Essential Traits of Exceptional Leaders: A Comprehensive Guide

In the corporate world, multicultural women hold a mere 1.6 percent of corporate officer positions and top earner roles at the nation’s 500 leading industrial companies, according to Catalyst, a renowned research and advisory firm focused on women. Despite their diverse paths to the top, these leaders share a common trait: they understand that effective leadership begins with self-awareness and leveraging personal strengths while managing weaknesses.

The Power of Self-Awareness and Strengths

Extensive research by the Gallup Organization over more than four decades has revealed that the best leaders are those who focus on their strengths. Jacqueline Merritt, a senior leadership consultant at Gallup, explains, “Good leaders know where they can shine and excel, so they position themselves to do whatever that is more often.”

Bobbie Gregg, Vice President and Global Chief Compliance Officer for Aon Corporation, emphasizes the importance of building a balanced team. “It’s not realistic for me to be the subject matter expert in all areas,” Gregg says. “Leaning on others who can provide additional expertise is one way to augment those areas where you may not have great strengths.”

Key Skill Areas for Leadership Development

Developing leadership skills is an ongoing and often complex process. Here are three key skill areas to focus on:

Managing Conflict

In Heather Herndon Wright’s office at the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) in Dallas, Texas, staff members address conflict by calling it a “stinky fish.” Wright, the senior director of affiliate relations at WBENC, explains, “When the stinky fish is on the table, it’s time to sit down and talk about it. Deal with it head-on as early as possible. Conflict is like a festering wound. The longer it is there, the worse it festers.”

Eric Herzog, a national expert on leadership development and author of the book “Future Leaders,” emphasizes the importance of managing conflict head-on. “No one approach to managing conflict will work. You need a variety of approaches,” Herzog says. He also highlights the importance of admitting mistakes: “Great leaders realize we’re not perfect and that we make mistakes. We must admit them and figure out how to respond and fix them.”

Communicating Effectively

Another key component of great leadership is effective communication. Herzog stresses the importance of knowing yourself and your audience and tailoring messages accordingly. Bobbie Gregg of Aon Corporation spends a significant amount of time thinking about how to communicate effectively to the company’s 45,000 employees across 120 offices worldwide. “You have to consider what the messages are, how they are being received by the employees, what feedback they are giving us, and how we need to modify the message to make it more effective,” Gregg says.

Heather Herndon Wright calls effective communication “transmitting at the right frequency.” She explains, “Communication is the lifeblood of being a leader. You have to recognize the different ways that people communicate, and your responsibility is to try multiple frequencies so that the message is received.”

Effective communication can be subtle. Leaders need to be able to read verbal and nonverbal cues and use a communication style that translates well for every audience. Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, Senior Vice President of Communications and Community Affairs at the Nielsen Company, adjusts her voice if necessary, especially in contentious situations. “It’s important to speak up and make sure you’re being understood,” Pearson-McNeil says. “If you’re a woman of color—or a woman period—you might need to soften your voice and tone. Try to keep the emotion out of it. Deliver the message firmly but softly.”

Finding Mentors

Great leaders need great mentors. For multicultural women, finding a mentor can be challenging. According to Catalyst, having women, particularly other African American women, in their networks was positively tied to top promotion rates for African American women. However, lack of access to networks of influential colleagues underlies all major barriers to advancement identified by women of color.

Eric Herzog encourages women to find mentors either inside or outside the organization. Pamela Bush-Davis, founder and CEO of Advantage Claims Recovery Group Inc., has found mentors through research, reading books, and studying great leaders. IBM’s Patricia Lewis Burton emphasizes the importance of having role models that look like you. “You can have an open dialogue or a safe place to go,” Burton says.

Jacqueline Merritt of Gallup explains, “Leadership is about relationships with people, whether mentoring others or building one’s constituency. A leader’s responsibility is to create that culture where relationships can happen, where people feel connected enough to one another that they want to move in the direction that the leader sets.”

The more multicultural women who develop these skills—conflict resolution, effective communication, and mentorship opportunities—the greater the opportunities there will be for women of color in the boardroom.

For more insights on leadership and communication, visit Crawley Communications & Research.