By PROF DR CHIN YEW SIN

LEADERSHIP is a complicated phenomenon encompassing the leader,
the followers and the situation. Leadership involves both the
rational and emotional facets of human experience.

It consists of actions and influences contingent upon reason and
logic as well as those elements contingent upon inspiration and
passion. Normally, leadership is associated with terms such as
risk taking, dynamism, creativity, change and vision.

With a discernible shift in leadership paradigm, what then are
the leadership attributes that will render a leader successful
in the 21st century?

Leadership concepts

Horner (1997) defines leadership by the traits, qualities and
behaviours of a leader, and differentiates leaders from
followers through personality as well as physical and mental
characteristics.

In addition, Kotler (1990) sums up leadership as "getting people
to act without coercion".

Moreover, Popper and Zakkai (1994) state that "leadership
literature deals with various questions such as: How does the
leader influence his people? What are the sources of the
leader's influence? What types of influence exist between the
leader and his people?"

Hogan, Curphy and Hogan (1994) propose the big-five model of
personality structure that comprises personality factors found
to be linked to leadership. The big-five model describes five
broad dimensions, namely surgency (extraversion), agreeableness,
conscientiousness, emotional, stability and intellect.

Bennis (1989) also describes "leaders as people who know what
they want and why they want it, and have the skills to
communicate that to others in a way that gains their support".

Furthermore, Lappas (1996) states that "the leadership focus of
knowing what you want and when you want it distinguishes
exceptional from average leaders".

Therefore, leadership success is contingent upon unifying good
positive behaviours and not disclosing negative behaviours such
as selfishness, arrogance, untrustworthiness, moodiness,
insensitivity, compulsiveness, impulsiveness, abrasiveness,
rudeness, etc.

Important elements of leadership

The study conducted by Donnely and Kezsbom (1994) on the
importance of various leadership qualities revealed that
managerial competence was found to be most important, followed
by collaborative and analytical competence as well as
communication and interpersonal competence.

Furthermore, according to findings by King (1994) from a 1993
survey of more than 250 organisations carried out by the
industrial society, there were a number of important elements of
leadership:

· Leadership is very much a vital part of organisational success
and planning;

· Leadership is associated with words such as innovator, mentor,
enabler, motivator, energetic and communicator;

· Leadership is about people and change;

· Leadership is identified from the first line upwards, largely
by appraisal and senior management referral; and

· The role of leaders is changing from a directive, prescriptive
style to one of empowering.

Effective leadership characteristics

According to Rowley (1997), there are several general
characteristics that a leader should possess: intelligence and
desire to solve complex problems, initiative, self-assurance and
confidence to believe in what they are doing, and helicopter
trait which describes the ability to understand a situation at
different levels of detail.

In addition, Martin (1993) postulates five areas of expertise of
an effective leader:

· cultural representative of one's institution;

· communicator;

· skilled manager;

· planner/analyst; and

· advocate of the institution and cultivator of relationships
with various groups and individuals.

Successful leadership attributes

Tait (1996) reported the conclusions of research involving
in-depth interviews with 18 business leaders pertaining to the
qualities and skills they felt were important for success in
directing and guiding a large organisation.

The study actively investigated certain questions pertaining to
the search for the vital attributes of a successful leader in
organisations. Questions to be resolved were the special
attributes of a leader that set one apart from other
individuals, how to tell whether someone is a leader, and the
main question: what the attributes of leadership are.

In summary, the following attributes of leaders were found:

· Visionary; described as having long-term strategic thinking;

· People skills, the ability to communicate with and motivate
people;

· Integrity and character, such as compassion, humility, and
being one's own person; trustworthy, self-disciplined and
possessing emotional stability; and

· Force or drive; ambitious and with the exceptional need for
commitment by working long hours, and other attributes such as
good health, stamina and energy.

In addition to the above, leaders are also optimists and
enthusiasts - people who will never say "die" despite having to
go against all odds.

Leaders are people who will keep on pursuing their goals with
relentless effort and stamina till they have achieved the stated
goals. The author believes that there are many more leadership
attributes apart from the above - the list is definitely
non-exhaustive.

Corporate leaders who have successfully demonstrated the
above-mentioned leadership attributes include the former CEO of
General Electric, Jack Welch; the chairman of Microsoft, Bill
Gates; the CEO of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs; just to name a
few.

It is also vital that HR managers of the 21st century be
equipped with knowledge of what constitutes successful
leadership attributes in order for them to spot such attributes
in the potential candidates they assess during staff recruitment
or selection.

The new type of leader for the 21st century is required to
inspire, challenge, innovate and motivate his people to obtain
excellent results. The new leader can no longer rely on his
position or power to influence, but to form alliances,
partnership and collaborative relationships based on trust and
credibility. Further, the new leader must value people and also
be able to encourage people to display their distinctive
uniqueness. At the same time, a leader must comprehend his or
her people's differences as well. All in all, effective
leadership is critical to the success of an organisation.
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· The author, a Malaysian, is a visiting professor of Zhongshan
University, Guangzhou, China and CEO of Oriental Strategy
Research Centre. He can be contacted at yschin@mailcity.com