Julio is a young manager of 38 years old and has recently joined a multinational company with more than 60 years of presence in the country as Appliances Unit Manager. The company has five business units and each unit manager reports to the Country Manager.
Every Monday at 9 am they have a management committee led by the General Manager. Despite his youth, Julio was able to appreciate, both in the committees and in the day-to-day with his coworkers, different leadership styles and their respective nuances.
Julio visualized these leadership nuances and compared them to others he had interacted with in his previous work. He posed the question: What is the most important attribute that high-impact leaders have?To do this, he imagined a business world with a network of leaders who shared a common pattern of success despite their different backgrounds. Like good craftsmen, some were excellent at having a clear vision; others showed resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. Julio brought to mind more attributes such as transparency and honesty, which contribute to generating trust in collaborators.
Julio considered as one of the main and most impactful attributes the ability to inspire, as it brings with it the ability to motivate, influence and guide others in a way that goes beyond simple directives or instructions, generating enthusiasm, commitment and a shared sense of purpose among their teams. He also argued that communication was also extremely important and, without it, one cannot be effective in inspiration. Julio then concluded that an effective leader needs to balance both skills, with communication being the basis for task execution and coordination, while inspiration drives motivation and long-term commitment.
Even though this combination will depend on the context and leadership style of each individual, it is highly likely that a successful leader will be able to combine both competencies to maximize his or her impact on the team and the organization.
