Four qualities great leaders have in common

At The Trade Desk, our greatest asset is our people.

I believe contributions can be made at any level, from all kinds of backgrounds and a variety of skillsets. Across team leads and individual contributors, new employees and industry veterans, I have found that the best leaders have four things in common.

Leaders give more credit than they take, and say, “Good job!” more often than they hear it.

A healthy dose of encouragement and support – delivered when it is earned – goes a long way.

Meaningful contributions speak for themselves and push us all forward together. Leaders aren’t afraid to celebrate others’ well-earned achievements because others’ successes are also their own. When we share the same goals, we are never in competition with one another.

The Trade Desk has a tradition where managers send promotion emails for members of their team out to every person in the company. We all enjoy when managers send the announcement email and share some of the reasons why the promotion was given, but the best part is what comes next. Other employees throughout the company (and across teams, offices, and regions) chime in on how that individual’s hard work, innovation, and efforts have improved their own time here – helping them solve a problem, improve workflow, and so on.

Leaders acknowledge others for their personal skillset and their useful contributions. Their work matters, and they should be reminded of that.

Leaders leave room for failure.

Just as leaders are eager to highlight good work, they must also be willing to get their hands dirty when workloads get heavy or a new challenge arises.

Throughout my own career and from observing others, one thing has become very clear: If there is no risk of failure, then there is no opportunity for growth. It’s not a revolutionary finding, but a lot of us have been raised in cultures where perfection is valued over risk taking.

The failure I value is brave failure. The proudest I’ve ever been of my daughter was when she fell off of the balance beam at a gymnastics meet and immediately got back up. And when my son’s entire soccer season was on the line and no one wanted to be the goalie, he didn’t hesitate to say, “I’ll do it!” His team lost, but he was willing to step up when others would not.

I’ve found that grit is one of the most important characteristics that leaders possess, and it can only be gained by experiencing and overcoming failure. It helps individuals, teams, and companies push themselves to take on more, approach existing problems in new ways, and attack new problems head on. It helps them try new things, and gives them the opportunity to push themselves to new limits instead of operating within the narrow box of “perfection”.

Failure, of course, should not be the norm, but it must be an option in order for growth to take place.

Leaders aren’t afraid of people who are smarter than themselves.

People are hardwired to compete from an early age. Colleges only accept a certain number of applications. Certain professors decide they will only be giving recommendation letters to a predetermined number of students. Companies only have so many open positions that they can fill at any given time, and some seem to award promotions to those with the highest visibility. 

But we are also hardwired for connection. As Brené Brown says, “We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.”

Leaders recognize the balance between the two. They aren’t afraid of people who are smarter than them, which also means that they don’t obsess over comparisons – or even worse, try to take the other person down.

Varying cultures, backgrounds, and skillsets bring so many perspectives to the table. Learning and connecting with each other is the perfect recipe for a leader to grow and expand his or her own knowledge. And from my experience, leaders all seem to be very excited by the opportunity to do so.

Leaders respect what exists, but aren’t afraid to challenge it.

Many of you know that I spent the past six months in Hong Kong (feel free to take a look at my travels on my Instagram profile). During that time, I also had the privilege of visiting Japan, where I met a father – Jiro – and his son.

Jiro may already be familiar to you from the Jiro Dream of Sushi documentary that was released in 2011. But I’m more interested in his son, Yoshikazu, who was Jiro’s apprentice for decades before branching off and beginning his own restaurant.

I was able to eat at both Jiro and Yoshikazu’s restaurants. Yoshikazu stuck to his father’s expertise in nearly every way, from preparing food down to the setup of the restaurant itself – although he inverted the layout. Jiro is right-handed, Yoshikazu is left-handed. Like the layout, the father and son’s personalities seemed to be a yin and yang.

In a nutshell, Jiro felt like the epitome of Japanese culture – he took pride in strict process and paying respect to tradition. He set the sushi in front of his guests and stood in front of them with a stern look while they ate each piece, one by one.

Yoshikazu seemed to represent a newer and less-strict generation. He was eager to engage with guests and learn of their travels. He was excited by the opportunity to learn more, and was sure to thank each guest in his or her own language – of which he took the time to learn over 40. Knowing over 20 myself, we had fun going back and forth. “Indonesian!” I challenged him. He came right back with, “terima kasih!” “Portuguese!” was met with an enthusiastic “obrigado!”, and so on.

So Yoshikazu took what worked from his father’s restaurant, being his cultural expertise and expansive training, and tweaked it to insert his own passions.

Normally, this kind of contrast in approaches might cause tension. But both restaurants are thriving. The question of assimilation versus preservation arises culturally, but also in the workplace. How do you contribute and challenge the norm while acclimating to and respecting existing processes or cultures?

 From what I have witnessed, leaders take the time to learn and pay their respects to what currently exists. They acknowledge that it is there for a reason. It has shaped what they see today. But they are also open to innovation and growth – to challenging the norm in the hope of improvement. Leaders use what exists as a foundation to shape something new.

Great leaders take many different forms, and can fall within all levels of an organization. But those that give credit, leave room for failure, aren’t afraid of people who are smarter than themselves, and challenge the norm are well-equipped to lead. In 2019 and beyond, keep an eye out for these qualities in both yourself and your teammates.

What do you think makes a good leader?