Maria Victoria Lehane: Leadership Traits for the 21st Century

This report, authored by Maria Victoria Lehane, delves into the crucial leadership traits and competencies required for success in the 21st century. It begins by defining leadership and exploring the evolving nature of leadership in response to global and technological changes. The report identifies key leadership traits such as intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability, drawing on the works of Northouse and others. It then examines how these traits are exemplified by successful leaders like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jack Ma. The report also considers the views of the Chartered Management Institute. Overall, the report emphasizes the importance of adaptability, honesty, and social intelligence in navigating the complexities of modern business environments and achieving organizational objectives.

Running head: LEADERSHIP 0
Leadership Traits for the Age of Uncertainty
Leadership Competencies for the 21st Century
Maria Victoria Lehane
SID - 17446529

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
What is Leadership?...................................................................................................................3
Role of Leadership Traits...........................................................................................................3
Necessary Traits for 21st Century Leaders.................................................................................4
Traits of 21st Century Successful Leaders as per Northouse......................................................5
Perspective of Chartered Management Institute........................................................................7
Are these Traits enough to Sustain?...........................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Leadership focuses on ever-evolving requirements of individuals and influence them in order
to achieve common objectives. Many experts have provided different definitions of
leadership which provides that the topic is open to interpretation. In the 21st century, various
factors such as globalisation and technological advancements continue to transform the
industries and their marketplaces. Due to fast changing industrial environments, arising and
existing leaders face new market challenges which influence their business. Various traits are
necessary for modern leaders in order to ensure that they are able to address modern market
challenges which negatively influence a company’s operations. In the 21st century, many
leaders have shown the qualities of successful leadership approach which assist them in
efficiently managing their business and gain competitive advantage over their competitors.
This report will focus on examining and identifying various key traits of leaders that are
necessary to be possessed by modern leaders in the current market environment. Further, the
report will evaluate examples of various modern leaders and their traits and understand how
they utilise such traits to generate competitive advantage in companies.

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What is Leadership?
The definition of leadership and its meaning has changed and evolved throughout time; many
factors have influenced the meaning and definition of leadership such as culture, race, people,
organisations, and time. Many experts have provided different definitions of leadership in
different literatures throughout time. Though the definition of leadership has changed due to
various factors, a larger number of key concepts of leadership are recognised by people
accurately reflects the role and influence of a leader. As per Schein (2010), a leader is defined
as a person who performs activities of assessing, selecting, training and influencing one or
more followers. A leader uses skill diversity during adverse and complex situations to
provide various solutions that assist in the achievement of a common objective. Northouse
(2017) provided similar views on the topic of leadership; he further added that leadership is a
process. He provided that the term “process” implies that a leader influences a larger number
of followers and such followers also influence the leader. Northouse (2017) mentioned that
leadership is not a linear or one-way event; instead, it is an interactive event between leader
and his/her followers.
Conway and Coyle-Shapiro (2012) provided a similar approach relating to leadership; they
stated that 21st-century leaders are required possessing various types of skills which assist
them fulfilling their obligations and allow them to gain trust and loyalty of their followers.
Effective leadership skills assist the achievement of organisational objectives which improve
a company’s performance and increase its profitability. As discussed above, there are varying
interpretations of leadership which are provided by different experts. Various authors have
provided different definition of effective leadership based on a set of qualities that leaders
possess. Western (2013, p.2) stated that while understanding leadership, the definition may be
based on what a person is looking for and from where he/she is looking. The definition of
leadership is based on different perspectives of people because it is many things to many
people. A single leadership style is not suitable for different organisations, and each
successful leader has shown different leadership traits that makes them effective. Successful
leaders have proved that there is no particular definition of leadership and each person has
different perspectives towards leadership definition.

