Trait Approach

By: The Adam and Eves

Definition of Trait Leadership

• The possession of certain traits that

society sees as leadership traits.

• It was once believed that people were

born with these certain traits.
How this approach works:

• Focuses on the leaders and not the

followers
• Emphasizes that having a leader with a
certain set of traits is crucial to having
effective leadership
Leadership Traits are
• Intelligence
• Self-Confidence
• Determination
• Integrity
• Sociability
Intelligence
• Having strong verbal
ability, perceptual
ability, and reasoning
appears to make one
a better leader.
Self-Confidence

• Ability to be certain about ones

competencies and skills.
– Includes:
• Sense of self-esteem
• Sense of self-assurance
• Belief that one can make a difference
Determination

• Refers to the desire to get the job done.

– Includes:
• Initiative
• Persistence
• Dominance
• Drive
Integrity
• Quality of honesty and trustworthiness
• Leaders with this inspire confidence in others,
because they can be trusted to do what they say
they are going to do.
Sociability
• Refers to the leaders inclination to seek
out pleasant social relationships
• Leaders who show this are:
– Friendly
– Outgoing
– Curious
– Tactful
– Diplomatic
Strengths
• Intuitively appealing
• Century of research
to support it
• Conceptual in nature
• Gives us ideas of
what we need to look
for
Weaknesses
• Ambiguous and
uncertain at times
• Fails to take situations
into account
• Too extensive and
broad
Example of a good leader and a
bad leader:
The End!!!
Questions?