The market is flooded with books and blogs on leadership, most of which detail the concrete tasks and skills required to be an effective manager. While these resources are valuable, experience suggests that the most impactful leaders are distinguished by something far more nuanced. Often, it is not the technical ability but the intangible qualities that set a truly great leader apart from the rest of the pack.
Most seasoned professionals are already well-versed in the basics of organizational management. They rarely need basic lessons on delegation, time management, or vision casting; instead, they might only require specific insights to refine their existing knowledge. In these cases, the intangibles of good leaders serve as the primary differentiating factor in their success.
These unseen traits of great leaders are rarely mastered through reading alone. Rather, they are cultivated over time through consistent professional experience and a deep commitment to self-awareness.
But the intangibles of leadership are different. They can’t really be taught. They are either there or they are not; they are either active or dormant. And three come immediately to mind:
Aggression. The idea of someone being aggressive is usually placed in negative categories, and understandably so. But I have in mind a virtuous aggression that is about making things happen and doing what it takes. This is about more than just hard work. It’s about refusing to accept roadblocks, or at least tackling them with ferocity. It’s about hearing “No” and refusing to accept the answer until you find a way to hear “Yes”. Being aggressive is bringing catalytic energy to bear in a way that reflects persistence and determination.
Courage. A second intangible has to do with courage. It has often been said that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather taking action in the face of fear. I am thinking specifically here of the courage of decision making. Many in leadership fall prey to one of two mistakes: a “Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim…” approach that never fires, or a “Ready, fire!” approach that never takes accurate aim. In many ways, I believe the first of the two mistakes may be the more debilitating one. There are too many leaders operating out of fear in the spiritualized name of caution. But in truth, it is simply fear.
Wisdom. A final intangible is the ability to be wise. Though wisdom is to be applied on a broad scale, let’s focus on wisdom that translates into being strategic. Every leader knows the importance of being strategic, but that is very different from actually having the sense of what is strategic. One of the marks of an effective leader is the intuitive sense of knowing what to do and what not to do; what will fuel a critical growth path and what will not.
It is often debated whether leaders are born or made. The answer, of course, is “Yes.” It is a combination of nature and nurture, ability and training, intuitive sense and mentoring. Or as the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you” (I Timothy 4:14, NIV). And then in a later letter Paul added that Timothy should “fan into flame the gift of God” (II Timothy 1:6, NIV). The idea was that a spiritual gift is both given and meant to be developed. And anointed leadership is a spiritual gift (see Romans 12).
So while intangibles can’t be taught, they can be envisioned and, more importantly, aspired to. For example, you can grow in wisdom, you can choose courage, you can determine persistence.
But again, those are intangibles and perhaps what sets effective leaders apart the most.
Read more from James Emery White »
This article originally appeared on ChurchAndCulture.org and is reposted here by permission.