Facebook, Apple, Yahoo!, GE and Bernard Madoff firm have had successful leaders, but like anyone, they have a negative nuance.
Discover which one are you and how can you improve.
INSTRUCTIONS: Mark the answers with which you most identify. Check your results at the end. Be honest.
1. Which word identifies you the best?
A. Competitiveness
B. Meticulousness
C. Freedom
D. Control
E. Ambition
2. What are you willing to do to achieve your goals?
A. Assume the responsibilities that concern me and show my authority.
B. Consider all the available options and carefully choose the best.
C. Create an atmosphere of confidence and give my team all the freedom they need.
D. Take care of the process and focus in every single detail.
E. Whatever it takes. I always get what I want.
3. What do you need to be successful?
A. To do something different.
B. Focus on excellence.
C. Take the initiative before anyone tells me.
D. Take care of the process and be the best in everything.
E. Be willing to step on anyone.
4. Which quote identifies you the most?
A. “Face reality as it is”.
B. “If there is a better path, find it”.
C. “If nobody realizes you are not there, you triumphed”.
D. “I’m not a control freak, I’m organized”.
E. “Let the others screw”.
5. Which is your most frequent mistake?
A. Been authoritarian and avoid listening opinions.
B. Hesitate to take decisions.
C. Delegate everything.
D. Do not trust your team and generate unnecessary stress.
E. Lack of sensitivity and difficulty to differentiate between good and bad.
6. How do you face failure?
A. Over time, I’ve learned that mistakes are as good teachers as success.
B. I meditate until I realize that I did not consider enough other options.
C. It makes me happy that at least I tried.
D. I could did better but I’m capable enough.
E. I shrug. There is always possibility for revenge.
7. What sentence describes the best your relationship with bosses and colleagues?
A. I like to lead and achieve challenging goals.
B. You can only achieve perfection if you get out of your comfort zone.
C. I hate being above anyone, although I enjoy to lead.
D. I like to know about everything and I care of every single detail.
E. There is nothing better than being the boss.
8. This is the most common complaint I receive from my collaborators:
A. I don’t give them enough autonomy.
B. I ask for so many changes.
C. Lack of feedback and follow up.
D. I like to control them.
E. My lack of sensitivity to their needs.
9. What do you think about horizontal leadership?
A. Hierarchies exist for a reason snd we shouldn’t break them.
B. It depends on the industry.
C. Is the best.
D. There should be filters always.
E. I don’t care as long as I can meet my goals
10. You dislike:
A. People who complain.
B. Taking quick decisions.
C. Lack of initiative.
D. If I can’t handle the situation.
E. If I don’t get what I want.
Count your answers and discover your dark side, which successful leader are you and what areas of opportunity you can improve.
MOST OF A’s: The despot.
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, was one of the leaders that contributed the most to grow the company. However, he had an authoritarian model of work.
You don’t let your team develop. You need to turn around and share your knowledge with your subordinates.
MOST OF B’s: The purposeless.
You are very analytical, but if you question everything it generates stress on your team. Sometimes a leader must take strategic decisions and often, quickly. It is something that Tim Cook has been fighting in Apple since the death of Steve Jobs.
MOST OF C’s: The absent.
Like Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, you empower people. Although during hard times your employees may feel that they can’t rely on you. It’s good to delegate, but you must learn to support your team.
MOST OF D’s: The micromanager.
You focus on the process and to you like explain what to do and how to it. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo! has been mentioned by the press as a micromanager. She accepts it. That is the first step, the second could be start releasing the pressure.
MOST OF E’s: The ambitious.
You’re the kind of leader that companies will have to fire. Ambition is a mandatory for a leader, but you must stop believing that can achieve your goals by stepping on anyone. The banker Bernard Madoff ended up in jail because that.
Original article published by CNN Expansión México, Andrea C. Dietiker and Carmen Murillo. Mike Grandinetti, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Global Discipline, Innovation and Digital Marketing at Hult International Business School. Jorge Llaguno, Professor of Human Factor at IPADE. Ricardo Lozada, coordinator of the Organizational Psychology UNAM. Juan Ignacio Pérez, partner-in-charge at Heidrick & Struggles Mexico.