For almost 100 years, leadership tests have been used to help leaders and organizations be more effective. Unfortunately, many have since evolved into assessments of how leaders and others see themselves. Not surprisingly, leaders want to know - and they should know - how others perceive them.
The evolution of leadership assessments has produced a couple of unfortunate byproducts. The first is that while the assessments have helped leaders better understand what they do and how others perceive their behavior, they don’t always get to the heart of why leaders do what they do and where they are naturally most effective.
The second byproduct is an increased framing of leadership in terms of ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses,’ which has largely ignored what psychology refers to as ‘dark’ personalities—Borderline, Machiavellian, Narcissistic, Psychopathic, and Sociopathic. Many leaders recognize healthy levels of some of these personalities in themselves. They might even concede that a ‘healthy dose of Narcissism’ isn’t necessarily a terrible thing if a leader has to talk constructively about themselves and their accomplishments.
This highlights the need to stop thinking about dark personality traits in terms of black and white and start seeing the genuine shades of grey—the authentic aspects of a leader’s innate personality that influence how they function and help others function.
However, some leaders need to recognize when and where their personality is poorly contained and turns a darker shade of grey. Even the most effective leader can become unintentionally toxic in situations like these. Leaders must remove these darker shades of grey by consciously recognizing and managing the situations and behaviors that make them effective.
As leadership evolves to meet the increasing complexity and uncertainty of the modern world, leaders need to recognize their leadership sweet spots, including where they’re highly effective, where they’re ineffective, and where they might exhibit toxic behaviors.
A leader's authentic ability to lead is often the result of a healthy, contained level of innate personality, which allows them to make incredibly tough decisions, deal with fear and uncertainty, and engage their team. However, if they haven’t developed healthy virtues, motivations, and attachments to people, then they may slip into behaviors that can create problems for the leader, their team, and the business.
Leaders who are highly effective over time recognize and manage their darker side. Rather than ignoring or stereotyping their dark personality traits, the most effective leaders understand and leverage these shades of grey.
Because effective leadership isn’t black and white.
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