Emerging Sage Leaders: Reflecting On the Characteristics of Other Successful Leaders

The leaders I’ve most admired inspire me to do better. They possess honesty and integrity, and these are the basis for trust. And they have a great sense of humor, which I love. I think I inspire people to do better. I’ve seen the effects of that, and this is my strongest suit.

I most admire leaders who walk their talk and lead by example. You have to live true to what you are telling people. I try to stay balanced and healthy in my own life, so when I talk about it with people I come from a place of authenticity rather than preaching.

Visionary. A visionary is a person who projects a clear inspirational description of a desired future state. In organizational terms, vision is a running narrative of an organization’s mission and strategic purposes unfolding over time—a statement about future impact that creates passion in the present. Emerging sages place high value on a leader’s vision:

The quality I most admire in effective leaders is their belief that we can do anything. These are people who recognize community assets and know how to tap them. An effective leader has vision and deep, deep respect and humility.

I constantly ask, “What is the purpose of this organization? What is the purpose of this meeting? Why are we getting together? Is each item on the agenda and every decision relevant?” Someone needs to raise these questions to keep the group on track without being iron-fisted. It evokes questions about essence, about core values, about what is important, and how life feeds into that. To me, a leader is someone who has a vision and creatively figures out how to achieve it.

Effective communications. To be a visionary, a leader must be able to communicate the future state envisioned:

The qualities I most admire in effective leaders is the ability to communicate and the ability to feel like I’ve been heard. If you can’t talk to your leaders, you’re wasting your time. Leaders need to be accessible and have the ability to listen and hear. And they must honestly give input back. I think I’m very accessible.