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Role of Leadership Traits
Many people have common perspective towards leaders that they are born with natural
talents; many people use statements such as “he/she is born to be a leader”. The ‘Great Man
Theory’ was significantly popular during the 20th century; many experts suggested that people
have special inborn qualities and characteristics which assist them in becoming effective
leaders (Hoffman et al., 2011). Previously, people believe that leaders are heavenly beings or
Gods who are born with special characteristics that allow them to become successful leaders.
However, by the mid-20th century, the concept of leaders as a heavenly being was questioned
by researchers. Many experts challenged the concept of leaders being “Gods” and provided
that there are various universal leadership traits that most successful leaders possess. The
scientists analysed and measured the leadership qualities of successful leaders to provide that
leadership is a skill rather than inherent quality (Chemers, 2014).
The “Great Man Theory” was mentioned by many scholars during the 20th century before
they started believing that there are many rigorous academic characteristics of leadership
traits that are possessed by successful leaders. The study conducted by Jung and Sosik (2006)
on charismatic leaders provided that they possess various traits which makes them effective
such as engagement with followers, self-monitoring, motivation through social power, and
encouragement for self-actualization. Many other experts have provided their study that links
personality traits with effective leadership style (Harris et al., 2013). These studies prove that
personality traits play a crucial role in building effective leadership approach of a leader.
Most of the scholars highlighted the importance and requirement of traits in building
effective leadership approach. In recent years, the theory of leadership traits has grown
popular among modern organisations.
Necessary Traits for 21st Century Leaders
According to Germain (2012), there are six main traits of leadership were given by Shelley
Kirkpatrick and Edwin A. Locke in their study which includes motivation, integrity,
cognitive ability, drive, confidence and task knowledge. Many experts also provided that
social ability is another crucial characteristic which is necessary for modern leaders. As per
the study of Zaccaro, Kemp, and Bader (2004), twelve main characteristics are necessary to
be possessed by 21st-century leaders which include emotional stability, agreeableness,
cognitive abilities, self-monitoring, problem-solving, intelligence, emotional, social
intelligence, extraversion, openness, motivation, and conscientiousness. Ancona (2005)

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simplified these leadership traits by reducing their number of four; these four traits highlight
most of the other characteristics that are necessary to be possessed by 21st-century leaders.
These traits include honesty, adaptability, inspiration, and self-confidence.
As per the research conducted by Northouse (2017), there are five core leadership
characteristics are necessary to be possessed by modern leaders in order to succeed. These
traits include self-confidence, integrity, sociability, intelligence, and determination. As from
above discussion, it can be seen that many leadership traits have remained same in most of
the studies. Many researchers just rephrased the words in their studies, but despite varying
consistencies, the general characteristics of leaders remain same in different studies (Lloyd-
Walker and Walker, 2011). As per Holt and Marques (2012), the characteristics such as
integrity/honesty, self-confidence, drive/determination and intelligence/cognitive ability
remain same which can be considered as essential qualities that differentiate successful and
failed leaders. These traits assist modern leaders in successfully managing there corporations
which provide them competitive advantage and increase the profitability of their firms.
Traits of 21st Century Successful Leaders as per Northouse
The leaders or CEOs of 21st-century corporations which emerge in the industry display
excellence in various personality areas such as knowledge, social responsibility, skills and
personal awareness. The successful leaders differentiate themselves from others based on
various aspects which prove the requirement of leadership traits in effective leadership
approach. According to Northouse (2017), the primary trait is intellectual ability or
intelligence of the leader; it is referred as high mental reasoning than compared to others but
not high enough to alienate others. Otazo (2006) provided a similar concept regarding the
intelligence of leaders which provide that the leader should be able to process a large amount
of information quickly and must handle multiple tasks at once. ‘Steve Jobs’ is a good
example of a successful leader who displayed intelligence as a leadership trait.
Steve Jobs was the CEO and founder of ‘Apple Incorporation’, and he died in 2011. Apple is
currently world’s most valuable corporation, and it is also the world’s most profitable
enterprise. Job intelligence in technical skill, design, and vision is a key reason due to which
Apple become one of the most powerful company. According to Issacson (2012), Jobs once
said that there are several incredible products inside him, and he needs to get them out. Many
visionary products launched by Apple before iPhone, iPod and iMac such as Macintosh and

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Apple II revolutionised the entire electronics and personal computer industry, and it
influences the way people work and play with electronic devices. Another trait is self-
confidence which is the ability of a person to become certain about one’s skills and
competencies. A sense of self-assurance and self-esteem is included in self-confidence with
the belief that one can take right decisions.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has demonstrated these skills in his
leadership style. He is one of the most influential leaders in this century who have ambition
and self-confidence skills that enable him to manage both corporations at the same time,
despite a large number of challenges faced by him due to rapidly changing aerospace and
automobile industry. According to Glauser and Holland (2016), many experts criticise the
way Musk run both of his businesses because of cash inefficiencies face by corporations due
to running expensive and forward dated result based work. Despite the heavy criticism, Musk
is determined based on his own abilities and knowledge, and he relentlessly pursues his
objectives. He focuses towards achieving the desired result by encouraging other people to
increase their productive performance.
The third key trait of successful leaders is ‘determination’ which is defined as a desire to get
a job done; determination includes various attributes such as persistence, initiative, drive, and
dominance. A similar approach was provided by Gehring (2007) which identified
‘determination’ as a key characteristic of successful leaders. He provided in his study that
determination can be defined as ‘drive’ to make thing happen and constantly look for new
ways to achieve desired results. Jack Ma, CEO and Founder of Alibaba Group in China, is
one of the greatest leaders of this century. Zhang et al. (2017) provided that despite his
personal hardship, he learned from his failures in life and never changed his determination to
succeed. His story started in communist China where he was born poor; he twice failed in
university entrance exam and rejected from dozens of jobs including Harvard and KFC.
Finally, due to his determination, he founded Alibaba and become one of the greatest leaders
of this century.
Integrity is the fourth trait which based on qualities of trustworthiness and honesty; it
simplifies the correspondence between words and actions. Northouse (2017) provided that
good leaders take responsibility for their actions and follow a strong set of moral principles.
Honest leaders inspire confidence in his/her followers because people trust their judgement
and decisions. They are highly dependable and loyal towards their followers; integrity makes

