Diana Oblinger, president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, wrote in EDUCAUSE Review about leadership for constant change. Leadership is adaptive: as the environment changes, so must leaders. Particularly in times of constant change, we look for leaders--and try to understand what makes a leader.
Oblinger identifies 5 traits of successful leaders:
- Leaders catalyze change, not for the sake of change itself but for the sake of preserving fundamental values
- Leadership also requires a variety of experience.
- Leaders need strong analytical capability.
- Values, experience, and analysis morph into leadership when combined through discipline.
- Leadership means helping other people do their job well.
We must take the best from our experience so that we can adapt to constantly changing circumstances. Leadership is about more than power or authority. It is about values, experience, analysis, and the discipline to change what we need to change. Good leaders recognize that we cannot often predict the future, but we can help shape it.
