In business, people tend to be curious about the qualities that differentiate successful managers from average decision-makers. These characteristics change frequently, so it is not possible to make too many generalisations. COVID has drastically reshaped and is reshaping the business environment, and it is safe to say that it is not possible to emerge from this crisis without something extra. Clearly, then, success manager qualities are now more important than ever. That is why we conducted market research covering 1000 managers and 14 countries. In this series, we take five top-ranked characteristics of successful managers.
5th place: “confidence”
It’s safe to say that this is an integral feature of a good manager in any era. But we are wrong to think that it always enjoys top priority. In fundamentally peaceful situations, a manager does not need to be confident for the sake of honour, but if that really is the expectation, in most cases, they are unsympathetic to most business decision-makers. Confidence is a very relative concept, as it does not matter from whose point of view we examine its existence. If we apply a personality-type approach – and in a crisis situation, in the field of decision-making mechanisms, i.e. in business in 2021, it is definitely worthwhile – then we can more easily understand the basic challenges of this personality trait. This is because all personality types can be confident, but only one personality type has the ability to be so “no matter what” — as Americans say — who can always be confident in any situation. Using the personality type categories of the RISE Human Development System, the Ruler is the only such personality type. This is because other types need experience and evidence to achieve the desired level of confidence. The Individual, Supporter, or Expert types can achieve confidence in different ways and with different techniques, but their common feature is that confidence requires a lot of work. A Ruler, on the other hand, can be superficial due to their confidence; they can make ill-considered decisions, although they also do so with great confidence. However, all personality types are aware of this, so traditional Ruler confidence is rejected. That is, three major personality directions out of the four don’t really identify with this trait, and for them, the confidence to follow is to work, build, and be careful. But in 2021, these personality types will be unable to reach the required level of confidence in a short time, so they need Ruler support, which they do not like. The situation is unclear, but obviously, we are living in a period when things are not quite clear at all times.
In other words, self-confidence is a quality that many people now rank in the appropriate place, because everyone sees that decisions and changes of direction are needed now. Moreover, you can see that there is no time to ideate, which is typical of an Individual type, or to wait for the right experience, which is important for a Supporter, or to collect just the right amount of data, to perform an analysis, which is essential for an EXPERT. Action is needed now, even if the process is not perfectly thought out. But at least something happens. Very few are capable of this type of action, so the top-performing managers display this trait. That is why confidence is ranked fifth.
(Next in 4th place: Happiness)