How To Compare Leaders Against One Another

Leadership is an incredibly varied subject, and therefore when it comes to comparing leaders and their leadership styles against each other, this can become a very difficult process.

A good comparison can be made when both objects (or people) for comparison are to be judged by one criterion. However when you wish to assess the leadership skill or leadership potential of two people, literally tens of different factors will be needed to be taken into account.

Whether you're selecting a new hire, or picking the best talent for a fast-track promotion, you'll want to narrow this list of criteria down to about 10 different qualities. Only then will you be able to feasibly judge the difference between two leaders.

As a rule of thumb, a good selection of criteria will include the following qualities:

Does the person radiate confidence in difficult situations?
Can the person weigh up conflicting ideas and come to a compromise
Does the leader make decisions quickly enough?
Can the leader calm hostile characters?
Is the leader competent in their day-to-day operations.
Does the leader inspire others to achieve more?
Has the leader lead projects successfully in the past?
Does the leader show restrain in passing on blame to others?
Does the leader demonstrate forward thinking?
Does the individual lead by example in their work ethic.

You'll want to tailor the list of criteria to suit the role you have in mind for the individual, as the structure of the list will heavily influence who is compared positively. For instance, if too many items on your list deal with time management, when only a fraction of their required qualities is time management, then your scoring may over-weight candidates with good time management.

A common mistake made when using this method, is that people tend to weight their criteria lists far too much towards what they've 'heard' an ideal leader should be like, rather than what the job role practically demands. If an operations manager generally spend 75% of his day behind his desk, then do actually ensure the intra-personal skills required to work effectively in that environment are reflected in the list.

Here's how scoring works: Simply mark each candidate on a scale of 1-5 and add up the totals. It's a simplistic but effective method in comparing leaders, as it allows you to quantify an extremely qualitative skill set!

I wish you every success in comparing leadership potential in others. This tool is only a guide to help you make a decision, but I trust that you will find it a helpful one in your path to make a difficult decision!