Clay LinkousCo-founder, Linkous Solutions · International Speaker, Executive Coach, and Facilitator / Champion of Physicians, Leadership, the Human Experience, SDOH, Vulnerable Populations, & Neurodiversity.

Effective Leaders: The Secret Blend of Nice & Tough #shorts

6 Sept 2026 · 0 min

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0:26

In this short video, Clay Linkous cites research by Zinger Falkman that examined which leaders are most effective. The study found that the top-performing leaders excel not only at delivering results but also at building great cultures, fostering engaging workplaces, and retaining talent. Crucially, these leaders are neither solely "nice" nor solely "tough"; they succeed by mastering a blend of both approaches, combining empathy with firmness to achieve superior outcomes.

Zinger Falkman did some research and what they were looking at was which leaders were actually most effective. Most effective not only at getting results but most effective at creating great cultures, creating great places to work, most effective at driving engagement of team members, retention. And what they realized, what they came to conclusion was, is that it wasn't the nice leaders and it wasn't the tough leaders. It was the ones who actually figured out how to be both.