Qualities of a Leader

- Intelligence
- Creativity
- Wisdom
- Charisma
- Drive to Succeed
- Hunger for innovation
- Willingness to challenge established ideas and practices
- Compulsive risk taker
- Novelty seeking behavior
- Discipline
- Fortitude
- Functions relating to pleasure and reward
- As a key motivator, pleasure is central to learning

Here are some details :

So, when searching for your organization’s next leader, look for someone with an attenuated dopamine function: someone who is never satisfied with the status quo, someone who wants the feeling of success more than others — but likes it less.

WHEN we think of the qualities we seek in visionary leaders, we think of intelligence, creativity, wisdom and charisma, but also the drive to succeed, a hunger for innovation, a willingness to challenge established ideas and practices.

But in fact, the psychological profile of a compelling leader — think of tech pioneers like Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison and Steven P. Jobs — is also that of the compulsive risk-taker, someone with a high degree of novelty-seeking behavior. In short, what we seek in leaders is often the same kind of personality type that is found in addicts, whether they are dependent on gambling, alcohol, sex or drugs.

How can this be? We typically see addicts as weak-willed losers, and chief executives and entrepreneurs are people with discipline and fortitude. To understand this apparent contradiction we need to look under the hood of the brain, and in particular at the functions that relate to pleasure and reward.

As a key motivator, pleasure is central to learning