Nearly a quarter of a century ago, researchers Jim Kouses and Barry Posner asked people a simple, open-ended question: “What values, personal traits, or characteristics do you look for and admire in a leader?”
Eighty-three percent of the people surveyed listed honesty as a desired attribute in a leader.
No other quality received as many mentions.
Since that 1987 study, Kouses and Posner have repeated their assessment three times. In 1995 and 2002, 88 percent of respondents listed honesty, again the leading trait cited. Honesty also topped the list in 2007, when 89 percent of survey takers specified it as a sought-after leadership characteristic. For more than twenty years, people have consistently responded to Kouses and Posner’s question by specifying honesty more often than any other leadership quality.
Kouses and Posner reported their early findings in their 1995 book, The Leadership Challenge. In the fourth and most recent edition of the book, the authors explain why we continue to value honesty in the people we follow. “Everyone wants to be fully confident in their leaders,” write Kouses and Posner, “and to be fully confident they have to believe that their leaders are individuals of strong character and integrity.”
Just as significantly, assert the authors, we take honesty personally. “We want our leaders to be honest because their honesty is also a reflection upon our own honesty.” Choosing to follow someone with high integrity—or a lack of it—affects our reputations. From that standpoint, we are whom we follow.
Four surveys—spanning more than two decades and including people from six continents—and the leading attribute that we most admire in our leaders remains constant. Honesty. Honesty. Honesty. Honesty.
Get it?
If you still need convincing, consider this. Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work Institute conduct Fortune’s annual survey of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.” The yearly list has traditionally featured companies that heap lavish benefits on employees—everything from afternoon massages to free food. But their research on why people appreciate their employers confirms that workers desire honest leaders. “Perks are nice, but employees are looking for something more basic,” note Levering and Moskowitz. “They want to be told the truth, especially if the news is bad.”
Want followers to admire you? Just remember these four simple words: Honesty. Honesty. Honesty. Honesty.
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George Brymer is author of Vital Integrities and the creator of The Leading from the Heart Workshop®.
He can be reached at [email protected]
Image Source: georgewashingtoninn.files.wordpress.com
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