Continuing the Alphabet game of identifying an attribute, for each letter of the alphabet, that exemplary leaders possess, let’s consider attributes beginning with the letter O. O-word candidates include objective, observant, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, open, optimistic, organized, and otherly-focused. Officious, ordinary, and ornery aren’t among viable candidates, but I suspect you know leaders who possess at least one of these attributes!
Being objective is an essential attribute for leaders. So is observant. But they aren’t my winning O-word.
Leaders who believe they are all-powerful (omnipotent), ever-present (omnipresent), and all-knowing (omniscient), aren’t! While it would be great if such leaders roamed the earth, no humans do!
Some would choose open for the winning O-word[i]. I don’t! As important as it is for a leader to be open, there are situations in which you simply must keep things “close to the vest.” On the other hand (with engineers and professors there’s always “on the other hand”), leaders must be open-minded, receptive to diverse views, new ideas, and feedback.
Being optimistic, in theory, should be an attribute that exemplary leaders possess, but being realistic trumps being optimistic. (There are few, if any, good reasons for a leader to be pessimistic.)
Organized, like objective is an essential attribute for leaders. In Why It Matters, I point out, “If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself playing Whac-A-Mole. As soon as you complete one task, three more will appear on your to-do list. The number of people adding to your list will grow exponentially over time. As a result, many times, you’ll feel like screaming, ‘Timeout!’ However, time is flying by. There is no stopping it. There are no time-outs in leadership. It is 24/7/365.25.’”[ii] (The 365.25 is a 4-year average of the number of days in a year, including a leap year.) To succeed, you must be organized—or have a lieutenant who is and keeps you organized.
As appealing as it is, instead of choosing organized to be my winning O-word, I choose otherly-focused. Some will claim it’s not fair to choose a hyphenated word. Also, when you do a browser search on the word otherly you get the following response: “’Otherly’ is a nonstandard, rare word that means differently or in a different manner. It is the adverbial form of ‘other’ and is essentially a less common alternative to the word otherwise.” The browser response isn’t what I have in mind. Otherly-focused, to me, means focused on others, not yourself.
Exemplary leaders need to put team before self. As I stated in previous blog posts and in Why It Matters,“ my goal was to be the leader of the best team, not the best leader of a team.”[iii] Leaders must focus on others, members of the team, not themselves.
Because I chose “a nonstandard, rare word,” it shouldn’t be surprising that no one won the Alphabet game for the O-word.
Next: Leadership ABCs—P
Rules for the game to receive a signed copy of Why It Matters: 1) limited to U.S.A. mailing addresses; 2) limited to a single selection for the word; 3) cannot submit entry sooner than one week before the blog is posted on LinkedIn; 4) be the first correct entry I receive; and 5) send entries to me at johnaustinwhitejr@gmail.com. The earliest you can submit your P-word entry is 12:00 am, EDT, February 25, 2026; the latest time is 12:00 am, EDT, March 4, 2026.
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[i] See https://www.oakconsult.co.uk/a-to-z-of-leadership-qualities/.
[ii] John A. White, Why It Matters: Reflections on Practical Leadership, Greenleaf Book Group Press, Austin, TX, 2022, p. 248.
[iii] ibid, p. 31.
