The Core Leadership Skills You

Need in Every Role

These are the 4 fundamental leadership skills needed by leaders at every
organization, regardless of role, industry, or location: self-awareness,
communication, influence, and learning agility.
Published July 30, 2024

Leaders at different levels of an organization face different challenges. But whether you’re an
individual contributor, a frontline manager, a mid-level leader, a senior executive, or somewhere in
between, there are 4 core leadership skills you need to focus on as you grow in your career.

These are the timeless, fundamental skills that are needed by leaders throughout every organization
— and they’re important regardless of role, industry, or location.

But the way you address each core leadership skill, and what you need to learn or emphasize around
it, will shift and change as you move into higher levels in the organizational hierarchy and encounter
new leadership challenges.

So what exactly are these foundational leadership skills? While there may not be a single definitive
list of core leadership skills, at CCL, we call the core leadership skills needed in every role and career

1 The Core Leadership Skills You Need in Every Role © Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.
 “The Fundamental 4.”

The Fundamental Leadership Skills Needed in

Every Career
The “Fundamental 4” Leadership Skills
At CCL, we see the 4 core leadership skills as:

1. Self-Awareness
2. Communication
3. Influence
4. Learning Agility

1. Self-Awareness.
Simply put, knowing and leading yourself is key to becoming as effective as possible at
leading others. But gaining greater self-awareness is anything but simple. It takes intentional effort
to assess your natural abilities and development opportunities; determine how to maximize your
strengths and compensate for your weaknesses; and recognize your own values, biases, and
perspectives.

Taking the time to reflect on these things and consider how you’ve been shaped by your background
and social identity builds greater self-awareness. And ultimately, greater awareness about yourself
as a person will make you a better leader. If you’re not sure where to start, here are 4 sure-fire ways
to boost your self-awareness.

2. Communication.
Communication is one of the most basic, across-the-board leadership skills that all of us
need to develop and refine during our careers. “Communicating information and ideas” is
consistently rated among the most important leadership competencies for leaders to be successful.

2 The Core Leadership Skills You Need in Every Role © Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.
 Communication is also embedded in a number of other core leadership skills, including “leading
employees,” “participative management,” and “building and mending relationships.”

Writing clearly, speaking with clarity, and active listening skills are all part of the core leader
competencies related to effective communication. And as you move up the career ladder,
communication in leadership roles expands to behaviors such as encouraging discussion, building
trust, conveying vision and strategic intent, and pulling people along with you. At every leader level,
communication is a critically important skill.

3. Influence.
Developing your influencing and leadership skills helps you to communicate your vision
and goals, align the efforts of others, and build commitment from people at all levels.

Influence can vary greatly at different levels in the organization. Knowing your stakeholders, or
audience, is key. Do you need to influence your boss? Your peers? Direct reports? Customers? Each
stakeholder has special concerns and issues, so consider the most appropriate ways of influencing
others for your particular situation.

Early in your career, or in individual contributor roles, influence is about working effectively with
people over whom you have no authority. It requires being able to present logical and compelling
arguments and engaging in give-and-take. Later on, or in more senior-level or executive roles,
influential leadership skills are focused more on steering long-range objectives, inspiration, and
motivation. But throughout your career, influence remains a core leadership skill. Ultimately,
influence allows you to get to the business of getting things done and achieving desirable
outcomes.

4. Learning Agility.
To develop as leaders and as people, we need to be active, agile learners. Leaders need to be
in a mode of constant learning, valuing and seeking out experiences to fuel leadership
development, and recognizing when new behaviors, leadership skills, or attitudes are required —
and accepting responsibility for developing those.

Learning agility is critical for career longevity, and it involves learning from mistakes, asking
insightful questions, and being open to feedback. It also includes learning new skills quickly, being
open to learning from hardships and taking advantage of opportunities to learn from heat
experiences, and responding well to new situations.

For senior leaders, learning agility is also about inspiring learning in others and creating a learning
culture throughout the organization.

How to Grow the Core Leadership Skills

Developing Foundational Leadership Skills to Prepare for Every
Role

3 The Core Leadership Skills You Need in Every Role © Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.
 If you’re thinking about adding the Fundamental 4 to your leadership skills list, keep in mind that
each skill should be continuously improved, or “built on as you go.” To be effective, you must
continue to develop, adapt, and strengthen these core leadership skills throughout your career —
because the learning never ends. As you gain leadership skills in one area, you’ll find there’s even
more to learn and practice in taking on new challenges and larger roles.

And if you think you’ve “skipped over” any of the Fundamental 4 core leadership skills during your
career, you won’t be as effective, or fully develop your leadership potential. The good news is that,
with concerted effort, you can still develop any skills you missed out on; it’s never too late for soft
skill development!

If you can identify any leadership gaps or weaknesses in your leadership journey, you have the
potential to learn, grow, and change. With the foundational leadership competencies of self-
awareness, communication, influence, and learning agility as the core of your leadership skills
development, you can be confident that you’re building capacity for new opportunities and the next
level of responsibility — because these 4 are core leadership skills needed for everyone, and every
career stage.

BASED ON RESEARCH BY

George Hallenbeck, PhD

Global Content Lead
George oversees the creation of research-based content for our program and
product solutions. He’s a recognized expert in the area of learning agility and
has been engaged in research, product development, and client activities
related to the topic for over 15 years. He has authored or co-authored 8
books, including Compass: Your Guide for Leadership Development and
Coaching and Learning Agility: Unlock the Lessons of Experience.

About CCL
At the Center for Creative Leadership, our drive to create a ripple effect of
positive change underpins everything we do. For 50+ years, we've
pioneered leadership development solutions for leaders at every level, from
community leaders to CEOs. Consistently ranked among the top global
providers of executive education, our research-based programs and
solutions inspire individuals at every level in organizations across the world
— including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — to ignite remarkable
transformations.

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4 The Core Leadership Skills You Need in Every Role © Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.