Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 1 of 13

Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders

Topic: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders

Welcome Notes:
WELCOME BS ENTREP STUDENTS!!!
Get ready to be challenged…
Learn something new every day by adapting the
‘New Normal’

I. INTRODUCTION:

This module is about the course Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization covers the leadership
theories, skills and practices necessary for effectiveness in varied entrepreneurial settings, including private
businesses, corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and social movements. This will cover the parts of
“Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders.” Module 2 focuses also on the personality traits of effective
leaders, leadership motives, cognitive factors, and leadership, the influence of heredity and the environment
on leadership, and the strengths and limitations of the trait approach.

II. OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
1. identify general and task-related traits that contribute to leadership effectiveness;
2. describe how emotional intelligence contributes to leadership effectiveness;
3. identify key motives that contribute to leadership effectiveness;
4. describe cognitive factors associated with leadership effectiveness;
5. discuss the heredity versus environment issue in relation to leadership effectiveness; and
6. summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the trait approach to leadership.

III. PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY:

Before you proceed to the main lesson, test yourself in this activity.

Instructions: Read the article and answer the questions.

Denise Morrison attained her long-time goal of becoming a CEO of a major business corporation
when she was promoted to that position at Campbell Soup Co. in 2011 eight years after joining the company.
Although the company is best known for its soups, Campbell is a global manufacturer of other well-known
brands including Pepperidge Farm and Prego.
Morrison attributes some of her refinements in her leadership approach to advice from sponsors and
mentors. While she was working in a senior leadership position at Nabisco, Doug Conant pulled Morrison
aside and said that she was so results driven and so transaction-oriented that she wasn’t investing enough
time in building relationships. (Conant later became CEO of Campbell Soup, but had hired Morrison at
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 2 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
Nabisco.) Conant said, “When you build those relationships of trust, you can then bring your ideas to those
relationships and get more done. You will have more influence.”
A few years later, Conant said that Morrison has the essential leadership qualities of humility and
perseverance, and an appetite for learning second to none. At the same time, she works collaboratively with
people to think through a strategy
Morrison also sharpens her leadership approach through discussions with her sister, Maggie
Wilderotter, the chairwoman and chief executive officer of Frontier Communications. She said “being a new
CEO, she’s been thrown into a lot of different situations that are new to her, so I’m a good sounding board.
Denise also has a lot of traits that impress me, but most impressive, she is a learner.”
In describing what it takes to succeed in a high-level business leadership position, Morrison says
that there are three keys. First, she always surrounds herself with strong people. Second, she believes in
having open lines of communication and collaborating across an organization. Third, a leader needs good
strategies combined with good execution. In describing her biggest weakness as a leader, Morrison says that
she is impatient. While she prides herself in being a good listener, she always feels a need for speed.
Morrison says that business success is about growth, and that she defines success as driving
sustainable profit growth. Success in her perception is also about leaving a legacy, and that ultimately her
legacy will be about how well the company performs against the strategy that she and her team have put in
place. Morrison adds that she wants to make a lasting impact.
Morrison obtained a B.S. degree in economics and psychology from Boston College, graduating
magna cum laude. Always adventuresome, in high school she was a majorette and fire-twirler.
Questions:
1. How people evaluate the effectiveness of a leader?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Describe the behaviors and skills that contribute to the effectiveness of leadership.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

GREAT!!!
You may now proceed to the main lesson.

IV. LESSON PROPER:

Let’s Based on the preliminary activities, what did you notice about it?
Begin! ________________________________________________________
CONGRATULATIONS!
You may now proceed to the lesson.
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 3 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
Module 2: Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
The following are discussed in this module:
• Personality Traits of Effective Leaders
• Leadership Motives
• Cognitive Factors and Leadership
• The Influence of Heredity and Environment on Leadership
• The Strengths and Limitations of the Trait Approach

Personality Traits of Effective Leaders

Characteristics associated with leadership can be classified into three broad categories: personality
traits, motives, and cognitive factors. These categories of behavior serve as helpful guides. However, they
are not definitive: A convincing argument can often be made that an aspect of leadership placed in one
category could be placed in another.
• General Personality Traits
We define a general personality trait as a trait that is observable both within and outside the context of
work. That is, the same general traits are related to success and satisfaction in both work and personal life.
Figure 2-1 lists the general personality traits that contribute to successful leadership.

✓ Self-Confidence improves one’s performance in a variety of tasks, including leadership. A leader

who is self-assured without being bombastic or overbearing instills self-confidence in team
members. Self-confidence is not only a personality trait.
✓ Humility Although self-confidence is a key leadership trait, so is humility, or being humble at the
right times.
✓ Core Self-Evaluations Self-confidence is one way of looking at the self that contributes to
leadership effectiveness. Core self-evaluations is a broad personality trait that captures bottom-
line self-assessment that is composed of self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy,
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 4 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
and emotional stability.
✓ Trustworthiness Being trustworthy and earning trust is considered so essential to effective
leadership that some companies use these factors to evaluate leaders and managers.
The following trust builders are worthy of a prospective leader’s attention and implementation:
• Make your behavior consistent with your intentions.
• Honor confidences.
• Maintain a high level of integrity.
• Listen with compassion and attentiveness when interacting with others.
• Tell the truth in ways people can verify.
• Admit mistakes.
• Make trust pay in terms of receiving rewards. Trust needs to be seen as a way of gaining advantage.
✓ Authenticity Embedded in the trait of being trustworthy is authenticity— being genuine and
honest about your personality, values, and beliefs as well as having integrity.
✓ Extraversion (the scientific spelling for extroversion) has been recognized for its contribution to
leadership effectiveness because it is helpful for leaders to be gregarious, outgoing, and upbeat
in most situations
✓ Assertiveness refers to being forthright in expressing demands, opinions, feelings, and
attitudes.
✓ Enthusiasm, Optimism, and Warmth helps keep the group in an upbeat mood and hopeful about
attaining difficult goals. The optimistic leader is therefore likely to help bring about exceptional
levels of achievement. Being a warm person and projecting that warmth is part of enthusiasm
and contributes to leadership effectiveness in several ways. First, warmth helps establish
rapport with group members. Second, the projection of warmth is a key component of charisma.
Third, warmth is a trait that helps provide emotional support to group members. Giving such
support is an important leadership behavior. Fourth, being warm is engaging, whereas being
cold tends to create distance from others.
✓ Sense of Humor Whether humor is a trait or a behavior, the effective use of humor is an
important part of the leader’s role. Humor adds to the approachability and people orientation of
a leader. Laughter and humor serve such functions in the workplace as relieving tension and
boredom and defusing hostility.
Humor as used by leaders has been the subject of considerable serious inquiry, and here are a few
recommendations based on this research:
• People who occupy high-status roles joke at a higher rate than those of lesser status and tend to be more
successful at eliciting laughter from others.
• Self-enhancing humor (building up yourself) facilitates the leader’s acquisition of power from superiors
by increasing the leader’s appeal.
• Executives and other managers who use self-deprecating humor appear more approachable and likeable
to subordinates.
• Aggressive humor can be used to victimize, belittle, and cause others some type of disparagement—and
will lead to negative outcomes such as stress and counter-hostility among group members.
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 5 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
• Task-Related Personality Traits

• Proactive Personality Leadership is often perceived to mean about the same thing as taking the
initiative. Initiative, in turn, is closely related to being proactive, or creating or controlling a situation by
causing something to happen, rather than reacting after the event happens. According to its original
research-based definition, a person with a proactive personality has a relatively stable tendency to effect
environmental change.
• Passion for the Work and the People A dominant characteristic of effective leaders is their passion for
their work and to some extent for the people who help them accomplish the work. The passion goes
beyond enthusiasm and often expresses itself as an obsession for achieving company goals. One of the
ways for an entrepreneur to inject passion into a business is to tell a creation-of-the-enterprise story.
• Emotional Intelligence Many different aspects of emotions, motives, and personality that help
determine interpersonal effectiveness and leadership skill have been placed under the comprehensive
label of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to do such things as
understanding one’s feelings, have empathy for others, and regulate one’s emotions to enhance one’s
quality of life.
Four key factors in emotional intelligence are;
1. Self-awareness. The ability to understand your own emotions is the most essential of the four emotional
intelligence competencies.
2. Self-management. This is the ability to control one’s emotions and act with honesty and integrity in a
consistent and adaptable manner.
3. Social awareness. This includes having empathy for others and intuition about organizational problems.
Socially aware leaders go beyond sensing the emotions of others by showing they care.
4. Relationship management. This includes the interpersonal skills of being able to communicate clearly
and convincingly, disarm conflicts, and build strong personal bonds.
Here are two examples of making good use of emotional intelligence on the job:
• Your company is approached about merging. The due diligence process suggests everything is
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 6 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
favorable, yet your gut instinct says something is amiss.
• Your stomach knots as you prepare for a presentation. Your anxiety may stem from your sense that
you are not well prepared. T
• Flexibility and Adaptability A leader is someone who facilitates change. It therefore follows that a leader
must be flexible enough to cope with such changes as technological advances, downsizings, global
outsourcing, a shifting customer base, and a changing work force. Flexibility, or the ability to adjust to
different situations, has long been recognized as an important leadership characteristic.
• Courage Leaders need courage to face the challenges of taking prudent risks and taking initiative in
general. Courage comes from the heart, as suggested by the French word for heart, Coeur. Leaders
must face up to responsibility and be willing to put their reputations on the line. It takes courage for a
leader to suggest a new undertaking, because if the undertaking fails, the leader is often seen as having
failed. Courageous leadership has also been described as gutsy.

Leadership Motives
Effective leaders have frequently been distinguished by their motives and needs. In general, leaders
have an intense desire to occupy a position of responsibility for others and to control them.

• The Power Motive

Effective leaders have a strong need to control resources. Leaders with high power motives have
three dominant characteristics:
(1) they act with vigor and determination to exert their power,
(2) they invest much time in thinking about ways to alter the behavior and thinking of others, and
(3) they care about their personal standing with those around them.
Power is not necessarily good or evil; it can be used for the sake of the power holder (personalized power
motive) or for helping others (socialized power motive).
✓ Personalized Power Motive Leaders with a personalized power motive seek power mostly to further
their own interests.
✓ Socialized Power Motive Leaders with a socialized power motive use power primarily to achieve
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 7 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
organizational goals or a vision.
• The Drive and Achievement Motive
Leaders are known for working hard to achieve their goals. Drive refers to a propensity to put forth high
energy into achieving objectives and to persistence in applying that energy. Drive also includes achievement
motivation—finding joy in accomplishment for its own sake. Entrepreneurs and high-level corporate
managers usually have strong achievement motivation. Such people have a consistent desire to:
1. Achieve through their efforts and take responsibility for success or failure
2. Take moderate risks that can be handled through their own efforts
3. Receive feedback on their level of performance
4. Introduce novel, innovative, or creative solutions
5. Plan and set goals
• Tenacity and Resilience
A final observation about the motivational characteristics of organizational leaders is that they are
tenacious. Tenacity multiplies in importance for organizational leaders because it takes a long time to
implement a new program or to consummate a business deal, such as acquiring another company. Resilience
is part of tenacity because the tenacious person will bounce back from a setback through continuous effort.
Visualize the leader of an information technology group in a large corporation.

Cognitive Factors and Leadership

Mental ability as well as personality is important for leadership success. To inspire people, bring about
constructive change, and solve problems creatively, leaders need to be mentally sharp. Another mental
requirement is the ability to sort out essential information from less essential information and then store the
most important information in memory. Problem-solving and intellectual skills are referred to collectively as
cognitive factors.
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 8 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
• Cognitive (or Analytical) Intelligence
Cognitive intelligence is all the more useful for leadership when it is supplemented by practical
intelligence, the ability to solve everyday problems by using experience-based knowledge to adapt to and
shape the environment. Practical intelligence is sometimes referred to as street smarts.
• Knowledge of the Business or Group Task
Intellectual ability is closely related to having knowledge of the business or the key task the group is
performing. An effective leader has to be technically competent in some discipline, particularly when leading
a group of specialists. The importance of knowledge of the business is strongly recognized as an attribute of
executive leadership.
• Creativity
Creative ability lies on a continuum, with some leaders being more creative than others. At one end
of the creative continuum are business leaders who think of innovative products and services. Creativity is
such an important aspect of the leader’s role in the modern organization that the development of creative
problem-solving skills.
• Insight into People and Situations
Another important cognitive trait of leaders is insight, a depth of understanding that requires
considerable intuition and common sense. Intuition is often the mental process used to provide the
understanding of a problem. Insight helps speed decision making. Insight into people and situations involving
people is an essential characteristic of managerial leaders because it helps them make the best use of both
their own and others’ talents.
Farsightedness and Conceptual Thinking
To develop visions and corporate strategy, a leader needs farsightedness, the ability to understand
the long-range implications of actions and policies. A farsighted leader recognizes that hiring talented workers
today will give the firm a long-range competitive advantage. Conceptual thinking refers to the ability to see
the overall perspective, and it makes farsightedness possible.

The Influence of Heredity and Environment on Leadership

Which contributes more to leadership effectiveness, heredity or environment? Are leaders born or
made? Do you have to have the right stuff to be a leader? Many people ponder these issues now that the
study of leadership is in vogue. The most sensible answer is that the traits, motives, and characteristics
required for leadership effectiveness are caused by a combination of heredity and environment. Leaders are
both born and made. Personality traits and mental ability traits are based on certain inherited predispositions
and aptitudes that require the right opportunity to develop.

The Strengths and Limitations of the Trait Approach

A compelling argument for the trait approach is that there is convincing evidence that leaders possess
personal characteristics that differ from those of non-leaders. Understanding the traits of effective leaders
serves as an important guide to leadership selection. If we are confident that honesty and integrity, as well
as creativity and imagination, are essential leadership traits, then we can concentrate on selecting leaders
with those characteristics. Another important strength of the trait approach is that it can help people prepare
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 9 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
for leadership responsibility and all of the issues that accompany it.
A limitation to the trait approach is that it does not tell us which traits are absolutely needed in which
leadership situations. We also do not know how much of a trait, characteristic, or motive is the right amount.
A balanced perspective on the trait approach is that certain traits, motives, and characteristics increase
the probability that a leader will be effective, but they do not guarantee effectiveness. The leadership situation
often influences which traits will be the most important.

We had just finished the discussion on Traits, Motives, and

Characteristics of Leaders. Let’s move on to the next higher level of activity/ies
or exercise/s that demonstrate your potential skills/knowledge of what you have
learned.
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 10 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders

V. ANALYSIS, APPLICATION AND EXPLORATION

Name: ______________________________ Course & Section: __________________
Identify the following statement and write your answer on the space provided.
____________________________1. A trait that is observable both within and outside the context of work.
____________________________2. It is a trait where being genuine and honest about your personality,
values, and beliefs as well as having integrity is embedded on being trustworthy.
____________________________3. A person with a ____________________ has a relatively stable
tendency to effect environmental change.
____________________________4. The _________________ refers to the ability to do such things as
understanding one’s feelings, have empathy for others, and regulate one’s emotions to enhance one’s quality
of life.
____________________________5. It is the ability to adjust to different situations, has long been recognized
as an important leadership characteristic.

Finally, let us summarize the lesson of what we had discussed today.

VI. GENERALIZATION
Summing up of the lesson.
• The trait-based perspective of leadership contends that certain personal characteristics and skills
contribute to leadership effectiveness in many situations. General personality traits associated with
effective leadership include (1) self-confidence; (2) humility; (3) core self-evaluations; (4) trustworthiness;
(5) authenticity; (6) extraversion; (7) assertiveness; (8) enthusiasm, optimism, and warmth; and (9) sense
of humor.
• Some personality traits of effective leaders are closely associated with task accomplishment. Among
them are (1) proactive personality, (2) passion for the work and the people, (3) emotional intelligence, (4)
flexibility and adaptability, and (5) courage. Emotional intelligence is composed of four traits: self-
awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
• Certain motives and needs associated with leadership effectiveness are closely related to task
accomplishment. Among them are (1) the power motive, (2) the drive and achievement motive, (3) strong
work ethic, and (4) tenacity and resilience.
• Cognitive factors are also important for leadership success. They include cognitive (or analytical)
intelligence and knowledge of the business or group task (or technical competence.) Practical intelligence
contributes to cognitive intelligence. Creativity is another important cognitive skill for leaders, but effective
leaders vary widely in their creative contributions. Insight into people and situations, including the ability
to make effective judgments about business opportunities, also contributes to leadership effectiveness.
Farsightedness and conceptual thinking help leaders to understand the long-range implications of actions
and policies and to take an overall perspective.
• The issue of whether leaders are born or bred frequently surfaces. A sensible answer is that the traits,
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 11 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
motives, and characteristics required for leadership effectiveness are a combination of heredity and
environment
• The trait approach to leadership is supported by many studies showings that leaders are different from
non-leaders, and that effective leaders are different from less effective leaders. Nevertheless, the trait
approach does not tell us which traits are most important in which situations or how much of a trait is
required. Also, different situations call for different combinations of traits.

