Great leaders share 3 rare behaviors. Most bosses skip all of them

Businesses still spend billions each year on management training programs, but here we are in 2025—with a growing leadership gap and executives scrambling for answers.

And if I can get honest for a moment: We’re still approaching the problem backward.

Senior leaders keep promoting high-performing individual contributors into leadership roles and expecting them to figure it out on the fly. Many don’t have the time, support, or temperament to lead people well. Then we’re surprised when the results are uneven or the team burns out.

Before companies invest in another round of training, they need to start with a more fundamental question: Are we choosing the right people to lead? And more important, are we modeling the leadership behaviors we want them to learn?

Start with what actually works: Model servant leadership

Leadership boils down to people, trust, and relationships. And the simple truth is still the same today: Great leaders lead by serving. They focus on what their people need to succeed—clarity, coaching, safety, and support—not on protecting their own ego or authority.

For readers familiar with my coaching work and the book I authored earlier this year, you know I’ve been beating this drum for years: Servant leadership has moved from a niche, values-driven concept to the core operating philosophy of many of the world’s most admired and profitable companies.

After over two decades of developing leaders, I’ve seen a consistent pattern: The best leaders genuinely want their people to thrive. They’re willing to put the team’s needs first, share credit freely, and take responsibility when things go sideways.

They grow people rather than simply manage tasks. And that kind of growth—personal, professional, relational—is what builds resilient teams.

Whether you lead 3 people or 3,000, these behaviors will elevate your impact and build trust faster than any leadership playbook.

1. Build trust through real, intentional caring

Strong leaders show interest in people’s work, their goals, and their long-term direction. They’re curious about what motivates each person and intentional about creating opportunities that stretch their skills.

This isn’t “soft.” It’s emotional engagement—and it’s one of the biggest drivers of performance and retention.

Think about it: When leaders support their people through promotions and pay raises (first and foremost), internal moves, stretch assignments, or removing obstacles from their path, it sends a powerful message—you matter. As the (often-attributed) John C. Maxwell quote goes, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

When employees feel their leaders genuinely care, confidence rises, performance follows, and career paths become healthier and more aligned with their strengths.

2. Use empathy to connect with others and drive results

In 2018, Global training powerhouse Development Dimensions International (DDI) assessed 15,000-plus leaders across 20 industries and found empathy to be the strongest predictor of overall performance—especially the ability to listen and respond with empathy.

That hasn’t changed. If anything, the modern workplace—with hybrid teams, rising burnout, AI, and constant change—has made empathy even more essential.

But empathy isn’t a strategy you perform and it doesn’t come from a to-do list. It shows up in how you listen, how you check in, and how you respond to someone’s reality—even when their experience is different from your own.

Empathic leaders don’t just hear what people say; they understand the context, emotions, and challenges behind it. That perspective creates psychological safety, and safety unlocks creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.

3. Be radically transparent

A transparent culture builds trust and fosters collaboration. When people feel safe voicing their thoughts, it deepens engagement and creates a more resilient, trustworthy team dynamic. Tip: Encourage employees to ask any question—yes, even the hard ones.

People also don’t stress around transparent leaders and teamwork isn’t undermined, because information is shared openly to let everyone know what’s going on at all times. Going a step further, studies prove that organizations that share privileged information with their employees—typically reserved for the ivory tower in command-and-control power structures—reduce uncertainty and alleviate stress about where they are headed and why. One example of openness, perhaps a bit extreme for most companies, is social media optimization company Buffer. It goes so far as to post its formula for salaries online for everyone to see, including the compensation of CEO Joel Gascoigne.

Bringing it home

No leadership framework works without spending real time with your people. Learn who they are, what energizes them, and what blocks them. Understand their strengths, their motivations, their values, and their blind spots.

So here’s a question worth asking yourself today:
How well do you really know the people you lead?

If you want to advance your leadership impact, start by serving. Learn what matters to your team. Shape roles that offer meaning and purpose. Use their strengths wisely. And champion their growth—even if that growth eventually takes them to a new team or a new company.

When you invest in people this way, you don’t just build stronger teams. You build a healthier culture, a deeper bench of future leaders, and long-term success for everyone involved.

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—Marcel Schwantes

This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc.

Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.

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