The results are in!

As I had mentioned a while ago, I posed the question "What is the most important quality for a leader?" on LinkedIn Questions. The survey is complete, with 37 responses. Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Some great answers. Some folks couldn't keep their answer to just one quality, while others' responses were too vague to categorize, so the numbers below don't add up to 37. I've tried to place the responses in larger categories if I could to group them a bit better. Here's the list with number of responses:

1.      Integrity - 5

2.      Visioncasting - 4

3.      Ability to listen - 4

4.      Development of Employees - 4

5.      Emotional Intelligence/Self Awareness - 3

6.      Ability to Delegate/Trust Employees - 2

7.      Intelligence - 2

8.      Passion - 2

9.      Resourceful - 1

10.  Thinks Outside the Box - 1

11.  Rational - 1

12.  Confronts Difficulty - 1

13.  Love - 1

I always like studies or surveys that agree with what I think (don't we all?), so I like this one. I've always considered integrity to be the cornerstone of leadership. As Tom Sherwin commented, "If your followers don't believe you, it doesn't matter what you say. If they see you behaving badly it won't matter what you ask them to do. If they do not hear you speak-up to those in power how are wrong, they will not respect you." Mark Taylor said, "I find it impossible to respect a leader without it and impossible not to respect a leader with it."

The number of people who referred to listening skills surprised me at first, but the more I thought of it, the more I realized that a great leader listens, while an average or poor one doesn't, and both have a tremendous effect on the team. Its the ability to listen, provide an outlet for expression for the members of the team, yet still "steer the ship" in the direction necessary that embodies a great leader. Everyone needs to have a say and felt listened to and respected, but be OK if their ideas aren't followed all the time.

I really liked a comment by Steven Smith. He said, "The ultimate leadership skill is learning how to be a better leader by following other situational leaders rather than presuming you are always the best equipped to lead." How excellent is that concept? One person is not always the best equipped for a certain situation. The true leader realizes who he needs to use for each situation, who has what skills required for particular items on the job, and gets that person to buy in by "Following from Above." Bill Hybels talks about "Leading from Below," how employees can help lead their superiors. Well, why not follow from above?

One of my favorite comments came in trying to distinguish leaders and managers. Bruce Carroll - "Many of the other qualities often associated with leaders are actually qualities of good managers. These include listening, planning, decision making, delegating, empowering -- the basic skills to get tasks accomplished through others. Most truly exceptional companies combine a visionary leader with a group of one or more exceptional managers."

Great stuff, folks! I really enjoyed the responses.

What should my next question be?