There is a world of difference between the personality traits and behaviors it takes to be chosen as a leader and the traits and skills you need to be able to lead effectively.

Finally, good leadership requires psychological capital, that is, how individuals will lead and whether they will make use of their capabilities.

Dark side traits can be divided into three groups. The first group is the distancing traits—obvious turnoffs that push leaders away from other people. Being highly excitable and moody has this effect, for instance; or having a deeply skeptical, cynical outlook, which makes it hard to build trust. Another example is leisurely passive-aggressiveness—pretending to have a relaxed, polite attitude while actually resisting cooperation or even engaging in backstabbing.

The second group of traits has, in contrast, seductive qualities; they are geared to draw people in. These traits are often found in assertive, charismatic leaders, who gather followers or gain influence with bosses through their ability to manage up. Narcissism and psychopathy are in this group.

The third group contains ingratiating traits, which can have a positive connotation in followers but rarely do in leaders. Someone who is diligent, for instance, may try to impress the boss with meticulous attention to detail, but this attention can also translate into preoccupation with petty matters or micromanagement of the person’s own direct reports. Someone who is dutiful and eager to please those in authority can easily become too submissive.

Summing up, if someone has the right intellectual capital, social capital, and psychological capital, they will have more potential to be a good leader. But it’s not guaranteed.

To improve the quality of leadership, then, we cannot simply focus on merit. We need to be clearer about the leadership qualities we are looking for: emotional intelligence, intellectual capital, social capital, and psychological capital.