KUDOS!
You have come to an end of Module 2.
OOPS! Don’t forget that you have still an assignment to do.
Here it is….

VII. ASSIGNMENT
Name: ______________________________ Course & Section: __________________
Tell True if the statement is correct and False if not. Write your answer on the space provided.
___________1. Characteristics associated with leadership can be classified into three broad categories:
personality traits, motives, and cognitive factors.
___________2. Self-Confidence improves one’s performance in a variety of tasks, including leadership.
___________3. Being trustworthy and earning trust is considered so essential to effective leadership that
some companies use these factors to evaluate leaders and managers.
___________4. Humor adds to the approachability and people orientation of a leader.
___________5. Self-awareness is the ability to understand your own emotions is the most essential of the
four emotional intelligence competencies.

After your long journey of reading and accomplishing the module, let us now
challenge your mind by answering the evaluation part of this module.
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 12 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders

VIII. EVALUATION
Name: ______________________________ Course & Section: __________________

Direction/Instruction: Encircle the letter that contains the best answer.

(This evaluation will be submitted on ________________.)
1. It is a trait of appreciating and find things amusing.
A. Assertiveness
B. Sense of humor
C. Farsightedness
D. Self Confidence
2. A depth of understanding that requires considerable intuition and common sense.
A. Farsightedness
B. Insight
C. Authenticity
D. Humility
3. The ability to understand the long-range implications of actions and policies.
A. Farsightedness
B. Self Confidence
C. Practical Intelligence
D. Assertiveness
4. It improves one’s performance in a variety of tasks, including leadership.
A. Self-Confidence
B. Humility
C. Core Self-Evaluations
D. Trustworthiness
5. It the ability to understand your own emotions and one of the most essentials in emotional intelligence
competencies.
A. Self-awareness
B. Self-management
C. Social awareness
D. Relationship management
6. This includes interpersonal skills, being able to communicate clearly and convincingly, disarm conflicts,
and build strong personal bonds.
A. Self-awareness
B. Self-management
C. Social awareness
D. Relationship management
 Entrepreneurial Leadership in an Organization Page 13 of 13
Traits, Motives, and Characteristics of Leaders
7. Which of the following is not a dominant characteristic of leaders with high power motives?
A. they act with vigor and determination to exert their power
B. they invest much time in thinking about ways to alter the behavior and thinking of others
C. they care about their personal standing with those around them
D. they invest more power in thinking innovations
8. It is supplemented by practical intelligence, ability to solve everyday problems by using experience-based
knowledge and to adapt and shape the environment.
A. Cognitive (or Analytical) Intelligence
B. Knowledge of the Business or Group Task
C. Creativity
D. Insight into People and Situations
9. An important aspect of the leader’s role in the modern organization that develop creative problem-solving
skills.
A. Cognitive (or Analytical) Intelligence
B. Knowledge of the business or Group Task
C. Creativity
D. Insight into people and situations

10. A depth of understanding that requires a considerable intuition and common sense.
A. Cognitive (or Analytical) Intelligence
B. Knowledge of the Business or Group Task
C. Creativity
D. Insight into People and Situations

CONGRATULATIONS on reaching the end of this module!

You may now proceed to the next module.
Don’t forget to submit all the exercises, activities and portfolio
on ___________________.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Well Done!!!