Who Do You Value Most? Energetic Leaders, Experts, or Integrous Leaders?

When asked about the traits he looks at in employees, Warren Buffet, the American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway replied “We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don’t have the latter, the first two will kill you because if you’re going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.” An article published in the Journal of Business Ethics in 2008 entitled “Impostors Masquerading as Leaders: Can the Contagion Be Contained?” profiles a genuine leader as someone who has three essential, necessary, and sufficient traits: energy, expertise, and integrity.

A real and authentic leader must have the initiative and sufficient “energy” to be able to energize and drive his team and the whole organization as well as all stakeholders to move and attain their purpose. Driven leaders have the initiative to lead, be successful, and play a major role in the organization’s sustainable growth. Energetic leaders know how to close deals and meet deadlines. they are passionate, great communicators, and excellent at motivating and selling their idea in a quiet, smooth, and orderly way. Energy generates energy, drives performance, and elevates the whole team’s morale to move at the same frequency and sustain growth and success.

A real leader must have the required “expertise” and professional competence to transform the energy of the organization into purposeful action. Thomas Stewart, Editor of Harvard Business emphasizes four domains of expertise when it comes to the stuff managers must know. Those include specific subject-matter knowledge, broad and deep knowledge of a field that confers the right to coordinate the work of others, knowledge of the outside world, and political expertise or people skill. Expertise is required in harnessing energy for the good of the organization’s stakeholders otherwise it would be wasteful and sometimes destructive.

The most important a real leader must have is “integrity”. Integrity steers and manages the organization in the right direction protecting the interests of all stakeholders. Integrity is a non-negotiable trait; it is about constant compliance with the organization’s values and the leader’s values pertaining to honesty, trustworthiness, and reliability. Leaders with integrity are trusted by their colleagues because they walk the talk, are transparent and not afraid to say the truth, and they own their mistakes because they hold themselves accountable and do not blame their teammates.