Mind, Self, Social: A Leader's Triad for Success
Leadership is not a position but a skill anyone can learn and practice. Whether you are a manager or a team member, you can benefit from developing and demonstrating the traits of a leader. These traits are the qualities that make you stand out as a role model, a visionary and a motivator for others.
While the terms manager and leader might used interchangeably, and an overlap between the two is valid, there is a distinct difference between them.1
In this blog, I'll share some of the essential traits of a leader and how you can cultivate and showcase them in your personal and professional life. I've grouped them into three main categories: Mind, Self and Social. So let's dive in:
Mind
This category includes traits that relate to a leader's cognitive and analytical skills, such as vision, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills. When becoming a leader, the mindset shift is fundamental to the skill; you no longer act on your behalf. You are responsible for the business's success with all it entails and the people associated with it, whether investors, partners, employees or customers.
Vision
Being a visionary is one of the most challenging items, as it requires the person to be able to envision the future in the present moment and how that future will transform or take the business to the next level, taking into account that the future outlook will require innovation and creativity to reach it. A visionary leader can see beyond reality and imagine the possibilities and opportunities. They can inspire others to share their vision and work towards a common goal. Innovative leaders are unafraid to take risks and experiment with new ideas and approaches. They constantly learn and seek feedback to improve themselves and their products or services. A Visionary leader is not only a dreamer but also a doer, as they know the sequence and necessary building blocks to construct the ultimate vision.
For instance, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, was known for his visionary and strategic leadership. He had a clear vision of creating products that were not only functional but also beautiful and intuitive. He also had a strategy of focusing on a few key products and making them the best in the market. He was able to execute his strategy by hiring talented people, fostering a culture of innovation, and delivering products that exceeded customer expectations. He once said, "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." 2
Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is complementary to the vision. It means the ability to strategise, plan, and execute the steps and resources to make the vision happen and measure their progress and impact. It also means being innovative and creative, finding new ways to solve problems and creating value for the business while progressing. A leader with strategic thinking can inspire and challenge their teams to work towards a common goal and achieve great results.
Strategic thinking is not only beneficial for leaders but also for their teams and businesses. According to a survey by Harvard Business Review, 97% of the 10,000 senior executives selected as the best leaders ranked strategic thinking as the most critical leadership skill for an organisation's success3 4. Strategic thinking can help leaders and their teams to align their actions with their vision, identify and seize opportunities, overcome challenges, and optimise their resources and performance.
Problem Solving
Problem-solving stands at the core of leadership, spanning challenges in product, business, interpersonal dynamics and beyond. A leader's ability to cultivate a solution-oriented mindset is critical for the seamless continuation of activities and expertly navigating obstacles that arise.
To truly instil a solution-oriented approach, leaders must go beyond pressuring the team or providing tools and templates, as it is not enough to shift one and the team into a solution-oriented mindset.5 Throughout my experience, I found that a key to solving problems begins with proactivity and anticipating potential issues before they become problems in the first place, then asking the right questions to the problems raised and empowering the team to contribute ideas that result in creating a collective intelligence that excels overcoming challenges.
Self
The "Self" category encompasses characteristics and qualities that concern the individual, the importance of a leader's internal capabilities and commitment to growth. Leaders who excel in self-management, self-awareness, and self-development lay the groundwork for effective leadership that positively influences themselves and those they lead.
Self Management
Self-management involves a leader's ability to effectively regulate and control their behaviours, emotions, time and beyond.6 Leaders with strong self-management skills can prioritise tasks, handle stress, and maintain composure in challenging situations. This trait is essential for maintaining focus, productivity, and a positive work environment.
Throughout my experience, I found that developing a self-management system was crucial to maintaining productivity and achieving personal and professional goals. The system involved creating a routine for my daily activity, for instance, relaxed time-boxed tasks to cope with urgent items, noting down daily, weekly and monthly achievements for more accessible communication and self-motivation and utilising async communication with the team(s) associated with deadlines on decision-making topics. All of that is directed towards weekly goals aligned with the higher management derived from monthly and quarterly goals.
Self Awareness
Self-awareness is a reflective quality of being consciously aware of your strengths, weaknesses, feelings7, emotions7, thoughts, and values and seeking feedback and improvement through external or internal observation. It encompasses being transparent with one's personal and professional identity and honest in assessing one's actions, reactions, and motivations.
During my journey, I had to advance my self-awareness due to my role by deeply introspecting my outputs (spoken, written or non-verbal), thoughts and feelings and observing the inputs. Besides the observation, I used to note the daily events with the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that I committed or observed; later, I would self-reflect on all that's written by matching how they align with my values and beliefs and how I could have done it better.
Self Development
Self-development is another crucial trait for a leader. It means the ability and willingness to learn new things, whether about oneself or picking up new skills, that can help one grow personally and professionally. Leaders with strong self-development skills can adapt to changing situations, improve their performance, and expand their knowledge and expertise. This trait is essential for staying ahead of the curve, achieving one's goals, and inspiring others to do the same.
For example, during my career, I had to learn many skills and expand my knowledge yearly, such as finance, strategy, management, system thinking and various technical topics. These skills helped me understand different business aspects, make better decisions, and lead more effectively. I also learned much about myself, such as my strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and values. This helped me to become more self-aware, confident, and authentic as a leader.
If you want to be a successful leader in the future, you need to invest in your self-development and keep learning new things through mentors, books, articles, blogs, podcasts, online courses, etc...
Social
The social category covers the traits that relate to a leader's interpersonal and relational aspects. These traits include communication, collaboration, and influence. A leader with these traits can interact effectively with others, build strong and positive relationships, and inspire and motivate others to achieve a shared vision.
Communication
One of leadership's key aspects is communication. A leader can't successfully lead their teams without excellent communication skills. A leader must be able to communicate clearly and transparently to ensure effective communication. Besides communicating comes listening. Communicating is not a one-direction process. It involves active listening and understanding. A leader who communicates with empathy allows open and honest dialogue.
According to "The Predictive Index", People Management Study, Finding #1: Bad managers are self-centred but not self-aware.8 58% of managers rated "Bad" don't communicate clear expectations. As a leader, by genuinely understanding the concerns and perspectives of others, you can build trust and strengthen the overall communication dynamic with the team.
In one of my experiences, my manager once asked me why I consistently received high upward feedback from my reporters. It seemed like I was a soft manager or leader, but in fact, it was the opposite. I addressed the issues precisely and politely with my reporters, clearly communicating my expectations and providing clear plans for achieving those expectations. Despite sometimes receiving low-performance evaluations from me, they were still satisfied due to honest and transparent communication without sugarcoating and with evidence (data points).
Collaboration
Collaboration is the ability and willingness to work with others towards a shared goal. Leaders with strong collaboration skills can create a culture of teamwork, cooperation, and trust among their teams and partners. This trait is essential for achieving better results, learning from each other, and fostering innovation and creativity.
A leader can foster collaboration by rewarding teamwork, building relationships that maintain positive and respectful exchange, sharing resources and information with the team on ongoing or planned projects promptly (instead of a top-down approach9), embracing the uniqueness and inclusion of their team members and empowering their team members with suitable delegation.
Influence
Influence is the ability to affect the behaviour, thoughts, and feelings of others. Leaders with strong influence skills can persuade, motivate, and inspire others to follow their vision and achieve their goals. This trait is essential for creating positive outcomes and impacts for the leader, the team, and the organisation.
Leaders can influence others by building credibility and demonstrating genuine interest and care for their well-being, interests and needs. They can also involve and engage their teams in the vision, mission, and values and create an environment where exchanging ideas is safe and appreciated. They can solicit feedback and incorporate them into the decision-making process, enabling growth, development, and recognition opportunities.
According to the meta-analysis that was conducted by the HBR - Ascend team10, influence is boiled down into two types, transactional and transformational. The article is very informative to anyone aspiring to become a leader.
Conclusion
As we expanded on a few traits of leadership and how one can start learning and practising becoming a leader, it became evident that leadership is not a single trait but a harmony of diverse qualities. It's the ability to grow, manage, influence and inspire oneself and the people around.
Leadership is not a skill that you can learn overnight. It's a journey that requires constant learning, practice, and improvement. In this blog, we explored the three main categories of traits that every leader should develop and practice: mind, self, and social. These traits include vision, strategic thinking, problem-solving, self-management, self-awareness, self-development, communication, collaboration, and influence.
References
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Harvard Business Review - Develop Strategic Thinkers Throughout Your Organisation ↩
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Harvard Business Review - If Strategy Is So Important, Why Don't We Make Time for It? ↩
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Psychology Today - The Important Difference Between Emotions and Feelings ↩ ↩2
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Harvard Business Review | Ascend - Strengthen Your Ability to Influence People ↩