Leadership - What to Look For

I had no idea how the events of this week would unfold when this question was posed Sunday night at church - "What do we look for in our leaders?"

Now granted, we were at church so we quickly got all the 'churchy' answers; faith, honesty, integrity, etc.  These are certainly important but there are other qualities and characteristics that should not be ignored.

I responded to the group with one of the less religious answers but one I believe to be true - charisma.  We tend to gravitate toward leaders who have a certain charm that attracts and inspires us.  The 44th and 45th POTUS are perfect examples.  No matter how staunch of a republican you are, you cannot argue that Obama is an amazingly skilled orator.  And regardless of how decisively democrat you are, it's difficult to argue that Trump has a certain charisma about him as well.  Yes, they both attract people from different sides, but they both attract and inspire people - that's charisma.

I'm currently reading, "Leadership in Turbulent Times" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  The book chronicles stories and lessons in the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Below are several thoughts and quotes from the book that I believe are qualities we should all look for in leaders, or seek to exhibit if we aspire to become leaders one day.

• "With perseverance and hard work, they all essentially made themselves leaders by enhancing and developing the qualities they were given." - Goodwin.  Each of these men didn't try to remake themselves into someone else, they focused on their gifts and talents and worked to excel in those areas.  Concentrate on your strengths and your passions, not what others say you ought to do.
• "The leader must be ready when the opportunity presents itself." - Goodwin.  You win tomorrow's battles today.  Noah didn't build the ark after the rain started.
• One quality that would characterize Lincoln's leadership - "a willingness to acknowledge errors and learn from his mistakes."  None of is perfect.  When you mess up, own it, correct it, learn from it.
• "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing." - Lincoln.  Les Brown says, "You've got to be hawngry!"  Eric Thomas says, "You've got to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe."  As a leader, you've got have a drive and a passion that others don't have.  You get up earlier, stay up later, work harder, study more than anyone else.
• T. Roosevelt believed that success "is not dependent on such unique inborn attributes, but on a man's ability to develop ordinary qualities to an extraordinary degree through ambition and the application of hard, sustained work."
• Leaders do need a moral compass and not blind political/party loyalty.  Speaking of T. Roosevelt, Goodwin writes, "He wanted to win arguments because they were right, not because he had skillfully mastered an array of one-sided facts."
• A leader has to be able to stay cool under pressure.  Several quotes used to describe F. Roosevelt were, "Temperament is the great separator" and "A second-class intellect.  But a first-class temperament."  For many of us, this comes with wisdom and maturity.  We all get mad, and it's okay to use that fire and passion to accelerate action, but don't let emotion become your guide.

Leaders are held to a higher standard, and therefore, should hold themselves to a higher standard.  That doesn't mean you have it have it all figured out now.  Each of the men in the book constantly learned on their way to the White House and none of them did it alone.  John Michael Montgomery may have summed it up simplest, "Life's a dance you learn as you go.  Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow."

What are you looking for in the leaders of your family, your business, your church, your government, or any other organization?