Timothy R. Clark: On micromanagers and absentee landlords

The effective leader. The fourth category is the effective leader, a combination of high trust and high accountability. The effective leader builds strong personal relationships with people and yet holds them accountable at the same time. This flies in the face of the idea that a leader must maintain professional distance in order to maintain accountability. The best leaders do the very opposite. They build close personal relationships with people and hold them accountable at the same time.

The elusive combination of strong accountability and high trust is what makes the effective leader.

Timothy R. Clark is the founder of TRClark LLC, a management consulting and leadership development organization. E-mail: trclark@trclarkpartners.com