Courage. Creativity. Resilience. For years, self-help books and articles have pegged these traits, among others, as the qualities to look for in workplace leaders. But when behavioral scientist and author Jon Levy researched that accepted wisdom further for his new book, he realized it wasn’t true.
“We’ve been sold this bill by all the major consultancies and all the major university MBA programs that here are these essential skills, and if I want to be a leader, I need to develop myself in all these ways I’m just never going to be able to accomplish,” Levy told me. “What’s really frustrating about that is that it pushes all these people who could be fantastic leaders out.”
What’s the real secret to being a stand-out leader? It’s about the feeling that you trigger in another human being, he said—specifically the feeling that there’s a new and better future.
“The emotional response that we have when we interact with somebody is what causes us to want to follow them,” Levy said. “It’s not based on qualifications or experience or capabilities. They don’t have to even be honest, which is super frustrating, because it’s an emotional response.”
Levy explores this, and other learnings, in his recently released Team Intelligence: How Brilliant Leaders Unlock Collective Genius. As the title suggests, he also dug into what makes great teams function—and fail.
He calls out the “too much talent” problem: when company leaders pack their teams with “superstar” hires. Such hires should be made sparingly, he argues, since teams more than half filled with these ambitious and energetic players tend to massively underperform, his research has found.
“The reason is self-interest and egos,” Levy said. “What you actually need are players called ‘glue’ players that focus on the team connecting and functioning. They work as a multiplier that make everybody else perform at multiple of their normal behavior.”
P.S. Fortune’s annual World’s Best Workplaces list was released last week, with Hilton taking the No. 1 spot. For more about the list, and to check out what other companies made the ranks, click here.
Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
[email protected]
Around the Table
A round-up of the most important HR headlines.
Eight employees who’ve stayed in one job for decades talk about why they’ve stayed—and the changes they’ve seen in the workplace. Wall Street Journal
Could shift work, pioneered by those in the medical field, solve the problem of women leaving the workforce in droves? New York Times
Companies are calling in internal AI “influencers” or “ambassadors” to help persuade reluctant coworkers to get on board. Bloomberg
Watercooler
Everything you need to know from Fortune.
Buyout blues. About 600 Paramount Skydance employees took a buyout instead of returning to the office five days a week, costing the company $185 million in severance packages. —Sasha Rogelberg
Skills shortage. Ford CEO Jim Farley said he’s having trouble filling 5,000 open mechanic positions, despite a six-figure salary—nearly double the American worker’s median pay. —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
Immersive interview. After feeling regret for bringing on the wrong people, the former Coach CEO developed a grueling interview strategy, complete with an EQ rating and 80-skill test. —Emma Burleigh
