Who would you rather follow? A gray haired veteran who has two kids in college or a recently promoted 30 year old former cheerleader? To me, neither of these descriptions gives me enough information.

I have seen both types lead well and both types act like spoiled adolescents. The differentiator between leaders is often maturity. Maturity is not measured by age or experience. Maturity is measured by behaviors.

Grumpy man

My goal here is not to put together an academic argument about the definition of maturity. My goal is to compare and contrast the behaviors of the mature leader versus the immature leader.

The veteran may have experience and the 30 year old may have a lot of energy. But, neither of those things necessarily describes what a mature leader looks like.

The best way to define someone is by analyzing how he or she behaves.

Immature Leaders Versus Mature Leaders

I have been both of these leaders at one time or another.  Sometimes in the same week!  See if you can pick yourself out among these ten examples of maturity versus immaturity.

Leader #1

Immature Leader: Is concerned the people below him want his job.

Mature Leader: Develops the people below her to someday do her job.

Leader #2

Immature Leader: Distrusts her subordinates and carefully monitors the smallest details of everyone’s work.

Mature Leader: Trusts, but verifies the completion and quality of an individual’s work. If someone proves untrustworthy, then he becomes closely involved in the details of that individual’s work.

Leader #3

Immature Leader: Half-heartedly implements a strategy because it was not the one he argued for.

Mature Leader: Gets behind a strategy that was not her favorite and implements it like it was her idea.

Leader #4

Immature Leader: Blames the team if they leave a meeting and the majority does not implement the tactics she laid out.

Mature Leader: Knows that if the majority got it wrong, he is to blame as the communicator and is responsible as the leader.

Leader #5

Immature Leader: Repeatedly gives “another chance” to someone who has proven to be unwilling to change their behavior.

Mature Leader: Believes in second chances, but does not enable someone who proves unwilling to change their behaviors. After insuring she has done everything she needed to coach the employee, she decisively ends the person’s employment.

Leader #6

Immature Leader: Has too much to drink at the bar with his subordinates.

Mature Leader: Shows up and socializes with subordinates for a short and defined period of time and then excuses herself.

Leader #7

Immature Leader: Allows people on her team to blame other departments for missing their goals.

Mature Leader: Allows his team members to vent, but will not allow continued complaining. He expects them to take ownership of their performance and offer solutions for improvement.

Leader #8

Immature Leader: Believes he does not need to learn any new ideas because he has already read a lot of books or gone to a lot of seminars.

Mature Leader: Knows she has never “arrived” as a leader and actively seeks out growth opportunities.

Leader #9

Immature Leader: Believes a newly promoted leader should not be offering ideas in meetings until they have more experience.

Mature Leader: Realizes the newly promoted leader could be the breath of fresh air that breaks the mold and spurs on innovation precisely because they do not have the experience.

Leader #10

Immature Leader: Leaves a new employee to learn their job on their own because that is how he had to learn it.

Mature Leader: Lays out specific expectations, coaches and models critical tasks for the new employee because she knows the faster they get up to speed the better her team will perform.

The Bottom Line:

When I reread this list of behaviors, it is apparent that either the gray haired veteran or the 30 year old cheerleader can be a mature or an immature leader.

The differentiating factors are often humility, wisdom, and courage.

The mature leader has:

  • The humility to know leadership is not about him.
  • The wisdom to realize she has a lot to learn and actively pursues growth.
  • The courage to step up, speak up and change when necessary.

The old saying: “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” is true when we look at the gray haired veteran or the 30 year old cheerleader.

When we are evaluating people, it is a person’s behaviors that best illustrate whether he or she is a mature leader or an immature leader.  Their behaviors are the best indicator of who they are inside.  It’s what is inside the book that counts.

Question:

What is another mark of leadership maturity or immaturity you would add to this list?