The Delicate Balance of Leadership

I wear a lot of hats in my role at Cubic, whether it’s serving as an advocate for our NextCity vision, sitting and listening to customers’ goals, or rolling up my sleeves with one of our teams working on a capture or a project. But perhaps the responsibility I take most seriously is my role as a leader, setting an example for the thousands of team members helping cities move millions of people each day. 

What I have learned about leadership over the past two decades can be traced to three key sources: both good and not-so-good supervisors, indispensable mentors, and from feedback I’ve received from thousands of people I’ve worked with over the years.

And while there are dozens of traits that can add up to an effective, admirable, and enjoyable leader, here are six that I believe to be absolutely essential. Some leadership traits may even seem to be at odds with one another—it’s not exactly easy to be both confident and vulnerable—but striking the delicate balance between them can lead to a happy team and a satisfied leader.

Trait No. 1: Kindness | The bosses immortalized in Hollywood movies often border on psychopaths, whether it’s Gordon Gekko in Wall Street or Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. The psycho leader may sell movie tickets, but they don’t build good businesses. Kind leadership sets the tone for the entire organization, creating an environment that fosters other cultural assets including positive teamwork, drive, and open communication.

We’re all working towards the same end goal, so take a deep breath before making a harsh remark.

Trait No. 2: Confidence | It’s just as easy to identify what makes a bad leader as it is what makes a good leader. The fastest road to failure in leadership is to lack confidence: in your vision, in your decisions, in your people, and most of all in yourself. While there’s no benefit to being stubborn or hard-headed, it’s vitally important that a leader move forward without hesitation.

 You were hired for your head: use it. We need your great ideas.

Trait No. 3: Vulnerability | For decades, conventional wisdom stated that leaders must show no weakness, suppress their emotions, and hide their vulnerabilities. Thankfully, we seem to be moving out of this emotional Stone Age and into the 21st century. Vulnerability allows your employees to trust you, enabling them to be more creative and honest in their own work. As always, there’s a balance to be struck (have you caught onto the theme yet?) between vulnerability and oversharing—a good leader shouldn’t have trouble finding that line.

 We all make mistakes, admit yours and say what you’ll do different next time.

Trait No. 4: Vision | It is impossible to lead people where they don’t want to be led. Establishing a vision for your organization—and understanding how to get your team to buy in—is indispensable for success. How else can you move forward if you don’t know where you’re going?

 Remind people about your passion and how much you want the idea, the vision, the business, and the customer to succeed.

Trait No. 5: Self-awareness | No one person is capable of doing it all. By understanding your strengths and weaknesses, you are in a better position to seek support from others that will lead to a more well-rounded team. The opposite can be disastrous: who doesn’t remember a bad boss from their past who suffered from a total lack of self-awareness?

 A coach once told me to focus on evolving my strengths and move on from my weaknesses. My weaknesses are someone else’s strengths.

Trait No. 6: Investment | I’ve written often that our greatest asset is our people and investing in employee growth is the fastest way to spur company-wide progress. A true leader should be more interested in the success of their employees than in their own personal success.

As it’s often said in team sports, the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back. We can all benefit from remembering that in our leadership.

What characteristics stand out from your best leaders?