Having an effective leader is crucial to the success of any organization. The personality and leadership style of a boss can significantly impact employee satisfaction, productivity and retention. But what personality traits make someone an excellent leader? Let’s examine the evidence on which personality types tend to make the best bosses.
The Big Five Personality Traits
Psychologists often describe personality according to five broad dimensions known as the “Big Five” personality traits:
- Openness – appreciation for new experiences and ideas
- Conscientiousness – self-discipline and organization
- Extroversion – outgoing and energetic
- Agreeableness – friendly, cooperative and compassionate
- Neuroticism – tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety
Research has explored how these five personality factors relate to leadership capabilities and success. While all the Big Five traits have been linked to positive leadership behaviors, two consistently emerge as most important for bosses – conscientiousness and extroversion.
Conscientious Leaders
Conscientiousness, which manifests as organization, diligence and precision, has the strongest correlation with effective leadership across a variety of contexts. Studies have found that conscientious supervisors tend to:
- Set clear goals and expectations for their team
- Plan ahead and think strategically
- Emphasize reliability and consistency
- Focus on results and achieving objectives
This organized, achievement-oriented tendency makes highly conscientious bosses well-suited to providing structure and direction. They develop systems and processes to ensure deadlines are met and work gets done efficiently. Employees know what to expect and can rely on consistent standards and feedback.
Benefits of Conscientious Bosses
Some key advantages of having a conscientious leader include:
- Increased productivity – Clear direction helps employees work efficiently
- Accountability – Performance is systematically monitored and assessed
- Reduced uncertainty – Goals and expectations are unambiguous
- Fair evaluation – Consistent, merit-based assessment and rewards
Research on military leaders, executives and supervisors has repeatedly revealed conscientiousness as the strongest predictor of employee performance and satisfaction. The evidence clearly suggests that highly organized, achievement-focused bosses excel at providing structure, clarity and direction.
Extroverted Leaders
While conscientiousness reflects task-related competence, extroversion represents people-oriented capabilities. Extroverted leaders excel at engaging with staff and stakeholders. Key qualities of extroverts include:
- Outgoing and approachable
- Enthusiastic and energetic
- Assertive and persuasive
- Desire to collaborate and network
These attributes allow extroverted bosses to connect with people, build relationships and influence others. Studies indicate extroverted leaders tend to be more interactive, provide encouragement and psychosocial support, and create an inclusive team environment.
Benefits of Extroverted Bosses
Some advantages of having an extroverted leader:
- Increased communication – More open exchange of ideas and feedback
- Improved morale – Friendly and supportive interactions lift spirits
- Enhanced teamwork – More collaborative spirit and cooperation
- Greater innovation – Diversity of perspectives and sharing of ideas
While introverts can also make excellent leaders, research suggests extroversion facilitates interactive leadership behaviors that drive engagement, innovation and positive culture. Extroverts naturally create connection points with employees.
Ideal Boss: Conscientious Extrovert
When examining how the Big Five personality traits relate to leadership, two profiles consistently rise to the top:
- High conscientiousness and high extroversion
- High conscientiousness and moderate extroversion
This suggests the most effective bosses combine organization, accountability and clarity with people skills, relationships and inspirational communication. As Stanford psychologist Charles O’Reilly concludes, “The best leaders are extroverted enough to communicate an inspiring vision and conscientious enough to actually implement a systematic plan for achieving that vision.”
Leadership Styles
Beyond broad personality traits, identifying a boss’s specific leadership style can provide further insight on strengths and potential growth areas. Common leadership styles include:
| Style | Description | Strengths | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autocratic | Leader has total authority and control | Efficient, direct, fast decisions | Demotivating, stifles input |
| Democratic | Leader involves team in decision-making | Empowering, builds consensus | Slower, indecisive |
| Laissez-faire | Leader gives team freedom and provides little guidance | High autonomy, room for innovation | Chaotic, low accountability |
| Transformational | Leader inspires team with vision and passion | Motivational, brings change | Poor planning, disorganized |
| Transactional | Leader focuses on results, contingencies and penalties | Structured, performance-driven | Impersonal, hurt morale |
There are strengths and weaknesses to each approach, with elements of transformational and transactional leadership often viewed as complementary. The best bosses adapt their style to fit organizational needs and team dynamics.
