The book, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leadership Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, highlights the value of what the authors call, ‘leaderless’ organizations. Although I don’t advocate leaderless organizations, one chapter describes tools that successful non-leader leaders use to catalyze their respective organizations. These qualities also apply to catalytic leaders. I’ve summarized them below.

Qualities of a catalytic leader:

• Genuine interest in others
• Loose connections (they don’t limit themselves to a few close friends but have many connections)
• Mapping (catalysts think of who they know, who those people know, how they all relate to one another, and how they fit into a huge mental map)
• Desire to help others
• Passion
• Meet people where they are (there is a difference between passionate and pushy; catalysts rely less on persuasion and more on meeting people where they are )
• Emotional intelligence
• Trust
• Inspiration (catalysts often inspire others to work toward a goal that often doesn’t involve their own personal gain)
• Tolerance for ambiguity (they learn to be OK when they don’t have concrete answers to big questions)
• Hands-Off approach (they are less apt to use command and control)
• Receding (after they accomplish what they intended, they get out of the way)

The authors also contrasted traditional CEO’s to Catalysts.

A CEO vs a catalyst…

• The boss vs a peer
• Command-and-control vs trust
• Rational vs emotionally intelligent
• Powerful vs inspirational
• Directive vs collaborative
• In the spotlight vs behind the scenes
• Order vs ambiguity
• Organizing vs connecting

As you read the positive qualities, how many would others say you embody in your leadership? What quality needs the most attention in your leadership?
Related posts:

• 9 Ways Great Leaders Communicate
• 11 Bad Listening Habits Leaders Must Avoid