Preparing for Leadership

7

Personality and Leadership

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Have you ever said something like this to describe a boss or colleague: “What a micro-manager!” “He shoots from the hip” “She's so disorganized!” “Why can she just speak up more so that people hear her wonderful ideas?”

These are examples of how personalities play out at work. Your personality is the final component in your leadership mix. In the past two decades, the science of personality measurement in the workplace has developed rapidly. Research reported by the American Psychological Association and The Society for Consulting Psychology confirms that “personality is the most important ...