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leaders reliable and credible which establish a positive relation between followers and leader.
Both Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May are good examples of honest politicians who
demonstrate integrity in their leadership approach; Anthony Lake is another good example
who is the head of UNICEF.
The last trait provided by Northouse (2017) is sociability which is defined as a leader’s
ability to seek out positive social relationships. The successful leaders demonstrate various
positive abilities such as friendliness, courteous nature, diplomatic demeanour, extrovert
nature, and sensitive persona. The core capabilities of a successful leader centers on his/her
ability to engage in connecting, inquiry and advocacy. Due to good interpersonal skills, social
leaders are able to establish and maintain cooperative relationships with their followers and
others. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, is a good example of leader with
sociability skills. As per Northouse (2017), a successful leader requires social judgement
skills which allow him to ascertain requirements and demands of followers and tailor his/her
responses as per organisational changes. Zuckerberg demonstrated this ability by creating a
social networking site with his friends that bring people closer throughout the world and
effectively managing multi-billion dollar corporation.
Perspective of Chartered Management Institute
The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institute which is situated in the
United Kingdom. Following are the key characteristics of a successful leader which are
identified by the CMI:
 Commitment to developing others through training and mentoring
 Self-awareness and having a clear sense of purpose
 Strong values and personal integrity
 Being a champion of diversity
 Taking time to reflect
 Ability to communicate and engage with all levels
 Agility and innovative
 Non-hierarchical and collaborative network
 Technology curious and savvy
 Excellent track record of delivery
 Having personal flexibility and bravery

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 Champion of diversity
As per Gill (2011), the CMI identity similarities between key management and leadership
characteristics bring into question whether successful leaders are born with specific traits and
characteristics that make them effective or whether these skills can be developed and learned
by people with experience. In 2013, Gartner predicted that the majority of people who are
known as “knowledge workers” (who perform based on their knowledge such as software
engineers, architects, and doctors) will be both positively and negatively disrupted by “smart
machines” (Cooney, 2013). Smart machines which have the ability to learn from results will
be able to take better decision and improve the process, but they also might be able to remove
the requirement of human in the process. This technology highlights the importance of agility
and adaptability skill in leaders that assist them moving forward in the 21st century based on
the influence of technological advancements.
Are these Traits enough to Sustain?
The points mentioned above regarding effective leadership traits will be enough to sustain
strong leadership approach for a medium-term but in the long run, the definition of strong
leaders will continue to evolve as per changing market conditions. As discussed above, some
of these leadership traits are more situational bound that compared to others. In the 21st
century, new competitive markets will include various factors such as blurring of industries
boundaries, quality and customer satisfaction, extreme emphasis on price, hypercompetitive
markets, changing employees’ career and expectation and finally growing emphasis on
innovations and continuous learning. A successful leader with effective traits requires
operating under these conditions in order to move forward in the future.

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Conclusion
Conclusively, the traits are not enough to become a successful leader; instead, they provide
the requirements that are necessary to be fulfilled by 21st-century leaders to become
successful. Leaders of the future will require learning these traits through behavioural
training or either born with them in order to become successful. The people who possess
these traits have the ability to become a successful industry leader in the 21st century. The
trait approach provides a benchmark that can be used in order to assess and measure the
qualities that are required to become successful leaders in the future. The criteria identify
what traits are required in leaders or whether the traits are already present in a leader; it
provides what behavioural qualities are necessary to be learned by modern leaders. Today,
the leaders have to adopt as uncertain and changing market condition in order to sustain in the
market. The leadership traits guide leaders in moving forward through with some will
flourish and many will fade. Finally, it is necessary to understand that leadership is a job, and
it comprises various hardships, demands, difficulties, accountability, pressure, and
unrelenting responsibilities, therefore, some human will be able to perform better in this
nature than others.

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381.

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