What kind of a leader are you?

I have been reflecting on the kind of leader I am and how I can have more of an impact as a leader. I realize that I can do somethings well and other things no so well. There are some things -- I am really bad at. That is why I did better when I partner with others who have different skillset but have same values and goals. I am sure many of you are also like that -- have some signature strengths, some decent skills in some other areas and bad in everything else. How do we discover what we are good at and what kind of a leader we are?

In my mind, there are four kinds of leadership styles -- transactional, relational, transformational and transcendental. I would like to discuss the first three and leave out transcendental for now.

Because politics has been on my mind a lot, I thought I will take political leadership examples to make my points and then give you a question or two for you to reflect on your style and how you can be more successful as a leader. 

President Trump is a transactional (hence more in the moment) leader, French President Macron and Canadian PM Trudeau seem to be more relational (hence more contextual) leaders and German Chancellor Merkel is more transformational (hence more visionary) leader. If I limit myself to US political scene, President Obama was more transformational/ visionary, President Clinton was more relational and he got more done despite impeachment in the house. What it means is that Trump really gets a lot of things done because he is focusing single-mindedly on his constituents and the promises as debts to be repaid. I could not place President George W. Bush clearly in any of these categories (can you help me here?).

Because everything is a transaction or 'give and take' for Trump, he expects loyalty more than anything else from people whom he has 'given.' When his constituents elected him, he will 'give back' what they want -- whether those things are good for the whole nation or not. In that way, he comes across as a person who keeps his word! 

On the other hand, leaders like Merkel have a big vision for their nation, for Europe and even the world and they have difficulty coming to agreements that get in the way of the imagined future. It explains why there were difficult negotiations in Germany for months before the government was formed after recent elections. The same issue with Obama -- His transformational vision (Change) brought him to power, but his inability to be relational or transactional got him into trouble more often than necessary. 

Considering that people remember more transactions than visions, I would predict that Trump will get re-elected if he were to run now (maybe still with a narrow margin) because under his presidency, unemployment is low, the stock market is high and the overall economy is doing great. Of course, there are signs that this is a short-term prosperity and many issues -- immigration, trade conflicts with allies, Russia issue -- could have a severe impact on what happens next. 

So what is my learning today? If you are a visionary and transformational leader -- make sure you pay attention to your relationships and what they say to you. In addition, pay attention to day to day transactions that help you move in the direction of your vision. Make a significant effort in making small steps count and let them be more frequent. 

If you are a transactional leader, pay more attention to building relationships and continuous reshaping of your rallying cry. Make America Great is a beautiful rallying cry and building on it to make North American continent great will help with Canada and Mexico relationships. Making our allies great will help with G7 and European nations.

Am I making sense? I am trying to apply for myself.

I am more of a visionary. I see the big picture and systemic connections. I can quickly take a big idea and create a framework around it to make it operational. But executing it to become very successful requires me to build relationships with others who will participate in operationalizing and making the vision their own. Implementing the vision requires them to add their own wisdom and create an implementation plan that they are excited about. While it might dilute the vision because it is shared, ownership will be high, and the chances are high that people will carry the plan through to conclusion. 

What kind of a leader are you? Transformational (Visionary), Relational? Transactional? Or are you a transcendental leader?

Look at your successes and failures. Tell me who you are and why? Please give me some examples if you can.

What do you need to learn to increase your success rate and impact? How do you go about it?

I would love to find out where you are and how much self-awareness you have about what you need to learn to increase your impact on the world!