Situational Leadership Model
Given different situations require different leadership approaches, many experts endorse situational leadership models. These frame leadership style on two dimensions:
- Directive behavior – the degree of guidance and supervision the leader provides
- Supportive behavior – the amount of socioemotional support and two-way communication
Based on employee readiness and developmental level, situational leadership theory prescribes adapting the blend of directive and supportive behaviors. For example, new hires initially need high direction and low support. As staff gain experience, the balance shifts towards less direction and more support.
This emphasis on flexing to meet changing needs highlights that effective bosses tailor their style based on context. While personality traits create tendencies, the best leaders are adaptable rather than wedded to one rigid approach.
Emotional Intelligence and Soft Skills
In addition to personality traits and leadership styles, emotional intelligence (EQ) has emerged as a key capability for managers. EQ refers to a group of social and emotional competencies including:
- Self-awareness – understanding your own emotions, strengths and weaknesses
- Self-regulation – managing emotions and controlling reactive impulses
- Social skills – building rapport and communicating effectively
- Empathy – appreciating others’ perspectives and emotions
- Motivation – pursuing goals with energy, persistence and optimism
High EQ allows leaders to connect with team members, manage conflict, provide encouragement and alignment, and drive engagement. Research links emotional intelligence to performance, even over and above IQ and personality.
Conceptually similar “soft skills” like active listening, building trust, coaching and developing people have also been highlighted as vital for bosses. Technical expertise alone is insufficient. The best managers leverage EQ and soft skills to support team success.
Dark Side Traits
While much research focuses on productive leadership traits, certain detrimental qualities can also impair supervisors’ effectiveness. These dysfunctional “dark side” characteristics include:
- Volatility – Unpredictable mood swings, irritability, emotional outbursts
- Manipulation – Calculated influence tactics, aggression, shame
- Passivity – Indecisive, risk-averse, acquiescent
- Perfectionism – Micromanaging, hypercritical, avoiding delegation
- Arrogance – Overconfidence, hubris, self-importance
Even small degrees of these traits can undermine morale, stifle innovation, increase turnover and reduce performance. People-management skills are particularly important to curb destructive tendencies.
The Ideal Balance
Synthesizing the research, the ideal boss profile that emerges is:
- Highly conscientious – organized, responsible, performance-driven
- Moderately extroverted – approachable, interactive, engaging
- Adaptable leadership style aligned to situation
- Strong emotional intelligence and people skills
- Minimal dark side personality traits
This blend of task-oriented diligence, relationship-focused support and adaptability empowers teams. While personality traits create tendencies, self-awareness, training and willingness to adjust one’s style can help any boss become more effective.
Nature vs Nurture
The relative importance of innate personality versus developable skills for leaders remains debated. Research suggests:
- Personality traits have been linked to 25-30% of leadership performance
- IQ accounts for 10-15% of leadership performance
- Experience explains 7-15% of leadership performance
- Soft skills training has significant impact
This implies both nature and nurture play a role – personality provides the foundation but skills can be built. Conscientiousness and extroversion may give some bosses a head start, but expertise, EQ and flexibility can be honed.
Takeaways for Organizations
For organizations looking to optimize leadership selection and development, key implications include:
- Assess personality fit using valid leadership models and frameworks
- Supplement with tests of intelligence, EQ, skills and culture fit
- Provide soft skills training in communication, conflict management etc
- Develop self-awareness of leadership style preferences and blindspots
- Offer coaching/mentoring to broaden behaviors and flexibility
- Conduct 360 reviews to identify needs and progress
Balancing natural inclinations with nurtured capabilities helps ensure bosses have the personality, IQ and EQ to support individual and organizational success.
The Bottom Line
No single personality profile guarantees leadership greatness. However, research suggests combining task-focused conscientiousness with people-focused extroversion establishes a strong foundation. Emotional intelligence, technical expertise and adaptability can enhance effectiveness. To bring out the best in people, the most talented bosses play to their natural strengths while developing flexibility.