..Today's corporate perspective on what to focus on

In a study conducted by the Corporate Leadership Council, 2001 Leadership Survey, asked 15,000 leaders their opinions about the elements of effective leadership and what drives effective leadership for the 21st century manager. Out of the 15,000 surveyed, 8,051 people responded and four important categories emerged. They are 1) People Management 2) Personal Characteristics 3) Process Management 4) Strategic Management.

People Management: The skills and attributed associated with leading through others, such as clearly communicating expectations, inspiring others and holding people accountable.

Personal Characteristics: A diverse set of characteristics and attributes associated with individuals, personal leadership such as confidence, intelligence and perseverance.

Process Management: The skills and attributes required to successfully manage an organization on a day to day basis, such as creatively solving problems, measuring results and properly managing budgets timelinessines.

Strategic Management: The skills and attributes necessary to successfully devise and execute strategy and vision, such as identifying and articulating a long term vision, understand the external conditions and assessing risks and return of decisions.

The respondents rated People Management as the most important category at nearly 30% and included skills such as recognizing and rewarding achievement, inspiring others, putting the right people in the right roles at the right time, persuading and encouraging others to move in a desired direction, correctly evaluating the potential in others and having strong commitment to diversity. Strategic Management came in second in importance at 21%, Personal Characteristics at 17% and Process Management at 16%. The survey noted that as a subset of People Management, 61 percent of the leaders agreed honesty and integrity were the most important single attribute of effective leadership. So, how does the corporate perception of effective leadership skills compare to what we know of great leaders from the past and where we need to go for the future?