Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last, Third Edition

Attributes and Skills of Leaders

Effective leaders possess certain attributes or attitudes. Leaders master learnable skills and behave in certain ways.

The art of leadership is liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.

From Leadership Is an Art, by Max DePree (New York: Dell Publishing, 1989), 1

1. Leaders willingly and eagerly accept and share responsibility. Believing in Block’s stewardship and Greenleaf’s servant leadership, leaders empower others by distributing responsibility and authority, even while retaining responsibility for the whole.

2. Leaders possess emotional, intellectual, and physical vitality and stamina. They are dependable, confident, assertive, adaptable, highly tolerant, and flexible. They are courageous, resolute, patient, and steadfast. And leaders are passionate—passionate about their organizations and missions, their constituents, and their communities.

3. Both visionary and practical, leaders lead through serving. They neither coerce others nor depend on official status or authority.

4. Leaders balance being out in front with following and supporting. They balance their own ego with the egos of others. Leaders acknowledge responsibility for failure and share responsibility for success.

5. Competent and knowledgeable in key fields, leaders know the organization and its work. Max DePree25 refers to this as task competence. For him, this includes personal performance and achievement plus the potential ...