You can read the entire article (and I suggest you do) here: http://bit.ly/yMYqcG
In the beginning of the article Cohn points out the pitfalls of choosing leaders. If you click on the link and read that portion of the article you might find a couple of reason why you made a poor choice for the leaders of your team. It really is worth the read. Here is a critical portion of the article on qualities that we should look for in a leader from Cohn:
There are seven fundamental leadership qualities that the candidate must possess to be effective. Take just one of these away and sooner or later the newly elevated manager will fail. Having studied the careers of nearly 1,000 executives, over the past decade, it is clear to me that failure results when a leader lacks of one, or more, of these seven attributes. So what are these special attributes?
Integrity
It all starts with integrity. Like a foundation for any well-constructed house, integrity is the core foundation for leadership effectiveness. It is a blend of honesty, consistency and ethics. Once integrity is squandered or even thrown into doubt, it is very hard for a leader to regain the trust of his or her troops.
Passion
Yet integrity alone doesn't matter without several other key attributes. Passion, for example, enables a leader to keep moving forward even in tough times.
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, was ridiculed in 2001 for clinging to a company that many called, "Amazon.bomb." It is now valued at $89 billion. Bezos told me that it was his inner passion that fueled his drive to keep pushing forward even in the darkest days of the dot com crash, when the company was teetering on the brink of collapse.
Courage
Courage, another make-it-or-break-it quality, is necessary to make the difficult decisions when facing conflicts and mediating adversity. Courage springs from a leader's core values and commitment to a vision. Without a compelling vision or destination, how can a boss effectively persuade people to embark upon a new direction? Visionary leaders inspire employees to imagine a better future and work hard to achieve it.
Judgment
Actually achieving this vision, however, requires judgment. Good judgment allows the leader to make solid business decisions and choices. When I assess an aspiring leader, I want to see if she can confront a complex new challenge and quickly zero in on the most important issues.
Does she ask good questions? Can she prioritize and make difficult trade-offs? Does she know where to focus and where not to waste her time and energy? Even when looking at an individual piece of the problem, does she keep the entire chessboard in mind, recognizing the potential unintended consequences of her decisions? Judgment is needed to develop a strategy that will enable the organization to achieve its vision.
Empathy
No matter the organization, diversity of its people is the one constant. Each team member has a different personality, motivation and underlying agenda. Empathy is the attribute that allows a leader to effectively understand what makes other people tick.
Identifying the fundamental drivers of their boss, peers and subordinates is critical. Same goes for getting people aligned and motivated around their common goals. Outside your specific organization it is invaluable that a leader be able to quickly and accurately figure out why an important customer seems dissatisfied, even though they say everything is fine.
If a potential employee doesn't have empathy, they have very little chance of getting these, and many other, important constituents on their side. Lack of empathy is a key reason why otherwise analytically brilliant leaders often come up short.
Emotional intelligence
While empathy is externally focused, another key leadership attribute, emotional intelligence, is internally focused. An emotionally intelligent leader habitually takes a hard, honest look at himself and accurately discerns his strengths, weaknesses and blind spots. Putting personal pride aside, he actively solicits the input of others and incorporates the team's best ideas into the overall action plan.
Without emotional intelligence, hubris sets in and a leader will overestimate his own ability and alienate others. Even though the hubris may convince him that he can bite off more than he can chew, subordinates will not be so blind. A leader that continuously lets down his or her team won't stay in the organization's good graces for long. From my vantage point, a lack of emotional intelligence is probably the top derailer of previously successful managers moving into fundamentally new and ambiguous roles.
These seven leadership attributes -- integrity, vision, judgment, passion, courage, empathy and emotional intelligence-- are all the hallmarks of great leaders, regardless of industry or geography. By gearing any candidate assessment towards these traits -- and away from false predictors of success, like a sparkling personality, a polished resume, or good interview skills -- you will be one big step ahead of the rest of the crowd who are still scratching their heads wondering why they are so bad at picking good leaders.
