Vision is a picture of where the leader wants the organization to be and how it will look in both the near and
distant future to fulfill the mission. As the company grows and changes, however, the vision may well change
along with it. Having achieved the milestones established by the vision statement, a leader must articulate the
following vision. Therefore, the mission answers the question, why do we exist? And the vision answers the
question, what should we become? These answers help fulfill the reason for the organization’s existence (those
above why). Thus, vision is an integral part of the organization’s mission. Leaders and their organizations can
expect to encounter much resistance, differences of opinion, and naysayers. In the moments of the strongest doubts
and most resistance, a resilient leader must remain focused on the purpose and the goal (mission and vision).
Determination helps a leader to rise above doubts and job-related fatigue. Determination is an important trait
that includes initiative, persistence, and drive (Northouse, 2013). Without these qualities, an organization’s
plans, strategies, and goals will remain little more than ideas but likely will not come to fruition. Motivation
is a great igniter, but determination is the fuel that will drive the organization to achieve its desired outcomes.
 The Hard Skills Quadrant. Hard skills represent technical skills, such as working with specific computer
software or the competencies of an electrician or an accountant. Hard skills can be taught. Typically, a person
learns a set of hard skills during his or her career path to leadership. Hard skills often are contrasted with soft
skills, which represent interpersonal competencies. Rather than explicitly acquiring soft skills, leaders tend to
gain them implicitly through cultivation and even mentoring by some other leader (see the Emotional
Intelligence part of the model). Ukrainians seem to favor hard skills in their leaders. Professionalism and skills
have been highlighted among the essential qualities of a leader in previous research (Kliuchnikov, 2014).
Desiring to grow professionally, most employees want to see their leaders as exemplary professionals in their
respective fields, even in highly nuanced ways (Kliuchnikov, 2014). This perception implies that the best
leader for a hospital may be the most qualified doctor or that the best school principal is always one of the best
teachers. While there may be some merit in this statement (indeed, a leader must understand the field in which
he or she is leading), technical knowledge does not count as much in leadership, as do conceptual and
interpersonal (soft) skills.
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Therefore, in the ACLRD Leader Model, the hard skills quadrant represents both technical and conceptual
skills, emphasizing the conceptual aspects of a leader’s responsibilities. Conceptual skills refer to the leader’s
ability to work with ideas. These skills are “central to creating a vision and strategic plan for an organization”
(Northouse, 2013: 46). The higher a leader’s position, the more important conceptual skills become. At the
same time, technical skills become less important. The third aspect of hard skills in our Leader Model is
management. Leadership and management expert Warren Bennis (1989) was well known for his conviction
that managers are the people who do things right and leaders are the people who do the right things. Notice
some of the subtle differences between the functions of management and leadership:
•
•
•
•
•
•

The manager administers; the leader innovates.
The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
The manager has his or her eye always on the financial bottom line; the leader’s eye is on future
opportunities.
 • The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. (p. 42)
While Bennis’s statement is true, it cannot be taken as an absolute. Strategy, values, and the “Big Picture” are
critically important. However, leaders need to maintain close contact with their subordinates and to understand
the particulars of the daily operations (to avoid setting unreasonable deadlines, failing to properly resource
operations, or requiring tasks that are technically impossible for the team). Sutton (2010) properly rephrased
Warren Bennis’ statement when he asserted, “To do the right thing, a leader needs to understand what it takes
to do things right, and to make sure they actually get done” (para. 11).
The Emotional Intelligence Quadrant. Emotional intelligence (often referred to as EQ) represents the
collection of emotional and social skills that shape how well we understand ourselves and express ourselves
to others. EQ also speaks to how we develop and maintain our relationships with others and how we handle
problems. Emotional intelligence falls into the category of “soft skills”, the value of which is now recognized
across all organizations, especially for leaders.
Perhaps no other aspect of emotional intelligence is more important than self-awareness. Self-awareness is
how people consciously know and understand their character, feelings, motives, and desires. Not only do they
have an awareness of themself, but they also gain awareness of how their feelings influence their logical
decision-making. And, of course, self-awareness also means that the individual acquires a sense of how their
words and deeds affect others. A considerable body of research suggests that when leaders are aware of self,
they build stronger relationships, communicate more effectively, and make better decisions. The development
of emotional intelligence increases occupational performance, leadership, and organizational productivity.
 Based on data from various sources, emotional intelligence has been conclusively shown to contribute to
profitability in any work organization positively. However, the more power a leader possesses, the greater the
tendency to overestimate skills and abilities, which is the antithesis of self-awareness. Other research studies
have demonstrated that leaders’ expert hard skills do not always help them root out false information, question
their assumptions, or do their homework. Experience and excellent hard skills sometimes lead to a false sense
of confidence about the leader’s abilities and, worse, may lead to overconfidence about how they view
awareness of themselves. Even though most leaders believe they are self-aware, the majority do not possess
well-developed self-awareness.
Empathy is the ability to have an awareness of other people's emotions and to be able to imagine what others
may be thinking or feeling. A common expression that reflects empathy is that it is “putting yourself in
someone else’s shoes”. An example of empathy is feeling similar excitement when a friend shares the good
news with you. Likewise, empathy is sharing genuine sadness when learning of a friend’s troubling news.
Displaying empathy involves acknowledging the other person’s feelings, good or bad, and then sharing how
one shares those feelings. An empathetic person may express appreciation that the other individual was willing
to share openly and transparently about their feelings. Empathy toward others means that leaders show interest
and offer encouragement and support. Award-winning poet Maya Angelou (Booth & Hachiya, 2004) once
wrote: “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will
never forget how you made them feel” (p. 14).
