A recent National Bureau of Economic Research study shows that when workers are treated as partners by their bosses, their satisfaction is equivalent to doubling their income.

A fundamental shift is taking place in the workplace, with leaders working as partner-bosses rather than heavy-handedly dominating and controlling their employees.

As reported in the Washington Post, the study shows that “people with boss-supervisors exhibit a much more significant drop in life satisfaction between their early 20s and mid-40s” as opposed to people working with partner-bosses. 

Forgive me, and I don’t mean to sound superior, but for me partner leadership has come naturally as I’ve worked over several decades with interns, reporters, and creative teams. Perhaps because I hailed from the ranks of working reporters, I remembered the best ways bosses motivated me – and the bosses who never tried.

Once I was promoted to editor positions, I endeavored to see the value in everyone, mentor their opportunities for career growth, and insulate them from office politics so they could perform at the highest levels. I strived to form personal connections so that I functioned as a working leader rather than an absentee one. As much as possible, I wanted my direct reports to work independently and make their own decisions.

By attempting to improve employees’ lives, partner-bosses are the most successful motivational and inspirational leaders.

In contrast, I’ve worked for several nightmare bosses during my career who have squelched creativity, seized control as micro-managers, offered murky or little guidance and feedback, and showed no regard for their employees’ career growth or job satisfaction.

Their lack of support and selfish rather than servant leadership affected not only me but every staff member. Work satisfaction was non-existent and employee morale plummeted, yet our bosses were rewarded with bigger salaries, fancy offices, and other perks.

In some workplaces, the top leadership employs fear as a supervisory tactic. In others, the disconnect between leadership and workers is profound.

But in the best, most productive and happiest workplaces, partners – supervisors and employees alike – work together toward a focused common goal. Partner-bosses set a high bar for themselves as they strive for productivity and excellence while concentrating on improving the lives of their employees and helping them feel a part of the company’s success.

At the newspaper where I landed my first job, the best writers were plucked from the newsroom and promoted to editors.

And while some of them were inspiring and talented, there was little understanding that a good writer doesn’t always make the best leader.

What does being a leader mean? How can you gain leadership skills to prepare for future success?

Leadership – like every valuable skill – is something you develop over time. In a recent Inc. magazine column, best-selling author Jacob Morgan notes that the best leaders are not always at the top of the organization chart. “It relies on your ability to influence and engage other people,” he says.

Jacobs says aspiring leaders need to concentrate in four areas: Self-reflection, balance, true self-confidence, and genuine humility. I would add that service on a professional board, such as the Public Relations Society of America or the International Association of Business Communicators, is a good way to dip a toe into leadership waters.

Self-reflection
I agree with Jacobs that daily self-reflection can help set the foundation for strong leadership. Mindfulness meditation may be all the rage right now, but there’s a reason it’s so popular – taking stock of your behavior and discovering your true values are powerful tools for future success.

Balance
Good leaders listen to lots of opinions from different sources, but they always take responsibility and act quickly and decisively. If you weigh informed opinions and issue a verdict, you will strike a balance as a thoughtful leader.

True self-confidence
Jacobs says leaders who are truly self-confident know where they stand and improve themselves every day. If you can say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I was wrong,’ that’s a sign you have true self-confidence.

Genuine humility
Even if you reach a great milestone in your career, never forget everyone who helped you reach your goals. Most of us started working in our chosen profession on the ground floor, and it was key mentors and colleagues who helped nurture our best qualities and chief capabilities.

Engagement with colleagues
This year I was flattered to be asked to serve as president of the Orange County chapter of IABC, the International Association of Business Communicators. One of the many reasons I joined the chapter is to hone my leadership skills while rubbing shoulders with leading local communicators.

I realized right away that the position requires a lot of good leaders – not just one – to be successful. I am fortunate to work with a board comprised of dedicated people who want success for our association and the communicators it serves.

Through IABC/OC I’ve learned strategic leadership skills while contributing to an impressive and far-reaching international organization. I’ve been able to share some of my own talents with colleagues in a variety of communications fields.

I try to remember what Jacobs notes in his Inc. story: You must constantly evaluate your progress and ensure you are staying on the humble, balanced path to be an effective leader.

Human resources professionals once relied solely on an individual’s resume and cover letter to ‘sell’ them on a prospective new employee. Today, HR pros study a prospect’s social media profile, examine testimonial statements on Linked In, and double-check samples, blogs and references.

Besides seeking out the best-qualified candidates for final interviews based on an applicant’s first interview and experience, a growing number of people who make new hires are looking for something special that positions prospects for success: Emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence – the mark of a sensible individual equipped with mental toughness – increasingly tops the list of qualities HR seeks in applicants, whether they are brand-new, entry-level employees or potential senior occupants of the C-suite.

In an Entrepreneur magazine story, “15 Habits of Mentally Tough People,” author Travis Bradberry says people with emotional intelligence are strong, clear-thinking visionaries who take decisive action when faced with critical work issues.

“The ability to break the mold and take a bold new direction requires that extra grit, daring, and spunk that only the mentally toughest people have,” Bradberry writes. Bradberry, in fact, literally wrote the book on the subject; he co-authored the best-selling business book, “Emotional Intelligence 2.0.”

“Unlike your IQ, which is fixed, your [emotional intelligence] EQ is a flexible skill that you can improve with understanding and effort,” Bradberry writes in the magazine article. “It’s no wonder that 90-percent of top performers have high EQs and people with high EQs earn $28,000 more annually (on average) than their low-EQ counterparts.”

