There
is a leadership revolution that has grown quickly the past twenty years. From books, classes and seminars to college
programs including doctoral programs in leadership, the art if not science of
leadership has become big business.
According to the American
Society of Training and Development, U.S. businesses spend more than $170
Billion dollars on leadership-based curriculum. The top leadership gurus in the world are
best selling authors and speakers and have undoubtedly helped millions of
individuals and businesses.
The definitions of leadership
vary from the simple “leadership is influence” to incorporating vision,
creativity, tone setting, inspiration and tenacity.
While many may argue that
leadership is not about traits, most will acknowledge that there are certain
qualities that are common among great leaders.
I would argue that these qualities often can be summarized by what are
often called the 3 c’s : Capacity, Character and Competence.
Unlike leadership activities,
these 3c’s are axioms or truths that are necessary traits for leaders in order
to have long term success in an organization.
Capacity is the combination of skill-set and volume. In brief it is the necessary amount or resources available for the production of desired output. In humans, capacity can be amazingly elastic for short periods of time. Great leaders are high capacity managers of the resources at their disposal.
Character is
too often defined by constantly evolving cultural qualities. This is unfortunate as character is actually
internal traits that align with moral truths.
Honesty, integrity, empathy, courage and faithfulness are among the
virtues that are typically spiritually defined, taught and infused in
character.
Competence is
the one quality that is actually very subjective as a leader can be very
competent in one area and completely lacking or incompetent in another
area. It is said that competence alone
cannot make a leader but it can certainly undo one.
