There is no one-size-fits-all winning formula that guarantees success. Each leadership signature is personal and unique. That said, there is a common misconception that leadership style only comes down to one’s personality instead of being a strategic choice made consciously and consistently. Although it is beyond the scope of this article to provide a fine-grained analysis of all the different leadership styles, there are several overarching capabilities that all leadership styles share:

• Sensemaking – the ability to understand the business environment in which the company is operating:
• Visioning – the ability to imagine what is possible and create a compelling picture of it that inspires others;
• Inventing – the ability to come up with new structures and processes to achieve that vision;
• Relating – the ability to establish trusting and supportive relationships across different networks; and
• Credibility – the ability to build credibility which acts as a lynchpin connecting the four elements above, since it results from and is necessary for the other four.

Credible leaders talk the talk and walk the walk.