Can we measure leadership?

by Mary Beth Matteo, Founding Director of the S. Dale High Center

All of us want to hire “leaders” in key positions in our companies. Most of us want to train future leaders, either in our business, or our family.

How do we recognize leaders, or potential leaders? Usually we focus on the personality attributes of leaders and then look for these characteristics in specific individuals. There are a plethora of tests and training methods to identify and strength leadership characteristics whether employees or family members.

This is only one half of the picture, so let’s back up and look at the definition of leadership. A leader’s responsibility is to establish the conditions (the culture, the climate, the incentives) to enable others to take the right actions to succeed. If the top executive achieves the results himself/herself, the top executive is not a leader but simply a high achiever. If the top executive enables his/her employees (or family) to succeed, that is a leader!

Sum and Substance: So, how do we measure leadership? We measure follower behavior and the achievements of followers. Leaders get results through people!