CHAPTER 2
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
The purpose of this chapter is to present a comprehensive description of the personal qualities of
leaders. Such a presentation does not imply that the trait theory is more valid or important than other
explanations of leadership. Nevertheless, “having the right stuff” contributes to leadership effectiveness
in many situations.
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES
The belief that certain personal characteristics and skills contribute to leadership effectiveness in many
situations is the trait-based perspective on leadership. Traits tend to help us understand leadership
I. PERSONALITY TRAITS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS
Possessing certain characteristics contributes to leadership effectiveness in many situations as
long as the leader’s style fits the situation reasonably well.
A. General Personality Traits
A general personality trait in the context used here is a trait that would be observable within
or outside the context of work. The same general traits are related to success and satisfaction
in both work and personal life.
1. Self-Confidence. In almost every leadership setting, it is important for the leader to be
realistically self-confident. In addition to being a trait, self-confidence refers to a
2. Humility. Being humble at the right times also contributes to leadership effectiveness.
3. Core Self-Evaluations. Core self-evaluations is a broad personality trait that captures
4. Trustworthiness. Group members consistently believe that leaders must display
honesty, integrity, and credibility, thus engendering trust. Trust is a person’s
confidence in another individual’s intentions and motives, and in the sincerity of that
Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders 11
individual’s word. A study showed that high levels of trust are also associated with
high levels of organizational performance
The popular cliché, “Leaders must walk the talk,” holds true. Also helpful is telling the
truth and conducting yourself in the way that you ask others to conduct themselves. In
this context, trust is defined as a person’s confidence in another individual’s intentions
5. Authenticity. Embedded in the trait of being trustworthy is authenticity—being
genuine and honest about your personality, values, and beliefs, as well as having
6. Extraversion. Being extraverted contributes to leadership effectiveness, and extraverts
are more likely to want to assume a leadership role and participate in group activities.
7. Assertiveness. Letting others know where you stand contributes to leadership
effectiveness, and also being or appearing extraverted. Assertiveness refers to being
8. Enthusiasm, Optimism, and Warmth. Group members respond positively to
enthusiasm, partly because enthusiasm may be perceived as a reward for constructive
behavior. Enthusiasm also helps build good relationships with team members.
9. Sense of Humor. The effective use of humor is considered an important part of a
leader’s role. Humor helps dissolve tension and defuse conflict. Self-effacing humor is
the choice of comedians and organizational members alike. One of the research-based
B. Task-Related Personality Traits
Certain personality traits of effective leaders are closely associated with task accom-
plishment even though they appear to be more accurately classified as traits than as
behavior.
1. Proactive Personality. According to its original research-based definition, a person
with a proactive personality has a relatively stable tendency to effect environmental
2. Passion for the Work and the People. A dominant characteristic of effective leaders is
their passion for their work and to some extent for the people who help them
3. Emotional Intelligence. How well a person manages his or her emotions and those of
others influences leadership effectiveness. Emotional intelligence refers to qualities
such as understanding one’s feelings, empathy for others, and the regulation of
emotions to enhance living. Four key factors are included in emotional intelligence: (1)
4. Flexibility and Adaptability. A leader must be flexible and adaptable enough to cope
1. Courage. Leaders need the courage to take risks and to take the initiative. Courage in
the present context refers to behaviors such as prudent risk taking, facing
responsibility, and a willingness to put one’s reputation on the line.
II. LEADERSHIP MOTIVES
Leaders can be differentiated from nonleaders and ineffective leaders in terms of their motives
and needs. The motives described here are task-related.
A. The Power Motive
Effective leaders have a strong need to control resources. They vigorously exert power, think
about how to alter the behavior of others, and care about status.
1. Personalized Power Motive. Leaders with a personalized power motive seek power
mostly to further their own interests, and enjoy dominating others. Leaders with a
personalized power motive do not worry about everybody liking them.
