What's Your Resonance Quotient?

 

- Adam Mendler

Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, forms, and colours. Some are good and some are bad. By definition, few are exceptional. Great leaders are in high demand as winning businesses understand that it is not enough to have only an outstanding CEO atop your organisation. Any person with any kind of managerial responsibility should be an effective leader, and for leaders to be truly effective today, they need to be able to connect with and resonate with the people they are leading. Managing through fear and intimidation may still work in some corners of some companies, but those settings and circumstances are becoming fewer and farther between.

While the Declaration of Independence proclaims that “all men are created equal,” a self-evident truth in business and in life is that different people have different strengths and different weaknesses. Anyone who has ever been managed can affirm that successful leaders are materially different in their make-up compared to their less effectual brethren. And while no two leaders will ever be exactly the same, good leaders tend to share similar characteristics.

I have identified seven traits that are core to the composition of resonant leaders that allow them to connect with and inspire the people they lead and that, in turn, position organisations to create value and flourish.

Self-awareness