Leadership Mindset

What kind of a leader are you?

you can try taking this mini-self assessment test to help you on answering this question.

and to understand the result, it would be helpful to read this article on MIT Sloan Management Review https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-mindsets-of-a-leader/

Which is a research conducted over 4? years

Leaders rely on a portfolio of approaches, ranging from serving no one to serving society. Knowing the strengths and pitfalls of each mindset — and which ones you rely on most heavily — can help you create better teams and have a greater impact.

The report from this study with leaders in several leader from different industries, shows that there is not a single mindset. Instead, leaders have a portfolio of mindsets mixed together and shape the leader’s decisions and behaviors.

I list the definitions from the article and invite to read the full article for full comprehension.

Serving No One: The Sociopath

The most limiting and dangerous mindset — the Sociopath — can be found in individuals who exhibit a reckless disregard for anyone besides themselves.

Serving Oneself: The Egoist

Leaders with predominantly Egoist mindsets are driven by their own accumulation of wealth, power, and status. At each turn, they ask, “What’s in it for me?” An organization can grow and profit under someone like this, but only if its interests align with the leader’s

Serving Anyone: The Chameleon

Leaders who largely adopt a Chameleon mindset are extremely adaptable. Although they rarely reach the CEO level, they can work their way up the organization by pleasing other people in power. They are typically characterized by a combination of low self-esteem and a strong need to be liked. As a result, they often lack courage and struggle with tough decisions.

Serving Goals: The Dynamo

A Dynamo mindset helps people execute strategy consistently and, in many cases, flawlessly. Leaders with this dominant mindset are seen as superstars. They tend to exceed their sales quotas, deliver large projects on time, and generate profits. They excel at mobilizing resources and the efforts of others. Their colleagues depend on them, and they exist at junior and senior levels of every organization we have studied.

The dynamo style is marked by a tendency to get things. Dynamos quickly solve problems, produce on-time, high quality work, and are the "go-to" people when things need to get done. Dynamos are focused on achievement of goals – and they tend to adopt the organization's goals as their own. They are self-starters and ambitious.

Serving the Institution: The Builder

Leaders who largely adopt a Builder mindset promote the collective good of the organization.

While you might assume that those with a strong Builder mindset are always senior executives, we saw them in various roles and functions in our research. For example, the unit manager who formulates a broad and lasting departmental vision that others want to follow has a Builder mindset.

Serving Society: The Transcender

Those who embrace a Transcender mindset think even more broadly. They try to maximize value for many stakeholders both within and beyond the organization from wherever they sit (they aren’t always senior executives). They bridge disconnected parties and reframe the organization’s purpose and goals in terms of social good. Those with strong Transcender tendencies understand how seemingly unrelated parts of the whole fit together. They are able to manage complexity.

In the sociopolitical sphere, Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president after spending 27 years in prison, is a prime example. He rose above racial, tribal, and class hatred to steer his divided country in a new direction.

I took the test my self and found it accurately identifying my mindsets.

What do you think? is it relevant? do you know what kind a of a leader are you?