Context
Good leadership is essential for businesses
to perform at their best—to maintain a positive culture, make the most of
opportunities for growth, return value
to their stakeholders, and navigate the
uncertainties and challenges they face.
Proposals for what such leadership should
look like are widely published and applied
in frameworks and educational programmes
delivered by firms, business schools, and
leadership consultancies. Such theoretical
and normative approaches are valuable, but
also important is the view on the ground—
the understanding or ‘prototype’ of good
leadership within UK business.
The prototype of good leadership often lies beneath the surface, but its importance is present in the way it shapes the interpretation of what leaders do, the expectations that are set, and the performance of leadership roles. It may be important to question the existing prototype and introduce new ideas, but a clear grasp of how good leadership is understood is an essential starting point.
This report presents research by the Oxford Character Project into good leadership in UK business, involving over 1,100 participants working in 36 firms around the UK.
Key findings
- Participants identified 84 features, reflecting three dimensions of good leadership: Character, professional competence, and interpersonal skills.
- Character is central to good leadership: 52% of features relate to character, 35% to interpersonal skills, and 13% to professional competence.
- Kindness, creativity, and humility are widely considered important for good leadership but were rated by participants among the five least central features.
- There is a high degree of consensus between genders and across leadership levels.
- Participants with higher levels of education consider it less central that leaders are caring, friendly, helpful, and kind.
- Millennials and Gen Zs value leaders who are attentive, committed to mentoring, and who can provide answers to questions and solutions to problems.
- Across the sectors of finance, law, and technology, leaders are expected to be competent, hardworking, and committed. Beyond these qualities, however, there are distinct profiles between sectors.
Good leadership in Finance
Risk awareness is the most central feature of good leadership according to professionals we surveyed in the finance sector, featuring at the top of a list which includes integrity, responsibility, trustworthiness, and good judgment. These were found lacking in the analysis that followed in the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and subsequent scandals , and their identification may be aspirational. Comparing finance with other sectors, inclusivity is regarded as more central to good leadership, suggesting that efforts to promote greater diversity in the financial services industry may be gaining traction.
Good leadership in Law
Professional competence is a particular emphasis in the prototype of good leadership in the legal sector, comprising 40% of the top 20 most central features, compared to 25% in finance and 30% in tech. Character qualities of integrity, responsibility, and trustworthiness are also prized in the financial sector and speak to the reliability that is essential in professional services.
Good leadership in Technology
The prototype of good leadership identified within the tech sector highlights the importance of character. Amongst the most central features are determined, resilient, driven, and committed, pointing to a sector where new opportunities are there to be taken but not without difficulty. Pioneering, strategic, and visionary leadership is highly valued, and curiosity—the character quality that drives new understanding—is considered more important than in finance and law.