How Does One Develop Emotional Intelligence?
* Embrace opportunities to shine by volunteering for demanding, high-profile projects that require focus and thought.
* Act with poise and thoughtfulness with your company’s best interests in mind.
* Take measured, responsible risks to further your company’s goals. Overcoming risk allows you to make a name for yourself as a bold leader.
* Accept change, because with change comes new opportunities.
* Say no to hyper-extending yourself – focus on work-life balance. Take care of your physical and mental health so you bring your best to the workplace.
* Acknowledge failure, but don’t let one-time disappointments keep you down.
* Be a successful team player. Recognize other team members’ successes with a full heart and back up fellow teammates when the chips are down.
* Be quick to admit when you’re wrong. Offer sincere apologies and suggest ways to move forward.
* Don’t worry about things you can’t control. Focus your energy on directing the two things that are completely in your power – your attention and effort.

Professionals can develop deeper emotional intelligence as their careers progress. Still, even those new to the workplace can exhibit mental toughness as they seek to live their employers’ missions, set intrepid personal goals, and take on challenging new projects every day.

Ever wonder how effective leaders rise above day-to-day challenges to lead with inspiration?

Volumes of self-help books offer advice about the strategic skills good leaders must develop. But what makes a visionary leader, the person everyone willingly follows? Isn’t it an intangible ‘something’ they exude more than the average individual?

Perhaps; yet the best and worst bosses are memorable for the same reason: They communicate priorities, set a professional tone, and respect and encourage everyone in the workplace.

I can’t count the supervisors I’ve had in my many years in journalism, public relations and higher education. My best bosses mentored, challenged and praised me when I succeeded; they advised me on ways to overcome my weaknesses and encouraged my professional development. They involved me in decision-making, asked for my advice and opinions, and valued team members’ individual talents.

The worst bosses were poor leaders, plagued by indecision, pride, insecurity, anger issues and poor communications skills. They were closed-mouthed about their plans, averse to confrontation, and more concerned about their own success than the success of the institution or even their own team.

Teri Carstensen, president of bank solutions for Fiserv, embodies the best qualities of a boss; that may be because she rose from bank teller to CEO by developing ingenious business solutions that have benefited her and the company.

Leadership “is one of my favorite topics,” Carstensen said in a September SmartBrief leadership newsletter article by James DaSilva. She loves engaging with younger people early in their careers, especially enjoying “the mentoring and coaching aspect of what I do.”

I daresay she employs the principles of values-based leadership espoused by management professor and best-selling author Harry Kraemer: To put yourself in position to be a successful leader, you must first put yourself in the right mindset. In fact, leadership doesn't depend on your job title or where you fall in your company's organization chart; it relies on your ability to influence and engage other people, noted author Jacob Morgan in a recent Inc. story.

To learn to be a values-based leader, Kraemer suggests four principles:

• Self-reflection. Know your values, what you stand for, your purpose, and your vision for the leader you want to be. Daily self-reflection can help you improve.
• Balance. Good leaders don't try to be right; they try to do the right thing. Don't be afraid to get opinions from other people and to ask for help and guidance when necessary.
• Self-confidence. True self-confidence is accepting you who are and owning your skills and your flaws. Leaders who are truly self-confident know where they stand and work to improve themselves every day.
• Humility. This goes hand in hand with self-confidence. Even if you have reached a great milestone in your career, don't forget where you came from and everyone who helped you reach your goals. Creating connections with people who are on the way up the ladder can be hugely beneficial in becoming a successful leader.

Mastering these will make you a memorable, fair and conscientious leader – but you can’t stop there. You must constantly evaluate your progress to ensure you stay on the humble, balanced path to be a leader that’s remembered for not just what you do, but who you are.

We’ve all had bosses who make obvious snap judgments, rapid decisions and reach knee-jerk conclusions. Their fast talk is sometimes interpreted as sophisticated wisdom – or it could mean just the opposite.

Quick-fire decision-making, in fact, does not inspire confidence in a leader’s ability to provide stable, strategic solutions for the long haul, one business expert notes.

In fact, writes Mark Chussil in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review, the willingness to slow down and carefully consider all options is what separates good decision-makers from bad ones.

Chussil, founder and CEO of Advanced Competitive Strategies Inc., advises Fortune 500 companies on strategic thinking. “There’s a difference between someone who’s unsure after serious contemplation and someone who’s unsure after a quick pick… between someone who’s confident after laboring over a thoughtful decision and someone who’s confident with a snap judgment.”

In a recent experiment Chussil found that respondents with doubts who took their time in reaching conclusions were the best-performing group. This group tended to be younger and the majority of them were female.

Perhaps, he thinks, age is the reason – we gain confidence over time but maybe not skill. Maybe males have too much confidence and females not enough. In any case, the slow-to-decide group was most successful.

Other groups discovered that what they thought was the answer simply would not work. “It’s not that the managers didn’t care or were incompetent,” Chussil says. “It’s that they were overconfident. When you think you know the answer, you sincerely believe it’s a waste of time to keep looking for it. It feels like continuing to search for your keys after you’ve found them.”

The ability to go beyond the tried-and-true requires extra grit, daring and spunk that only the mentally toughest people have, notes Travis Bradberry in “15 Habits of Mentally Tough People.” In coming to conclusions at a strategic pace, mentally tough people exhibit true confidence as opposed to the bombastic false confidence some leaders use to mask their doubts.

So how do prospective leaders and new managers cultivate the intellectual fortitude necessary to reach the right decisions?

Bradberry notes that mentally tough people embrace change and are constantly adapting, capitalizing on the opportunities that change creates without fear of failure. Willing to take risks, they are supremely self-aware and embrace failures without obsessing about loss.

Extraordinary leaders rarely waste energy on jealousy and take other people’s opinions with a grain of salt. They let go of grudges and remain relentlessly positive.

Their ‘not-so-fast’ approach to decision-making prompts ‘what if?’ queries and encourages strategic thinking, Chussil says. Methodical reasoning, then, is what separates the good decision-makers from the bad.