Leadership Traits: Overrated and Underrated

What leadership traits are essential, and which ones are given more credit than they deserve? In this episode of Good Company, hosts Drew Dudley and Brett Elmgren unpack the most overrated and underrated leadership traits in today's workplace. In their conversation, they define overrated and underrated characteristics and how certain traits can help leaders create more productive workplaces and fulfilling company cultures. Drew and Brett discuss the common misconceptions surrounding charisma and why there is an inherent distrust of it. They unpack why collaboration is overrated and the concept of mindful collaboration. They also explore why education and credentials are not a silver bullet for competence, and the power of fostering personal value discovery in the workplace in addition to organizational values. Discover why leaders need to understand data, the role of agility and adaptability in leadership, why asking good questions is a vital skill, and more. Tune in to uncover the key traits to leadership success with Drew Dudley and Brett Elmgren!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Find out why charisma is not a leadership trait and how it differs from confidence. [0:04:22]
• The value of collaboration and the risk of too many people making decisions. [0:12:15]
• Learn why companies should hire based on skills and not credentials or education. [0:17:22]
• Explore the power of personal values and why they are essential for the workplace. [0:24:40]
• Discover why data literacy and storytelling are highly underrated leadership skillsets. [0:31:48]
• Discuss the need for agility and adaptability in leadership. [0:37:18]
• Misconceptions surrounding personal boundaries and how to implement them. [0:40:00]
• Why the ability to ask the right questions is a critical, but underrated leadership skill. [0:42:03]
• How leaders can improve decision-making and assess information effectively. [0:47:00]
• Honorable mentions: humility, common sense, humanity, and humor. [0:50:01]

Quotes:

“Let's work on abolishing the extroverted bias within how [leaders] run meetings and how [leaders] promote people in the organization.” — Brett Elmgren [0:09:46]

“Really, what charisma is is the ability to have people form opinions of you that are positive very quickly.” — Drew Dudley [0:11:10]

“Collaboration is not necessarily a skill. It is what emerges from developing a certain set of other skills.” — Drew Dudley [0:15:31]

“We just use credentialism to gatekeep what access people get.” — Drew Dudley [0:19:03]

“I think leaders over manage people through change when the real successful people in organizations understand that change is constant and they are business ready at all times.” — Brett Elmgren [0:37:34]

“I think a boundary is the line past which your values start to be threatened.” — Drew Dudley [0:40:24]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

This Is Day One

Making Numbers Count

Drew Dudley | Everyday Leadership

Brett Elmgren | Axom Leadership