The qualities of an effective leader

One could claim that a good leader and entrepreneur is someone charismatic and strong, and who also pays attention to the details and keeps their eye on the ball, receptive to communication feedback from information garnered from employee surveys and such.

However, new research from the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales suggests that there might be more to leadership than previously thought, including the possibility of psychopathy.

Psychopathy or psychopathic qualities may help entrepreneurs as their fearlessness and insensitivity to punishment can lead them to take risks in business and persevere through hardship, which can prove successful.

"The researchers expected participants high in psychopathic tendency to be fearless and insensitive to punishment. Psychopaths commit an offence, go to prison, then come out and commit the offence again, because they fail to learn from the prison experience. Our study showed the novel result is that participants high in entrepreneurial intentions showed the same pattern of results," said Benjamin Walker, PhD student.

"It’s no surprise that some entrepreneurs do adventure sports in their spare time. The personality traits of fearlessness and insensitivity to punishment lead entrepreneurs to jump off buildings – and that is why they may also be unafraid to start multiple businesses."

Other more traditional qualities associated with leadership include a strong work ethic, expert communication skills, openness to opinions and people, trust, respect, empathy and more.

While of course there are always going to be different types of leaders and different styles of leadership, communication is one of the key attributes. Someone who is not receptive to others will have a hard time making decisions that are always relevant and well-informed.

A collaborative approach, while also having the ability to make decisions and tough calls, can be seen as an extremely positive leadership quality.

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