We just completed a three-month leadership training and development program with a client in Colorado. During one of our sessions together, the participants identified leadership behaviors and characteristics of leaders in their lives who have made the biggest impact. 

Take a look at see how you stack up. 

This is the fourth of four posts about the sometimes opposing characteristics that are required of leaders. In Part 1, I talked about the need to balance courage with humility, in Part 2 the need to balance strength with vulnerability, and in Part 3 the need to balance being demanding with empathy.

In my two previous posts, I mentioned that leadership often requires the ability to balance sometimes opposing characteristics. In Part 1, I touched on the balance of Courage with Humility. In Part 2, I talked about the balance of Strength and Vulnerability.

The third set of characteristics that I believe is required of a successful leader is the balance of being Demanding with being Empathetic.