MSLD 511 Module 2 - Reflecting on Leadership Traits
In considering the traits approach to leadership, what are some of your traits you consider adding or detracting from your ability to lead? Considering Stogdill’s (1948, 1974) findings that leadership traits must be relevant to a leader’s actions (Northouse, 2015), how are traits important to your leadership style?
Leadership has been a long and fruitful journey for me. As a young adult entering the military, I was forced to grow up very quickly in the leadership realm. The military naturally instills that sense of leadership and I got a dose of it very early. After the first few weeks of boot camp at Lackland AFB, TX, I was thrusted into the role of Dorm Chief. This position put me in charge of approximately 60 new Airmen (collectively called a Flight) and I was ultimately responsible for getting the flight to work together effectively.
I had just watched my training instructor fire the two previous dorm chiefs as they were not able to effectively lead the flight. When I was selected, I was a bit scared due to the previous firings, but I let my strong leadership traits of self-confidence, determination, fairness, integrity, dependability, and emotional intelligence guide me. For the next four weeks, I used these traits to lead my flight to graduation and picked up some accolades along the way. After the first week in the position of dorm chief, I started to feel good about the leadership that I had provided and everything was falling into place. I truly learned the value of trait leadership from this experience.
In reflecting on what traits that I would add or subtract from my leadership profile, I would not necessarily subtract anything, but would add the sociability trait. I admit to being a bit shy when it comes to social events that surround work, but knowing that sociability is key in getting to know your people and that a leader needs to be seen forces me to overcome any social anxiety. I truly believe that sociability is a very powerful leadership trait that helps your people see more than just a boss, but also a person like them that values relationships with their subordinates.
Stogdill (1974) has a very logical approach to leadership when it comes to his trait theory. He specifically cites achievement, persistence, insight, initiative, self-confidence, responsibility, cooperativeness, tolerance, influence, and sociability as the main traits that a leader possesses. I think this list is extremely accurate with the exception that it is missing emotional intelligence. In combining the aforementioned list of traits and characteristics with the list presented by Zaccaro, Kemp, and Bader (2004), I think you have an extremely accurate trait listing specifically due to the fact that this list includes emotional intelligence and emotional stability.
In closing, traits are important to me as a leader and I was able to realize how important they were at an early point in my military career. I see how different leaders own different traits, some good and some bad, but traits are undoubtedly a big part of leadership practice and theory. My specific traits help to give me a style that has been molded over the last 12 years of military service and continues to serve me well at each rank obtained. Despite my comfortability, I always remember one big thing: there is always something to learn when it comes to leadership no matter what traits exhibit.
References
Stogdill, R. M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. New York: Free
Press.
Zaccaro, S. J., Kemp, C., & Bader, P. (2004). Leader traits and attributes. In J. Antonakis, A. T.
Cianciolo, R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The nature of leadership (pp. 101-124). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc..
Leadership has been a long and fruitful journey for me. As a young adult entering the military, I was forced to grow up very quickly in the leadership realm. The military naturally instills that sense of leadership and I got a dose of it very early. After the first few weeks of boot camp at Lackland AFB, TX, I was thrusted into the role of Dorm Chief. This position put me in charge of approximately 60 new Airmen (collectively called a Flight) and I was ultimately responsible for getting the flight to work together effectively.
I had just watched my training instructor fire the two previous dorm chiefs as they were not able to effectively lead the flight. When I was selected, I was a bit scared due to the previous firings, but I let my strong leadership traits of self-confidence, determination, fairness, integrity, dependability, and emotional intelligence guide me. For the next four weeks, I used these traits to lead my flight to graduation and picked up some accolades along the way. After the first week in the position of dorm chief, I started to feel good about the leadership that I had provided and everything was falling into place. I truly learned the value of trait leadership from this experience.
In reflecting on what traits that I would add or subtract from my leadership profile, I would not necessarily subtract anything, but would add the sociability trait. I admit to being a bit shy when it comes to social events that surround work, but knowing that sociability is key in getting to know your people and that a leader needs to be seen forces me to overcome any social anxiety. I truly believe that sociability is a very powerful leadership trait that helps your people see more than just a boss, but also a person like them that values relationships with their subordinates.
Stogdill (1974) has a very logical approach to leadership when it comes to his trait theory. He specifically cites achievement, persistence, insight, initiative, self-confidence, responsibility, cooperativeness, tolerance, influence, and sociability as the main traits that a leader possesses. I think this list is extremely accurate with the exception that it is missing emotional intelligence. In combining the aforementioned list of traits and characteristics with the list presented by Zaccaro, Kemp, and Bader (2004), I think you have an extremely accurate trait listing specifically due to the fact that this list includes emotional intelligence and emotional stability.
In closing, traits are important to me as a leader and I was able to realize how important they were at an early point in my military career. I see how different leaders own different traits, some good and some bad, but traits are undoubtedly a big part of leadership practice and theory. My specific traits help to give me a style that has been molded over the last 12 years of military service and continues to serve me well at each rank obtained. Despite my comfortability, I always remember one big thing: there is always something to learn when it comes to leadership no matter what traits exhibit.
References
Stogdill, R. M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of theory and research. New York: Free
Press.
Zaccaro, S. J., Kemp, C., & Bader, P. (2004). Leader traits and attributes. In J. Antonakis, A. T.
Cianciolo, R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The nature of leadership (pp. 101-124). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc..
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