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Develops Others 75
Communicates Powerfully and Prolifically 70
Inspires and Motivates Others 69
Establishes Stretch Goals 69
Builds Relationships 69
Develops Strategic Perspective 69
Practices Self-Development 67
Displays High Integrity and Honesty 66
Takes Initiative 65
Connects the Group to the Outside World 65
Collaboration and Teamwork 64
Technical/Professional Expertise 62
Solves Problems and Analyzes Issues 60
Champions Change 60
Drives for Results 59
Innovates 55
Figure 11-4 Profile of Team B

In our Extraordinary Leader research, we concluded that a leader with
three profound strengths would have an overall leadership effectiveness rat-
ing on average at the 80th percentile. Out of this research, we came to the
conclusion that what made leaders great was not the absence of weakness but
rather the presence of a few profound strengths. As we have discussed this
finding with groups around the world, we have asked leaders to think of an
extraordinary leader that they have known. We then ask them to identify the
leader’s profound strength. This is easy for people, and we found a great vari-
ety of different strengths. Some leaders were visionary, others technical gurus,
others charismatic, others communicated extremely well, while others were
caring and considerate. The conclusion coming from that exercise is that lead-
ership effectiveness is derived from an amazingly diverse array of behaviors.
There is not one universal competency necessary for leaders to be great.
We usually continue the exercise by asking if that leader had any weak-
nesses. Everyone concurs with comments that generally convey, “Yes, I know
that leader was not perfect.” One conclusion from this exercise is that if the
best leaders you know of were not perfect, why do you think that you need to
be perfect?
When people conclude and accept that not every leader is perfect, they
then start to ask the obvious question, “How do we execute all of the