Over the past two and a half years in the presidential leadership academy, my definition of an effective leader has changed multiple times. There are dozens of leadership styles and dozens more effective personalities that create a leader. It is impossible to pick out three qualities, throw them on a pedestal and boast their praise as the holy grail of leadership recipes. Despite the ambiguity in weeding out exact traits, i have found that the following three general qualities are found in most effective leaders: passionate enthusiasm, respect and affinity for risk, and stellar, open communication skills. The ability to communicate clearly and effectively is an essential trait of any leader. In the case of apples steve jobs, it wasnt his stellar personality it was his passion for creation and beauty alongside his sheer genius that made others want to follow.

One of his great quotes remarks, thats been one of my mantras focus and simplicity, jobs said. Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. If a person is not passionate, they will either be passed over or not seen as trustworthy. The best leaders must be able to revel in ambiguity and make calculated, but bold risks. The most important traits of a leader shine through when the waters are rough and the tide is high. Innovation is the core of a productive society, because eventually everything will break.

In october 2012, pla visited new york city and met with police commissioner, william branton. He was one of the main forces that helped clean up nyc and previously deal with the mexican cartels, gangs and assaults in los angeles. He added that the only way to jump off the cliff of a perceptual revolution to create real change is to get the right people behind you to make the change together. I said that he could have never done anything without the help of others through the risk and through the change.

He said, crisis is an opportunity, if you don’t have one make one and never let anyone see you sweat, and still, include everyone around you in the process. To over turn a situation, there will always be risk involved but a leader must mediate that risk and use tools, including the abilities of others, incremental changes and communication to do so. This leads to the final essential trait of an effective leader: open communication.

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Leaders must communicate their wants and needs, along with the wants and needs of others to succeed. In my experience as adclub president and as a leader in pla has shown me that people like to be told what to do. People will always look for someone to make them useful and an essential part of a group or social structure. Along with communicating wants and needs, a leader has to follow up with people on decisions, keep others in the loop, and understand the viewpoints of others. A leader must learn what others are concerned about and genuinely ask how others around them are doing. This trait may seem like a flattening of leadership, but people will follow people whom they trust. Leaders must truly care about the people around them and acknowledge their importance and significance in the structure of whatever organization or relationship they are attempting to lead.

On top of personal communication, open communication among any group of people is imperative to the success of the organization. This includes talking face to face with others, vocally relying on a team, analyzing and relaying relevant information and even asking stupid questions. Communication falls in a large category, however it is the core of all leadership. Perpetual passion, attraction to risk, and open communication are the three most indispensible characteristics of an effective leader. Some leaders personify higher doses of these traits than others, and not all three have to be equal to create a successful trailblazer, but i do argue that all three must be present to be a successful leader.

Sarah espinoza october 11th, 2013 the role of personality in leadership personality plays a fundamental role in ever facet of our lives. A person’s personality is undoubtedly the product of one’s previous experiences, perceptions of reality and their natural born disposition. These three things combined are what create a person and therefore it is impossible to distinguish a person from their personality. A personality guides every decision, both small and great and it’s these little decisions that ultimately create a person and a leader. A majority of the time a leader is not making monumental, life altering decisions that will have interminable, long lasting effects on hundreds of people – most of the time, these decisions are small and they can include extending a friendly hand to a team member in need, calling a mid week check in meeting, or making a new purchase of the company. Whether the decision is big, or small, personality will always impact the ways that people handle uncertainty and choice. Given this information, a person does not need an award winning smile, agonizing charisma, and mind blowing brilliance.

The only information that a true leader needs to know are their strengths and weaknesses and be able to accommodate those blind spots and discrepancies by surrounding themselves with people with the inverse characteristics and some others in between. When the ford motor company was first starting out, their goal was to create a less expensive motor vehicle for the average person – their mantra was revolved around reducing expenses for both themselves and the customer. To make this dream a reality, henry ford created a cross functional team of four leaders in his company.