RUNNING HEAD: Final Research Artifact 1

Final Research Artifact

Salma J. Martinez

South Texas College

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The topic for this final research artifact I chose at the beginning of the course was

“Personality Traits to Approach Good Leadership.” I had mentioned that I got interested in the

topic since the first week when we covered the big 5 personality traits. Even though not all five

of them are part of the personality traits for good leaders, I decided I wanted to do more in-depth

research on each trait. In this case, the traits are being extraversion, open to experience,

conscientious, intelligent, having good self-esteem, and integrity. Now, my hypothesis is,

“without good, positive traits, leaders will never know how to lead an organization.”

Starting off by discussing about three of the five big personality traits, is being

extraversion. What does being extraversion mean? A person who is extravert is the sociable type

that is talkative and gets along with new people really fast. Extraverts are energetic people with a

positive attitude most of their time. Some may say that the extraverts are the most immature type

of people because they usually joke around. However, being extravert is still part of the six

personality traits to approach good leadership. Why is this? As leaders, they meet new people in

meetings, hiring processes, events, etc., very often. It would be very uncomfortable for a leader

of an organization to get somewhere and being the quiet type of leader, or in other words, being

introvert. I’m pretty sure people would feel they are bothering him or her, but in reality, they’re

just not as sociable. On the other hand, if an extravert leader gets to the same place as the

introvert leader, he or she will probably get there with a lot of energy greeting everyone with a

huge smile and maybe even making clean jokes. It’s not as hard to see the difference between an

introvert and an extravert and the impact each of them would have in their organization. If we

talk about their role in the organization, think about an introvert leader giving orders to his or her

employees. Employees are not going to be motivated at all with this leader’s way of making

orders. An extravert leader will pass on his or her energy to the employees and that’s when they
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will feel motivated and eager to work better. Extravert leaders are more effective in sales related

jobs. Why? It’s very easy for them to convince people about a product or service.

Being an extraverted leader has many good factors for successfully leading an

organization, however, it has many negative factors as well. Sometimes the extravert leaders get

too comfortable in the work area and they don’t know how to draw the line between work and

personal life. They will make close relationships with fellow administrators or lower-level

employees and that can prejudice them negatively. If a leader is extravert, he or she must know

how to separate work and personal life in the most professional manner. Yes, they can talk about

things non-work related, but always keep it professional. This is the same reason why some

people may think that introverts are the best type of leaders for organizations. The thing is, it’s

good to be a little bit of both because that means you’ll know how to behave when it’s necessary

but also know when to talk. However, being the sociable type will open many doors for you,

especially if you’re just starting to try and become a leader.

The second personality trait in line is being openness, or open to experience. The word

itself says what openness means. If you’re the type of person that is always up for new

experiences and adventures, let me tell you, you have an openness to experience personality trait.

People who are open to experience want to learn about new things and make new discoveries.

They are basically not afraid of jumping into new experiences because they enjoy getting out of

their comfort zone. People that are open to experience are usually the most creative ones as well

because they are open minded. Why is being open to experience an important trait for good

leadership? Professionals were once beginners in one point of their life. If they wouldn’t have

jumped to the new experience, they would’ve never been where they are right now. The same

thing goes to leaders. Every leader was a leader for the first time once and they had to be brave
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enough to do so. In order to become a successful leader, you must always keep in mind that there

will be a whole lot of new experiences that you’ve never managed before. Becoming a leader

means you’re no longer a regular employee, but the head of the organization. Though to think

about it that way, right? When a person decides they no longer want to be a regular employee

anymore, and they want to become leaders, they probably think to themselves, “this is something

new for me, I’m not exactly sure how to do it, but I’m definitely willing to give it a try.” A

person who is not like this, who is never willing to risk it, will never really jump into something

as big as becoming a leader. This trait is something that already comes within leaders. Once

people become leaders, they have to keep being open to experience because there’s a whole lot

of things they’ll come across in their leadership world, especially if it’s their own business or if

they are the first leaders that company has. For example, you are the leader of the biggest baking

company in the world and you are invited to participate as a judge in a program for beginners in

the baking industry. Can you imagine how nice it would be to be a part of this and the

recognition your organization will take? It’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss! If you’re the

“open to experience” leader, there’s no doubt you will accept this offer.

The last trait that is part of the big five personality traits is being conscientious. In our

textbook, being conscientious refers to the degree in which a person is organized, systematic,

punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable. Sounds very clear to what a leader should be

like, right? Personally, I think a person is or becomes conscientious due to past experiences or

because that simply how they’ve been taught to be. If someone wishes to become a leader, but

lacks being conscientious, I think it’s going to be a little hard for them to become like that. Why

is it necessary for leaders to be conscientious? Think about how professional someone looks

when they are always organized and when they are always on time. It’s simply something you
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can’t help to look at because it’s that impressive. One who is conscientious wishes on doing their

work or duty well and thoroughly (Thiran, 2018). Leaders who carry the conscientious trait are

more likely to be productive than those who aren’t organized. Being this way helps to assemble

your goals and duties in a neat way and it helps you know what must be done first or so on. Even

if someone isn’t a leader, being conscientious looks good on them, then why wouldn’t it look

even better on leaders? It immediately puts the leader in a good spot and it’s probably something

everyone will be talking about and admire. Why is it that conscientious leaders are the most

successful? The talent they have in being organized is used to organize their time wisely, so they

have nothing to lose. They know the price and value of time and they know exactly how to take

advantage of it. Like Thiran mentions, being conscientious is a little difficult to develop, but it

can be developed. It takes time to get away from bad habits and transferring to better ones, but at

the end it’s all for the benefit of the organization and the leader himself/herself.

