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Leadership Behavior

Your job gives you authority. Your behavior gives you respect. Irwin
Federman, CEO Monolithic Memories

Extensive literature on the subject of the character of successful leaders
points to a number of characteristics and behaviors being present. It is clear
that personal attitudes play a major role in determining our character and
on how we interact with others. In order to become better leaders, we must
be ready to deal with our own internal ideas, preconceptions, and how we

think so that we can adjust our attitudes appropriately.
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Although we are certainly able to determine our own attitudes through
self-reflection, the attitude of others is usually not very evident to us.
However, we can gain some insight by observing their behavior. These are
defined as observable behaviors because each describes a specific action or

behavior you can perform, and you can readily observe whether you
yourself and others are really performing them. A person’s observable
behavior is clearly an indication of his/her attitude, which forms and
shapes one’s behaviors and reflects one’s character.

Our behaviors are not really mysterious. They are simple actions anyone
can consciously choose to perform or not perform, and they are heavily
influenced by one’s values. If you rate yourself, or others rate you, as
unsatisfactory on some of these behaviors that doesn't mean you're beyond
help. It simply means you are not remembering or choosing to do them.

The simple solution is to start doing them. You always have that option if
you want to improve things. Practice can bring significantly increased skill
in exercising each of the behaviors.

He that would govern others first should be master of himself. Philip

Massinger, from The Bondman, 1624.

Daniel Goleman states that the behavior of leaders is responsible for at least 70
percent of the emotional climate of an organization, and this in turn drives 20 to
30 percent of the organization’s business performance. In much of the research
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on leadership behavior, conscientiousness was the most consistent

67 Jack Ferraro, “Self-Directed Leadership Development – Moving Beyond the PMP.”
http://www.compaid.com/caiinternet/ezine/ferraro-sdl.pdf.
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http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/modeling_behavior_the_ripple_effect_of_performance_management/5
David Kolzow 57