Michelle Braden, president of MSBCoach, did a webinar in January where she listed another list of qualities to identify and develop in future leaders. I just rediscovered my notes from that presentation, and I think her submissions are good additions to our list of seeds:

• Interpersonal skills – Do they show self-awareness, show good emotional intelligence and use their strengths?
• Ability to deal with complex problems – and do they show flexibility in how they deal with them?
• Ability to develop and inspire others – Are they others-focused? Do they value collaboration?
• Hunger to learn – Are they curious, questioning and aspiring for more? Are they open to people speaking into their life?
• Visionary – Do they show an interest in the big picture, demonstrate early-stage strategic thinking?
• Introspective – Do they think before they act? Do they talk about the importance of an integrated life? Are they results-oriented… for the right reasons? What are their motivations?
• Courage – Do they have the bility to take a stand? Are they willing to take a risk and stand by it?
• Ability to recover – Can they take the heat and handle pushback? Do they understand the process to recover from failure?
• Influence – Do they lead out of relationship, without needing a title?

Mmmm. Good stuff here. Again, I’ll save my comments for later posts, but let me add one more from personal observation:

• A new interest in taking themselves seriously

How about you? What early seeds of leadership have you observed? We’re getting a pretty comprehensive list here.