The incomplete guide to leadership — part III

In this series of articles that I call “The incomplete guide to leadership”, I have crowdsourced some leadership lessons from my network as well as added my own. In the third instalment, I talk about how to lead people effectively — even during hard times.

We understand that people who become entrepreneurs are typically more open-minded, they have a sense of duty and are organised, they tend to be emotionally stable, and they do not shy away from conflict. In the framework of The Big 5 — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (OCEAN) — entrepreneurs tend to be O-high, C-high, E-neutral, A-low, and N-low.

Entrepreneurs tend to be lower on Agreeableness than what is normal. It means on the more extreme end they can be suspicious, harsh, rigid, critical, ruthless, irritable. Low Agreeableness also means that you are comfortable facing a conflict. Not that you seek conflict, but you can push against the opinion of others.

The personality traits of a high-growth company CEO

Arie Kouandjio is not what you would call a pushover. He is 1.96 m tall and weighs about…