Running Head: ARTICLE SUMMARY HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER 1

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1 Running Head: ARTICLE SUMMARY HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER 1 Article Summary 2: How to Become a Better Leader by Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux Patrick Eronini Northwestern University School of Professional Studies Foundations of Leadership LEADERS 481 Dr. Russell Roberson February 1, 2015

2 ARTICLE SUMMARY HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER 2 Summary In the 2012 Sloan Management Review article How to Become a Better Leader, authors Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux open their discussion by sharing that most good leaders have improved themselves by managing or compensating for potentially career-limiting traits. For leaders to grow, they must be able to recognize and hone their tendencies. Traits that aid a leader in one position may very well be a hindrance in another position, requiring the ability to amplify or curb different traits. Research in this area has led to five dimensions consisting of a group traits and referred to as the Big Five. The Big Five are: need for stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). The authors outline common pitfalls associated with leaders at either extreme of each Big Five area. Leaders with a high need for stability can be too composed, appearing uninspiring or unjustifiably confident (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). Leaders with a low need for stability may be reactive and perceived as unstable by followers. In the case of extraversion, our desire to be with others, there is evidence that being outgoing and assertive are perceived as leader-like; however, the association with being an effective leader is much weaker (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). Openness can be a great asset, but if a leader is too big-picture oriented or too complex, it can frustrate colleagues and followers who seek clarity, simplicity, and guidance (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). Such leaders may need someone to help keep them anchored. On the other hand, conformist leaders can be too traditional must challenge themselves to feel more comfortable with ambiguity. In the dimension of agreeableness, leaders want to avoid being either too rational, competitive and watchful or too considerate (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). Rather than being ruthless or liked, the ideal balancing point is to be fair. The final dimension of the Big Five is

3 ARTICLE SUMMARY HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER 3 conscientiousness. Effective leaders strike a balance between being too thorough (perfectionism) and rushing to make decisions based on instinct (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). Perfectionism can make followers reluctant to bring issues forward, and overly conscientious leaders may struggle in situations requiring flexibility. Managing traits in each of these dimensions starts with self-awareness. Leaders need to know where their tendencies lie in order to promote them or compensate for them (Toegel & Barsoux, 2012). The goal is not for leaders to change their personality, but to be a more skillful version of themselves. Toegel & Barsoux (2012) bring this point home by stating that although personality is about our preferred way of doing things, we can all behave conversely to our personalities as needed. Discussion Effective leaders are aware of their strongest tendencies and traits, and they manage them. The concepts presented by Toegel & Barsoux (2012) in their article, How to Become a Better Leader, provide encouragement for organizations to increase the opportunities leaders have to gain self-awareness and receive feedback from colleagues and followers. Organizations can use personality tests as a resource to help develop their leaders. While no single set or balance of traits leads directly to great performance, tests can point out a leader s dimensions of personality or trait tendencies that may benefit from attention or self-improvement. These dimensions of personality may also be important to organizations because certain traits may be excellent in one leadership situation and ineffective in another. For instance, an organization may not want a highly conscientious or perfectionist leader for a tumultuous situation that requires flexibility.

4 ARTICLE SUMMARY HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER 4 Organizations can also assess their current leaders to see if they fall in either extreme for any of the Big Five. Such an assessment could be incorporated into an internal leadership development program to help leaders become more skillful. For example, overly extraverted leaders could be coached to limit verbal communications to a few sentences and then pause to engage their listener(s). Similarly, leaders who are too innovative or abstract can be coached to simplify their thoughts and communicate in terms that others can comprehend. Once leaders understand their tendencies and how others perceive them, they can shift their central tendency and become more effective.

5 ARTICLE SUMMARY HOW TO BECOME A BETTER LEADER 5 Reference Toegel, G. & Barsoux, J. L. (2012, March 20). How to Become a Better Leader. Sloan Management Review. Retrieved from