An individual’s personality forms part of his identity, consistently distinguishing him from others and is reflected in his propensity to think, feel and act in a certain way. Personality is one of the most important traits of a leadership potential. A leader should have cognitive abilities, motivation and personality.

 

 

The personality characteristics such as openness, tolerance, ambiguity, curiosity, confidence, honesty and selfless has a significant impact on the development of the leadership skills. The ability to think strategically, the wisdom in decision making, the fairness in judgments, clear rationale behind chosen strategies, emotional stability and the consistency in practices are essential elements in a leadership personality. Below is a brief elaboration for some personality characteristics of a leader.

 

 

Openness to experience can be likened to openness to change. Leaders are expected to be more willing to consider and/or accept divergent thinking and take the risks, which relates to being open to experience or change.

 

Agreeableness enables the mutual engagement of leaders and followers to become more successful at initiating and maintaining relationships and then use relationship-building to influence and motivate their followers.

 

 

Agreeableness is an important personality trait because it alludes to the nurturing character of the leader, who acts to bring out the best in his or her followers and is sensitive to their needs.

 

 

Emotionally stable leaders are more secure in themselves and confident in their abilities and thus lack the nervousness and vulnerability that prevent individuals from building and managing relationships through effective communication, negotiation, compromise, and conflict resolution, as well as making sound decisions and leading through engagement.

 

 

Leaders must first set an example in order to be positive, influential, inspirational role models that motivate and stimulate their followers to perform to a high standard and exceed expectations.

 

 

The effectiveness of a leadership is measured through his ability and enjoyment of working with the group and determines what behavior will be most effective. He should have the ability to gain very quickly the attention, respect and trust of others to empower them.

 

 

The deficiency in any of the above major aspects of a leadership personality will yield to a lot of consequences that causes damage. Some researchers have focused on destructive personal attributes that contribute to harmful or negative leadership influences. For example, lack of emotional stabilities, extroversion and agreeableness were valid predictions of a weak managerial job performance. The lack of conscientiousness and extroversion were negatively correlated with preferences for managerial work and job performance.