 ACLRD research identified humaneness as another highly valued trait of leaders. The concept of humaneness
is often also characterized as benevolence or goodwill. Regardless of which word is used, the terms all suggest
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a disposition to do good regarding others and show compassion and kindness to others' needs. Humaneness
has been embraced as a critically important virtue across most human societies, religions, philosophies and
cultures. The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said: “The humane man, desiring to be established himself,
seeks to establish others; desiring himself to succeed, he helps others to succeed. To judge others by what one
knows of oneself is the method of achieving humanity” (Fu, 1994: 41).
Responsibility. As highlighted in the findings, responsibility is the single most crucial aspect of good
leadership, as viewed in the Ukrainian culture. That is why our Leader Model encircles the four quadrants. It
explicitly suggests that leaders need to be responsible in and for all four quadrants. Exhibiting responsibility
implies a proactive stance by a leader. Steven Covey said it best when he wrote that responsibility has two
components: ability and response. Therefore, responsibility means demonstrating an ability to respond to any
given challenge in any given context. This Leader Model becomes an effective tool only when leaders take a
proactive stance in each quadrant by understanding that “the buck stops with them”. In other words, no excuses
will be made; the leader takes direct responsibility for matters rather than passing the responsibility on to
others.
 Applying the ACLRD Leader Model in Ukrainian Contexts. The question remains, “should we teach
penguins the ways of living in Africa?” In many respects, this may seem to be a rhetorical question, one to
which some business leaders may say, of course not. To others, this is a vital question that holds promise for
a better future. There is only one correct response to this question that offers the way forward to the possibility
of a sustainable, prosperous future: YES, not only should we learn new ways of leading organizations but in
this highly complex global economy of which we all are now a part, we also simply cannot ignore learning
these new ways if we want to be competitive and usher in the types of changes that Ukrainian society so
desperately need! The Leader Model we propose cannot be applied effectively using conventional ways of
thinking. Instead, those who oversee businesses, nonprofits, and every other type of organization must
transform the way they approach the world as it exists today. Albert Einstein warned that one could not use
outdated approaches to solve new and fundamentally different − problems (Jones et al., 2008). Corruption, the
lack of innovation, the inability to bring longevity to organizations − these and many other problems cannot
be solved with “the way we have always done things here”. Applying the ACLRD Leader Model to existing
mindsets and operating, currently reflected in Ukraine’s high-Power Distance, paternalistic culture with strong
nepotism ties that stem from collectivistic mentality, will simply not work. However, the model is based on
data collected in Ukraine. Without question, Ukrainians are demanding new ways of leading people.
 Employees and owners/managers alike realize that to succeed, they need both to exemplify and experience a
different type of working relationship, one that is best expressed through the Leader and Follower partnership.
This Leader Model does not promise immediate financial gain; instead, it provides a roadmap to creating
lasting and meaningful impact that ultimately will create a cultural context conducive to economic growth at
the individual, organizational, and national levels. Implementing the needed changes recommended by this
Model likely will not occur without some difficulties. One reason for that is that changing organizations is
considered difficult, irrespective of culture or nation. Fostering change in organizations is challenging to begin
and even harder to sustain. The potential rewards in long term sustainability make those difficulties
worthwhile.
Cultural shifts are challenging endeavors. By their very nature, they are disruptive. Yet, that is precisely the
point. Disruption is the path to positive change. To create disruptive change, leaders must think outside of
existing cultural paradigms while also working within them. Doing so requires effort, discipline, and resilience.
For those reasons, the Leader Model starts with character. Only through deep personal convictions are leaders
going to set and maintain a proper course toward creating new business realities and societal norms in Ukraine.
 By developing a mission, leaders will articulate how they envision the desired future and why it is essential to
stand by one’s principles. Hard skills allow leaders to become experts in their respective fields; however,
conceptual skills will shape leaders’ success and the success of their organizations. Leaders must develop the
relational solid skills and abilities necessary to work effectively with their workforce. After all, without
followers, there are no leaders! An excellent place to start with developing these skills is emotional
intelligence, which brings us back to one’s character. As leadership researchers Kouzes and Posner (2008)
often remind us, leadership is “an affair of the heart” (p. 136). One must care for people and at its core, this is
a character trait rather than a mere skill.
The ACLRD Leader Model serves as a change catalyst for Ukrainian organizations. To shed the practices that
have long helped hold it back from being a thriving and prospering nation, the time has come for those in
charge of Ukrainian organizations to move past being начальники (Ukrainian word for “chief” or “boss”) and
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to grow into being true leaders. Ukrainian society deserves nothing less. At the Analytical Center for
Leadership Research and Development (ACLRD), we invite you to join a dialogue with us as to what that
might look like for your organization. ACLRD provides further research and training in the practical
applications of this model for organizations of all types.
 Author Contributions: Conceptualization: Michael Linville, Artem Kliuchnikov; data curation: Artem
Kliuchnikov; formal analysis: Michael Linville, Artem Kliuchnikov; investigation: Artem Kliuchnikov;
methodology: Michael Linville, Artem Kliuchnikov; project administration: Michael Linville; resources:
Michael Linville; software: Artem Kliuchnikov; supervision: Michael Linville; validation: Michael Linville,
Artem Kliuchnikov; visualization: Michael Linville, Artem Kliuchnikov; writing - original draft: Michael
Linville, Artem Kliuchnikov; writing - review & editing: Michael Linville, Artem Kliuchnikov.
Funding. There is no funding for this research.
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