Leadership - A discussion of traits, characteristics, and current news of leaders.

I was struck by Hal Halladay’s  post … Business As Usual Fails for Lay and Skilling … about Enron executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling  and I was surprised to read about their blatant problems of power, money, and prestige. It was especially interesting to see how they’d lapsed from skilled and confident leaders to a dangerous pinnacle of corporate greed…. Everywhere we see stories of their intelligence profile … and it’s part of that story I would like to highlight here … to suggest how these two leaders showed incredibly low profiles in two critical leadership intelligences… that Dr. Howard Gardner called personal intelligences:

Imagine how higher introspective intelligence… where moral judgment lies … and higher interpersonal intelligence … where their care, compassion and respect for other people lies…could have written a noble legacy for Enron Leaders….

Interview questions can predict leaders who lack personal intelligences. These two leaders failed the following smart skills, and while they could have jumpstarted their brains and rewired for more personal intelligence they chose to ignore this growth:

1. Approachability – Do others come to you for advice and for fun?
2. Caring About Direct Reports – Do you develop and grow from direct reports?
3. Compassion – Would others at work describe you as compassionate when in need?
4. Customer Focus – Would customers rate you “high” in all feedbacks?
5. Managing Diversity – Do you value and promote differences and learn from all?
6. Ethics and Values – Would your practices be valued by others as ethical?
7. Informing – Do you let others know details daily to keep them informed?
8. Integrity and Trust- Can you be trusted with confidential information?  
9. Interpersonal Savvy—Do you enjoy others and mix well with peers?
10. Listening – Do others speak and feel heard because of you?
11. Managerial Courage—Do you take risks and act for the good of all?
12. Patience – Would others describe you as patient in most cases?
13. Peer Relationships – Would peers rank your relationships with them as high?
15. Self-Knowledge- Do you describe yourself in ways that others describe you?
16. Understanding Others—Are you described by peers and leaders as an understanding person?

How about your personal intelligences…?