The foundational elements of effective leadership

One of my goals this year is to write a handbook on leadership. I’m woefully behind, so this article is an attempt to force some progress.

If you were to break effective leadership down to its first principles, what would you be left with? What are the foundational elements of leadership?

I’ve spent a good bit reading about and taking notes on leadership over the last year. As of now, I think effective leadership is made up of four core elements: personal credibility, self-confidence, judgment, and an ability to inspire and sustain cooperation.

An effective leader maintains personal credibility. To be credible, leaders must show competence and character. They demonstrate competence through expertise and consistency. They demonstrate character by being trustworthy, authentic, and consistent. Credibility can take years to build and only minutes to destroy.

An effective leader maintains low self-importance (i.e. ego) and high self-confidence. Self-importance is an exaggerated sense of one's value or importance. Self-confidence is confidence in one's worth or abilities. Effective leaders are both humble and determined.

An effective leader exercises judgment. Judgment is "the ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions." They avoid the psychological tendencies that can lead to bad decision-making. They are self-aware. They maximize their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. They know when to delegate and how to do it well.

An effective leader inspires and sustains cooperation. They generate trust. They create focus. They balance achieving results with building the relationships necessary to achieve them. They get the right people on the bus and the wrong ones off it. They accept that sometimes it is impossible to make everyone on the team happy.

An effective leader is credible and confident, makes good decisions, and inspires and sustains cooperation. What am I missing?

Have thoughts on this topic? I'd love to hear from you! I'm @RickLindquist on Twitter.