What is a good leader?

Being a good leader and being a boss are two concepts very different from each other. In our experience, when we ask someone why they want to manage a team the answers received are almost always associated with having power over other people.

Let's suppose that someone is recently appointed as manager of a team. During the first few months in this position, the new manager will feel powerful, deciding the future of HIS/HER team members and will refer to his colleagues as MY team. As the new manager matures, the behavior will change gradually towards us and our team. For some managers the transition will be rather fast, however for most managers the transition will take a long time or even never comes. But once maturity is reached, the manager will transform into a leader, where more time will be spent serving the team needs than to ruling.

A good leader gives more than receives. A good leader's goal should be to create optimal conditions for the team members to perform at their best. A good leader paves the way for the team members to perform their job. A good leader is defined by the traits listed on the diagram above.

The Covid-19 crisis has triggered a period of great transformation. Transformation on the way we work, we deal with other people, managing home-office requirements, balancing work and family, forcing our kids to learn via videoconference, doctors to move their regular appointments to videoconference and many more.

Time will tell which additional traits will be required from a good leader. For what we know now, what traits a good leader for the future should have? What kind of leaders the Generations Z and Alfa will be?