The 2 Traits That Separate Good Leaders & Great Leaders
What’s the difference between good leaders and great leaders?
I think about this often. So I was particularly interested to listen to author and leadership expert Jennifer Garvey Berger talk about the mental habits of effective leaders in an interview on the Knowledge Project podcast. She shared that great leaders have two distinct traits:
Amplification: They amplify others. They look for opportunities to help others succeed. They highlight others and not their own accomplishments or importance.
Curiosity: They are insatiably curious. They are able to listen to the whispers around them to know if something is going on that they need to know about. It doesn’t mean these leaders believe everything they hear, but they at least are aware of the whispers. They pick up on the little signals that make a big difference. Jennifer didn’t use the phrase emotional intelligence, but it seems that this fits in line with what she shared.
I love those two words: amplification and curiosity. Simple and memorable.
Think about your own leadership: When you walk into rooms, are the arrows pointing in (“Hey, here I am”) or out (“Hey, there you are!”)? And do you have the awareness and humility to hear the whispers around you in order to get an accurate sense of what is actually happening?