What makes a good leader?

Only a “good” leader...not even great leader, you ask?

Yes. In today’s world of uber-mega-iconic-superhero leaders such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg, it’s easy to overlook the simple importance of a good leader. They ought to be practically everywhere – there are millions of people tasked with “leading”…and most of them have the best intentions, but being an effective and impactful leader is, sadly, much less common than we all should expect.

Some number of years ago, a co-worker and I were chatting about some of our leaders at the company where we worked. (NOTE: I am not disclosing the company or the leaders for obvious reasons.) It was one of those “late in the day” chats during which we ended up going to the whiteboard to try and come up with a simple framework of what makes a good leader. In retrospect, I think we were trying to rationalize and better understand why we thought one of the leaders was not great, another was pretty good, and yet another was very good. What made them different? That conversation has stuck with me over the years. And I’ve used it to frame many of the leaders I have interacted with as well as a way to try and shape me to be the best leader I can be.

After a bit of back and forth, we settled on three characteristic traits required for a leader to be good. I have since added two more “foundational” attributes that I think we just took for granted that day many years ago.

First, the foundational attributes. These are the things that, in my opinion, you need to simply get off the starting line.

1. They must be honest and trustworthy. It seems obvious enough, but it is severely destructive and damaging to work with (or worse, work for) someone you simply can’t trust. You need to know that the leader speaks honestly and openly.

2. They must be a clear and inspirational communicator. Another one that should be obvious (maybe this is why these two are “foundational”), but a leader must be able to motivate and inspire those they lead with clear, effective, and impactful communications.

Secondly, but no less importantly, the three characteristic traits that co-worker and I came up with many years ago.

1. They need to be a visionary. They need to be able to see the future of the industry…anticipate competition where it can’t be seen today…and understand how their business (or product or project) can be successful. What are the most important things to get right to ensure success?

2. They need to provide air cover. No one likes to go to battle (and as anyone who has spent any time in the tech industry knows…it is a battle) watching his or her back. A good leader must always have his/her team’s best interest at heart – even before his/her own. A leader lives and dies on her honesty and credibility. Lose that…and you’ve lost your team. Lose your team…and, well, you’ve lost everything.

3. And finally, they need to be a coach. Everyone aspires to be successful at what they do. But after we leave school and enter the workplace, we’re somewhat on our own. A good leader needs to be someone who gives us guidance, feedback, and suggestions along the way to make us better at what we do.

There’s a saying that people don’t leave a job…they leave a boss. If that’s true (and I believe that it is), then these characteristics along with any others that I’m sure I’ve overlooked are even more important than we can imagine.

What do you think? Have you been lucky enough to work for a good leader in your career? Are you a good leader? Have you had to deal with any bad leaders? Does this list of characteristics resonate? Is it complete? As always, feedback is welcome. I would imagine this topic can spark a fair amount of spirited discussion.