What Type Of Leader Are You?
What type of leader are you? It is a question that has spawned several books, blogs posts, conferences, and surveys in every field, from politics to the pastorate.
Despite the sea of great information on this topic and a vast amount, I want to briefly share what I believe are the three core types of leaders. I genuinely believe that most people can place themselves in one of these fundamental categories with enough honesty and self-awareness. Categorising yourself does not mean you are completely void of any aspect of the other two types of leaders I will name; it means that you have a primary leadership driver in the way you approach teams and organisations.
While these categories or buckets are general, I have found that they serve as an excellent framework for how leaders typically function.
Don’t read down! First, answer these questions.
If given the option, based on your first and base instinct, would you:
Establish a new museum?
Be Executive Director of an established museum?
Curate and maintain the artefacts of an established museum?
If an established, well-run museum hired you, would your first instinct be to:
Execute the best practices that make the museum run with excellence?
Curate and maintain the museum’s artefacts to keep its present status as an enjoyable and exciting place to visit?
Tirelessly seek ways to make this well-run museum better?
Your answers to these questions are invaluable in evaluating the type of leader you most naturally are.
THREE NEEDED LEADERS
The Curator
A Curator is “The keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection.” A curator is a necessary leader to have within every team. The curators of your organisation and team are those who love preserving the systems and people that are presently in place. You can quickly identify this type of leader by the high level of care they display and the caution with which they approach every situation. Curators care deeply about the systems you all have created and the people who they serve. Curators believe the current system is the best, and therefore they must maintain it. Their goal within the team and organisation is to curate or maintain the artefacts to keep its present status as enjoyable and exciting a place as possible.
The Executor
An Executor is “a person who produces something or puts something into effect: the makers and executors of policy.” These are the doers of the organisation. They are task-oriented. They see the systems of an organisation as a tool to accomplish a set goal. They love the structure in place but are constantly looking within the framework to tweak it so that the system runs optimally. This type of leader tends to be highly efficient and proficient, accomplishing many tasks with relative ease. These are the executive directors of the world. They are inclined to work the system, seeing that it runs as optimally as possible through the task set before them. To them, the top priority is executing the best practices that make the organisation excellent.
The Innovator
An Innovator is “a person who introduces new methods, ideas, or products.” These are the agitators of your organisation. Innovators are not so much concerned with making the organisation run well, but making sure it is WELL RUN. They don’t particularly care for any system, even if it is their own creation, beyond the point that it helps accomplish the goal. These leaders are inquisitive. While they may operate within a system, they are constantly wondering why it functions the way it does, its purpose, how it can be better, or if it even needs to exist.
Innovators have a love for what could be. They are those who often want to break the system entirely and start over, if necessary. They often believe that the best way to accomplish a goal is to build a brand new system or completely overhaul the existing one.
Now look back at your answer to those questions. What type of leader are you?
Next, consider using those questions to evaluate and direct those on your team(s).