The following personality traits are not part of the big five personality traits, but I’m

pretty sure you can fit them in at least one of them. Let me start off with the intelligence trait. I

mean, this is pretty obvious isn’t it? You could have the most organized or most sociable person

leading an organization, but if they aren’t intelligent, they will never get the company anywhere,

to be honest. There are many ways and areas in which a leader can be intelligent in. Let me start

off with the organization’s subject. If there’s a technology company, for example, Microsoft,

wouldn’t it be obvious that the leader should know something about technology as well? Yes, the

most important thing a leader should do is lead the company, of course, but I think knowing at

least a little bit of the subject would be a great advantage. A leader who is intelligent in the area

is also a person to which employees can fall back into. He or she will know exactly what the

company should be focusing on and what new ideas it can come up with. Earlier I stated that
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there are many ways a leader can be intelligent in. Another one is being smart about how you

lead your organization. Leadership is the ability to lead an entire team or organization to success,

and it is not a dictatorship (Dhake, 2015). The best thing about intelligent leaders is that they

know how to listen and learn. You can’t be smart if you don’t put enough attention in class and

then put into practice what you are being taught. Intelligent leaders listen to their employees’

needs and act in such way that will benefit them. As mentioned by Dhake, intelligent leaders also

know to plan ahead. Yes, every leader comes up with plans and strategies to increase sales, for

example, but the intelligent ones think about back-up plans just in case things don’t go as they

expected. They are prepared for any type of situation. One of the most important things

intelligent leaders do is motivate. What does motivation have to do with being intelligent?

Companies move thanks to its employees. Without motivated employees, those companies will

never get anywhere. Each employee has his own set of values and principles and understanding

them and keeping them motivated, so they keep performing is important (Dhake, 2015).

An additional personality trait that is essential for good leadership is having a high self-

esteem. Self-esteem is defined as the confidence and satisfaction in oneself (Seredich, 2017). In

general, this one can be a tough one because many people have a real low self-esteem and we

can’t even tell because they don’t like talking about it. I think it’s pretty obvious to know when

someone is satisfied with themselves and when they are not. Shy people are usually the ones who

have a low self-esteem. You may be thinking that self-esteem has nothing to do with leadership

effectiveness but in reality, it goes beyond that. In order for a leader to lead an organization, he

or she must have confidence in himself/herself. Imagine a leader that is always doubting their

plans because they think no one is going to agree with them. “People with high self-esteem have

no problem in empowering others and encouraging them to be their best. A leader with low self-
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esteem can often be controlling and a micro-manager, and someone who doesn’t act in ways that

encourage growth and opportunity for others.” (Seredich, 2017). If you want to lead an

organization, you must first make sure you are comfortable with yourself. If you are the kind of

person who isn’t satisfied with your own work, what makes you think that other people will?

Similar to being conscientious, you can develop high self-esteem if you are willing to change.

You just have to be true to yourself and most importantly, motivate yourself so you can motivate

others. Be confident in what you do that way you’ll be more successful and go above and beyond

in what you do best: lead.

Lastly, but not necessarily the least important trait, is integrity. Sound like a big word.

According to our textbook, effective leaders tend to have a moral compass and demonstrate

honesty and integrity. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the word integrity at least once in your

lifetime. And if you haven’t, it means having strong moral principles and being honest. How

does integrity relate to leaders? More than you probably think. Integrity “connotes a deep

commitment to do the right thing for the right reason, regardless of the circumstances” (Hopkin,

2012). No matter what the organization a leader is taking care of, one of his most important

duties is to find a way to keep it in a high level. What do I mean by this? When an organization

is not doing so well, leaders have to come in a try to save it, but if they don’t have the integrity

needed to do so, the organization more than likely will fail. Leaders are the ones responsible to

pick back up the organization. Leaders with high integrity skills will know how to maintain

his/her employees focused.

It seems like way too many traits for just one leader. However, like I mentioned at the

very beginning, without these traits, leaders will never know how to lead an organization.

Leaders should know exactly how to behave and how to motivate their employees. They are
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literally the head of an organization and without them, the company means nothing. It’s

absolutely fine when a leader lacks at least one of these personality traits, but a leader who has

all of them, more than likely will be the most successful one.
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References

Anwar, B., Xiao, Z., Fiaz, M., Ikram, A., & Younas, M. (2017). Are Leaders’ Personality Traits

Imperative For Employees’ Job Performance? The Context Of An Emerging Economy.

Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 33(5), 1013–1022. doi:

10.19030/jabr.v33i5.10023

Dhake, P. (2015, November 5). Leadership and Intelligence. Retrieved from

https://aboutleaders.com/leadership-and-intelligence/#gs.7wd020.

Hopkin, M. R. (2012, January 21). Leadership and integrity. Retrieved from

https://leadonpurposeblog.com/2012/01/21/leadership-and-integrity/.

Özbağ, G. K. (2016). The Role of Personality in Leadership: Five Factor Personality Traits and

Ethical Leadership. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 235–242. doi:

10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.11.019

Piccolo, R. F. (2010, November 27). Extraversion and Leadership. Retrieved October 2, 2019,

from http://ron-piccolo.com/2010/11/27/extraversion-and-leadership/.

Seredich, B. (2017, December 20). Why Self-Esteem Is Critical to Successful Leadership.

Retrieved from https://www.achievers.com/blog/self-esteem-critical-successful-

leadership/.

Thiran, R. (2018, October 19). Why Are Conscientious People More Successful? Retrieved

October 6, 2019, from https://leaderonomics.com/leadership/why-conscientious-people-

successful.
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Waude, A. (2017, March 7). Openness To Experience: A 'Big Five' Personality Trait. Retrieved

from https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence-personality/openness-to-experience-

trait.