In leadership roles main tasks and key activities shift from operational work towards leading and coordinating team members. Hereby a successful leadership ensures that all interests of the direct reports, the manager and the company are considered with regards to the targeted team-, department-, business area- or corporate objectives. Therefore a manager has to be aware of the individual personalities of his or her team members, accept their diversity and will make use of their individual capabilities, talents and interests within the whole team as far as possible within the given organizational setting.

In parallel an effective leader needs to know and lead himself/ herself to motivate others successfully and to move a team towards a joint target. Thus a fundamental knowledge about the own (leadership) personality, own strengths and areas of development, own drivers of motivation and future vision as well as a high degree of reflectivity is essential. Additionally the relationship between a manager and direct reports is of crucial relevance for success – shapening this relationship in a positive and personal way represents one of the core tasks of every executive, especially in the digital age which requires to "lead over distance" quite frequently.