B. The Drive and Achievement Motive
Leaders are known for the strong effort they invest in achieving work goals. Drive refers to
a propensity to put high energy into achieving goals. Achievement motivation refers to
finding joy in accomplishment for its own sake.
C. Tenacity and Resilience
Leaders are better than nonleaders at overcoming obstacles. Tenacity multiplies in
III. COGNITIVE FACTORS AND LEADERSHIP
Mental ability as well as personality is important for leadership success. Problem-solving and
intellectual skills are referred to collectively as cognitive factors..
14 Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
A. Cognitive (or Analytical) Intelligence
Strong problem-solving ability is a fundamental characteristic for effective leaders in all
fields. Research spanning 100 years has demonstrated that leaders received higher scores
than most people on mental ability tests. The relationship is likely to be higher when the
leader plays an active role in decision making and is not overly stressed.
B. Knowledge of the Business or Group Task
An effective leader has to be technically or professionally competent in some discipline,
particularly when leading a group of specialists. The importance of knowledge of the
business is strongly recognized as an attribute of executive leadership. Knowledge of the
business is critically important for strategy formulation.
C. Creativity
D. Insight into People and Situations
Another important cognitive trait of effective leaders is insight, a depth of understanding
E. Farsightedness and Conceptual Thinking
To develop visions and incorporate strategy, a leader needs farsightedness, the ability to
understand the long-range implications of actions and policies. Many of today’s business
IV. THE INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT ON LEADERSHIP
The traits, motives, and characteristics required for leadership effectiveness are a combination of
heredity and environment. Personality traits and mental ability are based on certain inherited
predispositions and aptitudes, which, however, require the right opportunity to develop. For
example, a person may inherit high mental ability but needs the right experiences to learn to
develop innovative solutions to problems facing the group. Leadership appears to be a
combination of nature and nurture.
Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders 15
Advances in neuroscience provide additional evidence that leadership most likely has a biological
component. An effective leader is adaptive, and adaptivity requires an integrated brain that has
strong connections across regions of the brain. EEG records have shown that transformational
V. THE STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE TRAIT APPROACH
The evidence is convincing that leaders possess different personal characteristics from those of
nonleaders. A knowledge of the traits associated with leadership effectiveness helps in the
selection of leaders. Awareness of these characteristics can also point a person toward the right
developmental experiences, such as learning to become more assertive. The current emphasis on
VI. GUIDELINES FOR ACTION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Considering that emotional intelligence is so important for leadership success, many organizations
sponsor emotional intelligence training for managers. A realistic starting point in improving
emotional intelligence on your own is to work with one of its five components at a time, such as
empathy. You would first obtain feedback about your empathy, and then work diligently on any
COMMENTS ON EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES
Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 2-1: How Self-Confident Are You?
16 Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 2-2: Behaviors and Attitudes of
Trustworthy Leader
Behavioral specifics of being trustworthy are particularly important because of the renewed emphasis
on trustworthiness for leaders in recent years. A self-questionnaire about trustworthiness is likely to
suffer from distortion and denial because most people consider themselves to be honest and
trustworthy.
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 2-1: Enthusiasm, Optimism, and
Warmth on the Job
A major challenge for the person who plays the role of the CEO in this scenario is to project
Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 2-3: My Tendencies Toward Being
a Proactive Personality
This quiz gives the student an opportunity to think about one of the most important aspects of providing
leadership to others—being proactive. Without being proactive, it is difficult to provide direction to
Leadership Self-Assessment Quiz 2-4: The Personal Resiliency Quiz
It is useful for people to think about their level of resiliency because virtually every successful
person has to overcome adversity at some point in his or her career. Also, there appear to be a
growing number of books and articles about the resiliency of leaders.
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 2-3: Group Feedback on
Leadership Traits
A cursory look at this exercise suggests that it is a form of what was referred to in the past as sensitivity
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 2-4: My Leadership Portfolio
Reflecting on traits is valuable because it can point to specific areas for development. For example,
many people need to search around to find as aspect of their field they might be passionate about.
Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders 17
Leadership Skill–Building Exercise 2-5: Analyzing the Traits,
Motives, and Characteristics of a Well-Known Leader
This exercise provides an opportunity to carefully observe the traits, motives, and characteristics of
a leader and at the same time think through what these attributes mean in practice. A good example
is what it takes for a leader to appear to have good cognitive skills. What kind of profound
COMMENTS ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
1. Which personality trait or traits in a leader have you found to be the most effective in dealing with
you? Why?
Answering this question can reinforce the idea that leadership traits have a big impact on
2. Suppose a college student graduates with a major for which he or she lacks enthusiasm. What
might this person do about becoming a passionate leader?
The bold approach would be for this person to make an early career switch into a field he or she
cared about, such as a management major shifting to social work. A less bold approach would be
3. What have you observed personally to be helpful about a leader displaying sense of humor?
We assume that responses to this question will be quite varied. A frequent response, however, is
that by the leader displaying a sense of humor, tension decreased during a difficult situation. For
3. Explain how being highly self-confident in a given leadership situation might not be an advantage.
Leaders who are highly self-confident face several risks. One is that they do not listen carefully
4. What would lead you to conclude that a leader was non-authentic (phony)?
5. Under what circumstances do you think it is acceptable for a leader to lose emotional control,
such as ranting, swearing, or crying?
Ranting does not have many fans, but many people think it is acceptable for a leader to swear to
be convincing. Some leaders swear among groups that appear to swear frequently but do not
6. What are your best-developed leadership traits, motives, and characteristics? How do you know?
7. Provide an example of a leader you have observed who appears to have good cognitive
intelligence, yet who is lacking in practical intelligence.
It probably won’t be easy for students to find a good example because most people who find their
way into a leadership position have at least an average degree of practical intelligence. A possible
8. Which do you think is the most outstanding leadership trait, motive, or characteristic of the
person teaching this class? Explain your answer.
9. If leadership ability is partially inherited, to what extent is it sill worthwhile for a person without
any family members who have held leadership positions to pursue a career as a high-level
business leader?
10. Many people who disagree with the trait approach to leadership nevertheless still conduct
interviews when hiring a person for a leadership position. Why is conducting such interviews
inconsistent with their attitude toward the trait approach?
Conducting interviews is inconsistent with an anti-trait approach because a major purpose of the
interview is to assess personal characteristics that would be related to job effectiveness. Another
PLAUSIBLE RESPONSES TO CASE QUESTIONS
Leadership Case Problem A: Store Manager, Ensign Jimmy Badger
This case illustrates the growing practice of retail–store chains to hire former junior military
officers, as well as some of the challenges these former military officers might face.
1. Which leadership characteristics of Jimmy Badger are revealed in this case?
2. To what extent should Jimmy modify his leadership approach?
3. What do you think of the home–improvement store’s positive bias toward hiring former
military officers for its management training program?
A positive bias toward former junior officers is most likely positive in most respects. The
teamwork and discipline for former military officers is most likely an asset in the stores.
Associated Role Play
20 Chapter 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
Leadership Case Problem B: Blunt Brittany
This case illustrates how a leader’s personality tendencies can create problems in developing smooth
working relationships with work associates, including her boss!
1. In which leadership trait or characteristic does Brittany seem to need the most development?
Brittany needs to develop her sensitivity, which is part of emotional intelligence. Her
insensitivity also manifests itself in insulting other such as calling Jeff an “old timer.”
2 How would you rate Brittany’s warmth and enthusiasm as a leader?.
3. What action do you recommend that Derek take to improve Brittany’s leadership effectiveness?
Brittany needs to read about sensitivity and emotional intelligence, and attempt to apply the ideas
with an emphasis on tact, diplomacy, and sensitivity. She is advised also to attend a workshop on
the same subject. Equally important, Derek should provide her feedback about how she is
perceived, assuming he gathers such information.