading
company and its nearest competitor is the ability to
execute, great deal of fortitude the leaders of that
8. 3. HIGH STANDARDS
• Abraham Lincoln said: “Things may come to those
who wait ... but only the things left by those who
hustle.”
• Leaders must set high standards of performance all the
time, at a detailed level and with a real sense of urgency,
and must compare themselves with the best.
• True leaders must set the highest standards of integrity –
those standards are not embedded in the business but
require conscious choices.
• Such standards demand that we treat customers and
employees the way we would want to be treated
ourselves or the way we would want our own mother to
9. 4. ABILITY TO FACE FACTS
• True Leaders report accurate and all relevant facts only,
which benefit the team, with full disclosure and on one
set of books.
• Take a neutral approach to ideologies and theories,
practices evidence based management not what is in
vogue.
• Celebrate communities of smart people and collective
brilliance, not lone geniuses, emphasizes the virtues,
drawbacks and uncertainties of research and proposed
practices.
• Use success and failure stories to illustrate practices
10. 5. OPENNESS
• Leaders debate the issues and alternative
approaches, not the facts. The best leaders
kill bureaucracy – it can cripple an
organization
• Get out in the field regularly so as not to
lose touch, anyone in a meeting should feel
free to speak his or her mind without fear of
offending anyone else.
• Kazutada Kobayashi, president and
CEO, Canon India, syas: ― I believe in
nurturing, listening and progressing with
my staff and hence, they become my
followers, if I am wrong at times, I admit my
11. 6. DETERMINATION
• An effective leader makes sure all the
right people are in the room – from
Legal, Systems and Operations to
Human Resources, Finance and Risk.
• Persistence and determination are
omnipotent, back in 1995, Steve
Jobs added: ―I’m convinced that
about half of what separates the
successful entrepreneurs from the
non-successful ones is pure
perseverance”.
• ―An invincible determination can
12. 7. MORALE BUILDING
• ―High morale is developed through fixing problems,
dealing directly and honestly with issues, earning respect
and winning. It does not come from overpaying people or
delivering sweet talk, which permits the avoidance of
hard decision making and fosters passive-aggressive
behaviors.‖ – Jammie Dimon
• ― Leaders build morale in individuals by noticing the
small, positive contributions they make, call it nitpumping
as opposed to nitpicking. Morale builders pump others up
rather than picking them apart. ― …. John Maxwell
• “ Nitpumping begins by seeing the contributions
others make. The good we see must get to the say
13. 8. LOYALTY &
TEAMWORK
• Loyalty should be to the principles for which someone
stands and to the institution: Loyalty to an individual
frequently is another form of cronyism, Leaders demand a
lot from their employees and should be loyal to them – but
loyalty and mutual respect are two-way streets.
• Loyalty to employees means building a healthy,
vibrant company; telling them the truth; and giving
them meaningful work, training and opportunities. If
employees fall down, we should get them the help
they need.
• Teamwork is important and often code for “getting
along,” equally important is an individual’s ability to
14. 9. FAIR TREATMENT
• The best leaders treat all people properly and
respectfully, from clerks to CEOs, and ensure that
everyone helps everyone as collective purpose is to
serve clients.
• When strong leaders consider promoting people, they
pick those who are respected and ask
themselves, ”would I want to work for him ? would I
want my kid to report to her ?”
• Everyone does not deserve to be treated equally, what
they deserve is fair treatment. We do people a
disservice if we don’t treat them in a manner their actions
deserve.
15. 10. HUMILTY
• Leaders need to acknowledge those who came
before them and helped shape the enterprise – it’s
not all their own doing. There’s a lot of luck involved
in anyone’s success, and a little humility is
important.
• Humble leaders are more effective and better liked,
according to a study forthcoming in the Academy of
Management Journal, such leaders model how to be
effectively human rather than superhuman and legitimize
"becoming" rather than "pretending.―
16. LEADERSHIP – WHAT WORLD SAYS:
• A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when
his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it
ourselves. —Lao Tzu
• Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
—Warren Bennis
• Before you are a leader, success is all about growing
yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about
growing others. —Jack Welch
• He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good
commander. —Aristotle
