The effectiveness and popularity of leaders can be ascribed to a myriad of qualities and styles. In three studies, we attempt to distill them into three key affordance aspects (exerting influence, inflicting costs, and generating benefits) and examine their antecedents, consequences, and conceptual connections. A preliminary list of items for the Leadership Quality Inventory (LQI) was developed in Study 1, based on three types of data: expert input, multidimensional pilot ratings, and an exploratory factor analysis using a separate sample (Total N = 403). Studies 2 and 3 (Ns = 510 and 248) served as validation of the LQI measure. Study 2 generated leadership profiles on other-ratings using Latent Profile Analysis and examined their relations to a wide range of established measures of leadership styles and leader-follower dynamics (e.g., tendencies of followers to seek advice or blindly follow a specific type of leader). Study 3 ascertained the longitudinal stability and shifts in self-reported leader qualities using a two-wave survey. Additionally, we examined the links of these leader quality profiles to factors such as gender, age, leadership position, and organizational types in both studies. Three distinct leader quality profiles consistently emerged in these studies, labelled low-standing (low in general status, cost-infliction, and benefit-generation), prestigious (high in general status and benefit-generation but low in cost-infliction), and mixed-strategy (high in all three aspects). The results supported the distinctiveness and organizational implications of the three leadership profiles. Finally, Study 3 provided preliminary evidence for the short-term measurement invariance of leadership profiles and external factors (e.g., uncertainty in organizational environment) predicting profile transitions. We discuss how the findings support the compensatory account of negative and positive affordances and inform organizational management.