One of the classic schools of thought on the subject of leadership holds that le adership whether in business, politics, or other

r areas of society consists of a collection of traits. These traits can be cultivated by anyone who wishes to bec ome a better leader. To show you just how long this school of thought has been around, Id like to shar e a quote with you from Sun Tzus The Art of War: Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, an d disciplinereliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Depen dence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and s ternness in command result in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, e ach appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader. The quote is an eloquent statement of what I think of as the trait theories of l eadership. Trait theories are an attempt to discover and describe the immutable skills of leadership, and the essential aspects of leadership that all leaders p ossess. Interested in this approach? Theres a whole lot of research on the subject (if yo ure interested, Ive included a bibliography at the end of this article). Heres the upshot, though: after extensive research on people generally considered effectiv e leaders, experts in this field agree that a consistent relationship exists bet ween leadership and the following traits: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Intelligence Adjustment (ability to adjust to changing circumstances) Extraversion (as opposed to introversion) Conscientiousness Openness to new experiences General self-efficacy (belief in ones own competence)

In these traits, many will recognize a classic leadership style that many entrepre neurs, public figures and experts aspire to. And yet, theres a problem with this type of research, which is this: it tells us that leaders have these traits, but it does not explain how these traits contribute to leadership, or why some peop le with these traits are not leaders. For this reason, I tend to think of the trait theory of leadership as a one size fits all approach. Theyre popular because they simplify a complex and elusive conc ept. However, by focusing on that which is common across all leaders, they neces sarily exclude important aspects of leadership that vary from leader to leader a nd may, in fact, have more significance than those traits that are held in commo n. As Stephen J. Zaccaro noted in the January 2007 issue of American Psychologist, trait theories still: 1. Focus on a small set of individual attributes such as Big Five personality tr aits, neglecting key issues like cognitive abilities, motives, values, social sk ills, expertise, and problem-solving skills 2. Fail to consider patterns or integrations of multiple attributes 3. Do not distinguish between those leadership attributes that are generally fix ed and those that are shaped by, and bound to, the situation at hand 4. Do not consider how fixed character traits account for the diverse range of b ehaviors that effective leadership calls for

One danger with this kind of simplistic approach to leadership is the conclusion that if you simply develop the necessary traits, your leadership abilities will emerge (in my experience as a coach, this simply isnt true). Another danger is f ocusing on these widely agreed-on leadership traits as selection criteria in fil ling employment positions. Why? Because these traits are drawn from a popular definition based on only the most obvious forms of leadership, such as those exhibited by heads-of-state, senior e xecutives in business, and the military. From our perspective, this not only ign ores the diversity that exists across different forms of leadership, it devalues forms of leadership that are less obvious and more subtle, but equally as effec tive. Further Reading: Lord, R.G., De Vader, C.L., & Alliger, G.M. (1986), Arvey, R.D., Rotundo, M., Jo hnson, W., Zhang, Z., & McGue, M. (2006), Judge, T.A., Bono, J.E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M.W. (2002), Tagger, S., Hackett, R., Saha, S. (1999), Kickul, J., & N euman, G. (2000), Smith, J.A., & Foti, R.J. (1998), and Foti, R.J., & Hauenstein , N.M.A. (2007) Lynda-Ross Vega: A partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., Lynda-Ross speci alizes in helping coaches, coaching clients and entrepreneurs . She is co-creato r of Perceptual Style Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system th at teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For free information on how to succeed as an entrepreneur or coach, create a thriving bus iness and build your bottom line doing more of what you love, visit www.YourTale ntAdvantage.com