--- title: "Social Leadership Survey: Social Media Drives New Forms of Leadership" id: "13897" type: "post" slug: "social-leadership-survey-social-media-drives-new-forms-of-leadership" published_at: "2012-10-17T19:18:21+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-15T18:59:18+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/10/17/social-leadership-survey-social-media-drives-new-forms-of-leadership/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/10/17/social-leadership-survey-social-media-drives-new-forms-of-leadership.md" excerpt: "Leadership in the age of social media is not about the tools, according to results from the Social Leadership Survey presented this week." taxonomy_category: - "Executive Leadership" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Leadership" - "Organizational Culture" - "Social Media" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Executive Leadership" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Social Leadership Survey: Social Media Drives New Forms of Leadership If you’ve ever spent some time on Twitter, you know how much people on Twitter love to talk *about* Twitter. It goes like that on a lot of social media platforms. So it would be easy to think that the most important aspect of the social media revolution is the tools and the technology. A recent survey of social media professionals, however, would suggest otherwise. Asked to identify their most desirable traits in a leader, respondents placed “participates on social media in his/her own voice” surprisingly low compared to a selection of broader leadership traits. Maddie Grant, CAE, and Jamie Notter, authors of [Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World (opens in a new tab)](http://www.humanizebook.com/) , presented results of their *[2012 Social Leadership Survey (opens in a new tab)](http://www.humanizebook.com/leadershipsurvey/)* to a gathering of association and nonprofit professionals Tuesday evening in Washington, DC. Source: 2012 Social Leadership Survey, conducted by Maddie Grant, CAE, and Jamie Notter > Social media pros place more importance on seeing leaders embrace the underlying principles of social media than using the tools themselves. Notter, vice president of the consulting division at Management Solutions Plus, illustrated an interesting contrast in social media professionals’ beliefs about leadership in the Web 2.0 era. Consider: 84 percent of the 505 respondents to the survey said they believe that a leader’s involvement in social media gives a company a competitive edge, and 44 percent of them said they were “concerned” about their leaders’ lack of involvement in social media. So, clearly this was an audience that believes in the power of social media. Yet, when asked to rank leadership traits, use of social media tools still ranked low. What gives? Notter said he believes social media pros place more importance on seeing leaders embrace the underlying principles of social media than using the tools themselves. And those principles are the basis of a new style of leadership. “The leadership traits that they are identifying as important are different than the traditional leadership traits identified in the past,” he said. In the ranking of leadership traits, Notter explained that four of the top five are attributes of “social leadership,” which align with the principles he and Grant identify in *Humanize*: - Embraces change - Transparent, shares information freely - Values experimentation and even failure - Open to diverse perspectives (For a good intro to the concepts in *Humanize*, see Notter’s article, “[How Your Association Can Be More Human and Less Machine (opens in a new tab)](http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/ANowDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=135895) ,” from the September/October 2011 issue of *Associations Now*.) Notter said the views on leadership among social media professionals suggest that social media’s effect on the future of organizations will be deeper than simple changes in technology. “They want this stuff to be making a bigger impact in their organizations than, ‘Oh, it just helped marketing,’” he said. (TMG archive photo) [Joe Rominiecki](https://associationsnow.com/author/joe-rominiecki/) Joe Rominiecki is a contributing editor to Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/joe-rominiecki/) Tags: [#Leadership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/leadership/) [#Organizational Culture](https://associationsnow.com/tag/organizational-culture/) [#Social Media](https://associationsnow.com/tag/social-media/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [VideoAmerican Geophysical Union: Standing Up for Science: AGU’s Year of Action for Scientists and SocietySeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/american-geophysical-union-standing-up-for-science-agus-year-of-action-for-scientists-and-society/) - [VideoInt. Society for the Study of Xenobiotics: ISSX Africa: Transforming Science, Connecting WorldsSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/int-society-for-the-study-of-xenobiotics-issx-africa-transforming-science-connecting-worlds/) - [VideoAssociation for Financial Counseling and Planning EducationSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/association-for-financial-counseling-and-planning-education/) - [VideoExploring New Frontiers: Leadership, Resilience and the Future of SpaceflightAugust 27, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/08/27/exploring-new-frontiers-leadership-resilience-and-the-future-of-spaceflight/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2012%2F10%2F17%2Fsocial-leadership-survey-social-media-drives-new-forms-of-leadership%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !