So what do we mean by BOLD?
OUR DEFINITION
A BOLD leader is someone who thinks and acts beyond the existing organizational limits, is imaginative, and is willing to take risks to get rewarding results
BOLD is also an acronym! In the book you will find a chapter dedicated to describing each of these behaviors:
B – Believe: These leaders are laser-focused on their goals, they believe in their personal and team abilities to achieve them, and they never retreat even when everything doesn’t go according to plan.
O – Open: Being open does not mean being indecisive or passive. Quite the opposite: These leaders take in information to expand possibilities. Only then are they fully ready to carry the mantle of the decision responsibility.
L – Learn: Learners quest for more and new information and skill-building they can apply to the transformation challenges they and their teams face.
D – Do: Doers imagine the future, pursue creative ideas, enroll others, and generally just get things done! These leaders are happy to test and be tested. They will shape, learn, refine, inform, and pursue next steps until the vision is successfully completed.
These behaviors sit atop a set of characteristics BOLD leaders are born with and develop with experience. It is the presence of all 4 of these characteristics that make up a BOLD leader:
Curiosity
BOLD leaders are those who are motivated by their innate curiosity to tackle new and intractable problems.
Confidence
BOLD leaders are confident in their ability to find the solution that works for both their customers and organizations.
Empathy
BOLD leaders are empathetic to their customers and to the strengths and weaknesses of their customers and colleagues.
Trust
BOLD leaders work hard to be the trusted leader the organization will follow.
Who are BOLD Leaders?
After completing over 100 interviews, we knew we were seeing patterns emerge in these “rare” BOLD leaders who were essential for transformative change. But we also felt we needed a testable methodology for identifying them.
We conducted extensive research and reviewed already qualified tests that can validate the presence of these characteristics in an individual. After many rounds of debate, research, and review, we know today we have the tools an organization needs to identify BOLD leaders. For those really interested, a more complete description of this methodology can be found here.
Are you a BOLD leader? Take our proprietary assessment: