This document outlines a presentation on leadership given by Tim Valton II. The presentation explores leadership through two approaches: the trait approach and skills approach. For the trait approach, the presentation discusses the "Big Five" leadership traits of intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability. For the skills approach, it discusses three basic leadership skills of technical skill, human skill, and conceptual skill. Participants complete self-assessments to identify their strengths and weaknesses under each approach in order to better understand their own leadership styles. The goal is for participants to reflect on leadership development for career purposes.

1. Leadership 101
Exploring Leadership through Self-Exploration
Tim Valton II
Career Assistant, Prehealth Advising
tvalton@mit.edu

2. Overview
• Learning Outcomes
• Style of the Presentation
• Introduction to Leadership
• Trait Approach to Leadership
• Lecture-Based Description
• Self Assessment & Discussion
• Skills Approach to Leadership
• Lecture-Based Description
• Self-Assessment & Discussion
• Questions, Comments, Concerns

3. Learning Outcomes
• Identify key traits of leadership from a macro-level perspective
• List key skills of leadership from a macro-level perspective
• Examine the difference between “traits” and “skills” in reference to
leadership development
• Assess their own leadership through the lens of trait and skills
approach and identify areas for improvement
• Compile list of individualized leadership traits and apply them to
their resume*
• Construct list of leadership skills and be able to effectively articulate
them*
*Accomplished after the session through self-reflection

4. Style of Presentation
• Four styles to accommodate different learning styles:
• Rapid fire discussion: High participation needed; no wrong answers in rapid fire, all
responses are valid
• Lecture-Based Discussion: Low participation needed; I’ll provide some information
about the different approaches; Feel free to take notes or listen, all information will be
provided to you
• Group Discussion: High/Low participation needed; I’ll ask you to chat with
someone next to you during assessment instruments, feel free to report back to large
group
• Reflection after presentation: Low participation; I’ll send you some materials that
you can either share with me for feedback or keep for yourself
• Participation is crucial to learning experience
• Intra-participation
• Inter-participation

5. Rapid Fire Discussion #1
What is leadership?
Remember: There are NO incorrect answers! Anything counts! Words, feelings,
phrases, people, anything that comes to your mind!

6. Rapid Fire Discussion #2
What “skills” are associated
with “good” leadership?
Remember: There are NO incorrect answers! Anything counts! Words, feelings,
phrases, people, anything that comes to your mind!

7. Introduction to Leadership
• Two questions are the beginning of your journey through
self-exploration of leadership
• Trait Approach to Leadership
• Skills Approach to Leadership
• Basic level of leadership theory which is centered around
the traits and actions of the leader
• Limitations: There are more developed leadership theories
out there (in my opinion “better”) but this is a good place
to start your exploration

8. Trait Approach to Leadership
• One of the first theories of leadership development
• Focuses exclusively on the leader, not on the follower
or the situation the leader is in
• Concerned with what traits the leader exhibits and
who has these traits within a group setting
• Various studies of leadership traits and characteristics,
but we’re going to focus in on “Big Five”

9. Five Leadership Traits
•Intelligence- Strong verbal ability, perceptual
ability, and reasoning
•Self-confidence- Certain about one’s competencies
•Determination- Desire to get the job done
•Integrity- Quality of honesty and trustworthiness
•Sociability- Inclination to seek out pleasant social
relationships

10. Five Personality Factors
• Neuroticism- tendency to be depressed, anxious,
insecure, vulnerable, and hostile
• Extraversion-tendency to be sociable and assertive and
to have positive energy
• Openness- tendency to be informed, creative, insightful,
and curious
• Agreeableness- tendency to be accepting, conforming,
trusting, and nurturing
• Conscientiousness- tendency to be thorough,
organized, controlled, dependable, and decisive

11. Strengths of Trait Approach
•Intuitively appealing- clearly fits within notion that leaders
are the individuals out front and leading way in society*
•Century of research to back it up- no other theory has the
breadth of research compared to trait theory
•Highlights the leader component in the leadership process-
deeper meaning of what it means to be a “leader”
•Benchmarks of what it means to be a leader

12. Self-Assessment Tool:
Trait Approach
• Read all instructions carefully
• Answer honestly and with your “gut”
• Once everyone has finished, pair up with someone next
to you to briefly discuss and share:
• What were some similarities? Differences?
• Where were you the strongest? The weakest?
• What is your most “important” trait?
• Share with large group if you feel comfortable

13. Skills Approach to Leadership
• Again, leader-centered perspective on leadership
• Shift from focus on personality characteristics to
skills and abilities that can be learned and developed
• More tangible approach to leadership:
• Skills can be defined as job descriptors in many ways
• Critical to develop ability to talk about your skills
effectively and efficiently

14. Basic Leadership Skills
(Katz, 1955)
• Technical Skill- Ability
to work with things
• Human Skill- Ability
to work with people
• Conceptual Skill-
Ability to work with
ideas
• Leadership /
Management structure
has different needs of
skills

15. Skill Based Model
(Mumford, et. al., 2000)

16. Individual Based Attributes
• General cognitive ability
• Crystalized cognitive ability
• Motivation
• Personality

17. Competencies
• Problem solving skills- ability to solve complex
issues which stimulate organization growth
• Social judgment skills- Capacity to understand
people and social systems; Being multicultural
competent; Ability to be perspective
• Knowledge- Inextricably related to the application
and implantation of problem-solving skills in
organizations; Accumulation of information and
the mental structures used to organize the
information

18. Self-Assessment Tool:
Skills Approach
• Read all instructions carefully
• Answer honestly and with your “gut”
• Once everyone has finished, pair up with someone next
to you to briefly discuss and share:
• What were some similarities? Differences?
• Where were you the strongest? The weakest?
• What is your most “important” skill?
• Share with large group if you feel comfortable

19. Discussion and Questions
• The “So what”: Importance of leadership exploration
from a career development perspective
• Next steps: Look for an email from me with all of the
resources used in this presentation
• Any questions, comments, or concerns?