It’s tempting to measure leaders simply by the success of their businesses. But even the most successful founders know how much timing and luck can be confounding factors in this approach. Measuring leadership through bottom-line company performance also fails to provide any clues.
So how do you know you are good leader? You are a good leader if you excel in the three areas described above and thereby earn the trust of the people around you.
Has the CEO chosen good leaders at the company? Which leaders do you respect and why? Are there leaders that you think are weak and why? Has the CEO replaced any leaders in the past year? Were these good decisions, from your perspective? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the senior leader who oversees your area? Have any high performing members of your team chosen to leave the company in the past year? Why did they choose to leave? Ask departing employees: are they leaving because of concerns about senior leadership?
How would you rate your CEO’s integrity / moral compass? Do you think the CEO listens well and is open to feedback? Are there examples where feedback has changed the CEO’s behavior in a positive way? Have you seen examples of favoritism, inappropriate relationships, inappropriate language, conflicts of interest, or any other unethical behavior in the CEO? When asked anonymously, what do employees / direct reports feel motivates the CEO? How would you describe the level of personal commitment that the CEO shows to the mission of the company? Have you seen examples of lack of commitment from the CEO? Have you seen examples of lack of commitment from other leaders or from employees?
Source: How Do You Measure Leadership?
Originally published at Cogly.
