Industry Buzz: What’s Your Leadership Style?

Sometimes, leadership is trial and error. It’s a constant learning process, with peaks and lows along the way.

In addition, there are tons of great leaders to look up to. I personally admire Sheryl Sandberg and Elizabeth Warren, among others.

Although I may look up to these leaders and may search to emulate them in some ways, at the end of the day I am not Sandberg or Warren. As a result, I need to cultivate a leadership style that sticks true to my core.

To get to the bottom of my core, and not just what I think my core is, I recently took Inc.’s map for finding your leadership style. Though I’m not sure my results (showcased in the image above) were 100 percent accurate, it did give me some food for thought.

For example, I really do value employees and the democratic process. I think getting feedback from employees is important to making key decisions, especially when those decisions impact them. Ultimately, getting as many perspectives on a new idea as possible prior to launch can lead to problem solving that I may not have come up with on my own. This also empowers employees and fosters trust among the team.

In addition, I agree that this can lead to some over-thinking on some issues. Sometimes, too much feedback is just that — too much. There are many situations that require you to just go with it and see what happens.

Leadership tests and maps like Inc.’s are great, because they allow us to step outside ourselves to evaluate how we’re doing as leaders. Of course, getting actual feedback from your employees is ideal, but it’s still important to do some self-reflecting of your own.

Who do you look up to as a leader? What were your leadership map results?