How can I change my personality for the better???

In the post Leadership and Charisma I stated that leadership is all about personality. What exactly did I mean?

Merriam-webster dictionary offers a definition of ‘personality’ as:

• the set of emotional qualities, ways of behaving, etc., that makes a person different from other people;
• the condition or fact of relating to a particular person;
• a set of distinctive traits and characteristics.

American Psychological Associations offers a ‘personality’ definition as it refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas – first, understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability and second, understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole.

There is a plethora of search results. WIKI - Personality psychology defines it: ‘Personality’ is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences their environment, cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behavioral science in various situations.

With the above said personality must matter. But which one is the best one? I don’t believe this could be determined as it depends on what you are doing, where and with whom. A teacher in a classroom, CEO in a company, a general in a battle, mother with a child - they all have to adapt to and change according to situation. But who/what may cause the deviation of our own personality so we are unable to perform accordingly?

We, ourselves. One  has to work (hard) to transform his/her personality.

How hard could it be? Quite hard as it is ‘I’ that has to be changed. We have to change what is already deeply ingrained in us. Fortunately, we have a will, brains and understanding that help us in needed transformation.

In the leadership process personality plays the most important role. A leader is supposed to be strong but not rude; humble but not timid; kind but not weak; proud but not arrogant; bold but not a bully. On top of these, he/she has to have a high degree of emotional stability in dealing with different situations. To be effective a leader has to be highly opened to new experiences and employees/follower’s feedback.

Each and every personality topic is different and can/may be achieved by learning. Why bother?

Many researches have proved that there is a correlation between leaders’ personality and employee motivation for the job. Where research has consistently found that motivation by external rewards (e.g. bonus), in the best case, have an impact on simpler routine tasks only and not on other types of work. But in all other job tasks a leader has to have a genuine interest in the employee’s work, perceived his opinion about the work and perception of her independence to successful lead and motivate.

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• Leadership: More Intelligence or Emotions
• Leadership and emotions
• How to Be Emotionally Intelligent
• Together Everyone Achieves More
• * Personality Versus Character in Leadership