Leadership and entrepreneurship: five traits of bad leaders

The importance of leadership in entrepreneurship is essential factor for the future success of the company. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t automatically make you a leader. There are many personal characteristics which differentiate good leaders from bad leaders and you should look for these traits if not in yourself, at least at the people who you hire for managing positions.

Lack of empathy

Empathy is key trait for leaders. Being able to understand the person that you are managing is essential for the success of the project. People face different obstacles in their work and the leaders must know how to understand these problems.

Inflexibility

Inflexible leaders, who are not willing to listen to new ideas and to consider different opinions, can be toxic for a startup. Inflexibility may harm the work process and definitely affect the results and project outcomes. Being led by inflexible-minded, stubborn leader will damage the performance of the team and will lead to lack of motivation amongst the employees.

Bad listening skills

People with bad communication skills, who care only about what they say and don’t pay attention to what the others have to say, are good example for disastrous leader. Listening is essential communication trait for people who manage teams and want to become better in this.

Inconsistency

People, who are not consistent in their decision making processes and often change their mind, are not ready to become a leader.  The constant changing one’s mind combined with the inability to take final decision leads to confusion and unproductive working environment.

Self-centered people

People who have big ego and can’t admit their mistakes are some of the worst leaders that can exist. They often tend to lead the team in wrong direction driven by the lack of strength to accept and share their own mistakes. Self-centered people often blame the others for the failure of the projects and almost never take the blame.