What leadership attributes beginning with the letter W come to your mind? Did you think of WALKER, WARRIOR, WATCHFUL, WELCOMING, WILLING, WINNING, WISE, WITTY, WORKER, or WORTHY. Hopefully, you didn’t consider WEARY, WAFFLER, WHINER, WORRIER, WHACKO, or WRECKER.
In considering WALKER as an attribute of exemplary leaders, I’m thinking of leaders who “walk their talk,” they do what they say they will do. Doing is key. Actions speak louder than words.
Likewise, exemplary leaders are WARRIORS. They are competitors. To achieve the team’s goals, they are willing to be in the trenches with their followers.
Exemplary leaders are also WATCHFUL. They pay attention to details. They keep their fingers on the pulses of their followers. They are attentive to issues that might arise. They look for changes in the competitive environment.
Exemplary leaders are WELCOMING. They are approachable. They create an inclusive environment.
Exemplary leaders are WILLING to try new things. They are WILLING to take risks, to learn, to listen to those who disagree with them, and to change directions. For them, it’s not, “My way or the highway.”
Exemplary leaders want to WIN. They hate losing. Although they’ve had losses in the past, their resumes include numerous WINS. Their personas communicate “we will succeed.” John Roberts, while serving as J. B. Hunt’s CEO, told students in my leadership class, “There is no substitute for winning. When a team wins, it gels.”
Most importantly, exemplary leaders are WISE. As Chat GPT puts it, they make “sound decisions based on experience, insight, and good judgment.” In Why It Matters, I share the following: “During the interview process for UA’s chancellor position, I was asked to give a public lecture and share my vision for the University of Arkansas. After walking to the podium in the center of the stage, I pulled a water bottle from beneath the podium and held it up. I said it reminded me of a story I’d heard of a candidate interviewing for a chancellor position at a major land-grant university.
“The candidate picked up a dusty bottle from the bottom shelf of the podium and removed the cap. Immediately, a genie appeared and thanked the person for freeing it. The genie granted the candidate one of three wishes: be the handsomest or most beautiful person in the world, be the richest person in the world, or be the wisest person in the world.
“Since the candidate was in the middle of the interview process for a university leadership position, the candidate said, ‘I choose wisdom.’
“’So shall it be,’ replied the genie, and waved a wand over the candidate. Immediately, the candidate exclaimed, ‘I should have taken the money.’
“The joke was a success. Timing was everything. When another candidate gave his public lecture in the same auditorium several weeks later, he told the same joke, which didn’t go over nearly as well. He had no idea a previous candidate had told the same joke. He was the victim of poor timing.”[i]
The importance of a leader being WISE has been understood for thousands of years, as illustrated by King Solomon’s example: “At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ (1 Kings 3:5) Solomon asks for a discerning heart. God responds, “I will give you a wise and discerning heart …” (1 Kings 3: 12a)
It’d be advantageous for leaders to be WITTY, but it’s not a necessary attribute for an exemplary leader. A sense of humor goes a long way toward easing tensions and building rapport within the team. Referring to the job of President of the United States (POTUS), John Dickerson notes, “We should also ask those who want the job or want to stay in it to tell a joke. Former defense secretary Robert Gates said a sense of humor may be one of the most important requirements of the presidency. Humor in the face of unrelenting pressure demonstrates equanimity, a crucial attribute of presidential success. It can also humanize a president, break the ice in tense situations, and win willingness to listen to a president’s point of view. ”[ii] Abraham Lincoln’s sense of humor was one of his strongest attributes. Doris Kearns Goodwin points out that Lincoln recognized the role humor played with others and for himself. He needed it to survive.[iii]
Unfortunately, too few leaders recognize leadership is hard WORK; at times it will feel like unending hard WORK, because it is! Exemplary leaders must be WORKERS. In an interview by David Rubenstein, Eric Schmidt, former chairman of Google/Alphabet summarizes what he thinks it takes to become an effective leader, “Discipline, hard work, and loving what you do …”[iv] Two days shy of “100 days” into his first term as President of the United States, Donald Trump said, “I loved my previous job. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”[v] But, you don’t have to be POTUS to learn that leadership, simply stated, is hard work. Generally, leadership is 24/7/365.25 (including Leap Years—Oops! Just revealed my engineering precision).
My final candidate for the winning W-word is WORTHY. For a leader to be WORTHY of being an exemplary leader, the person must have earned the respect of those being led. As such, the leader must be trustworthy, must possess unquestioned integrity, must possess the attributes identified by the winning words in the Alphabet Game.
The finalists for the winning W-word are WISE and WORTHY. Of the two, WORTHY edges out WISE. Why? For leaders to be WORTHY, they must be WISE.
It appears that people have grown weary of the Alphabet game. I received no W-word entries. Although X is the letter I’ve anticipated addressing most since the game began, I suspect I won’t receive any entries for the X-word. Too bad. The game goes on!
Next: Leadership ABCs—X
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 X-word entry is 12:00 am, EDT, June 17, 2026; the latest time is 12:00 am, EDT, June 24, 2026.
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[i] John A. White, Why It Matters: Reflections on Practical Leadership, Greenleaf Book Group Press, Austin, TX, p. 96.
[ii] John Dickerson, The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency, Penguin Random House, New York, NY, 2020, pp. xxix-xxx.
[iii] Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Simon & Schuster, 2005, p. 103.
[iv] David M. Rubenstein, How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2020, pp. 158-159.
[v] Stephen J. Adler, Jeff Mason, and Steve Holland, “Exclusive: Trump says he thought being president would be easier than his old life,” Reuters, April 27, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-100days/exclusive-trump-says-he-thought-being-president-would-be-easier-than-his-old-life-idUSKBN17U0CA. Also, John Dickerson, The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency, p. 177.
