What is makes a great leader

Understanding the problems of your followers and feeling their pain is the first step to become an effective leader. Even that is not enough until you work hard and provide your followers with the suitable solution to their problems. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. You might have heard this adage many times, but did you know that great leaders also follow this rule.

They are resilient and have a positive attitude. Irrespective of how difficult the circumstances might be, you will find them rallying their followers. While most people are busy in complaining about the problems, great leaders always focus on solutions, not the problems. Good leaders always have higher influence but how do they increase their influence on the point where people accept what they say.

They do this by connecting with people emotionally. That is where emotional intelligence comes into play. With emotional intelligence, leaders can control their emotions, which prevents negative emotions from influencing their decision-making skills. As a result, they are less likely to make hasty decisions. Moreover, emotionally intelligent leaders are great at understanding the emotions and care about the feelings of others.

That is not all, leaders who have this leadership quality not only handles conflict in a better way but also play an important role in conflict resolution. How would you feel when you are promoted to leadership status? You will feel proud. A good leader is always selfless and always think about his or her followers. That is why the leadership styles most great leaders adopt put lots of emphasis on problem-solving and team dynamics instead of focusing on self-promotion.

One of the best ways to win the trust of your followers is by being transparent. Instead of hiding information, you should openly share it with them.

By giving visibility to your followers, they will buy into your vision and support you with conviction in achieving the goal. More importantly, it gives your followers clarity, autonomy and make them feel more empowered while keeping them engaged.

Good leaders always have a vision and purpose. They not only visualize the future themselves but also share their vision with their followers. When their followers were able to see the big picture, they can see where they are heading. A great leader goes above and beyond and explain why they are moving in the direction they are moving and shares the strategy and action plan to achieve that goal.

To join the elite club of good leaders, you must have all these qualities but if you lack some of these qualities, then you might struggle to make the mark in the world of leadership. You will have to set a good example for others to follow. That is where your commitment, passion, empathy, honesty and integrity come into play. Good communication skills and decision-making capabilities also play a vital role in success and failure of a leader. Lastly, innovation and creative thinking, as well as the futuristic vision, are a couple of leadership qualities that make up good leaders.

I really like that you talk about how a good leader will be creative and come up with innovative solutions for certain problems. Those are the most important qualities of a real leader that work similarly in our professional and personal lives. They surround themselves with great people that they can cultivate into a team of competent, confident individuals who can work well as a team.

They then have the ability to guide this team towards a well-defined vision by clearly communicating short and long terms goals, inspiring confidence and trust among colleagues, and influencing common efforts through character rather than by a position of authority. Ultimately, a great leader creates and nurtures other leaders. He or she is a strategic planner and believes in teamwork. Great leaders help people reach their goals, are not afraid to hire people that might be better than them and take pride in the accomplishments of those they help along the way.

I aspire to be the kind of leader that pushes people to be the very best they can be but still make people feel safe because it starts with the heart.

Great leaders are incredibly ambitious, but never for themselves. Rather, they are ambitious for the company and possess the will do do whatever is necessary in service of this greater cause. Ultimately, leadership is not about who is in charge. It's about making sure your team stays focused on the goals, keeping them motivated and helping them be the best they can be to achieve those goals. This is especially true when the risks are high and the consequences matter. Instead, a great leader motivates people.

They encourage others to follow them. They have vision, courage, integrity, humility, and focus, along with the ability to plan strategically and catalyze cooperation amongst their team.

Most leaders reflect on their most effective leadership qualities and try to apply them on a daily basis. And while they may already be great leaders, they continue to ask themselves how they can improve and think about what makes a good leader, especially as time continues to change. They also look to the characteristics of other great leaders in history to understand and employ their tactics. Great leaders understand that they are only as strong as their team. This is why many choose to lead by example.

In doing so, they earn the respect of their team and followers, and may even inspire others to join the mission. The ability to motivate and drive others to join in on a mission is a positive leadership quality that separates good leaders from great ones.

To help you become a better leader, here are my top 10 best leadership qualities that you can start putting into practice immediately. Reference them as a tool to help you develop your leadership style. Great leaders have a vision… one that allows them to plan their moves strategically to reach their goals.

They have a clear idea of where they are going and can motivate themselves and their teams to reach it. They practice idealization to visualize the long-term goals they hope to achieve and use their vision and strategic planning to advance towards them. This way of thinking allows them to think long-term and disregard solutions that would only create instant gratification.

An effective leader can project forward years and imagine clearly where they want to be and what it will look like when they get there. Leaders have the ability to anticipate trends, well in advance of their competitors. Where is it likely to be in three months, six months, one year, and two years? This leadership quality separates them from managers. Having a clear vision turns the individual into a special type of person.

Remember: Managers direct, leaders inspire and guide. One of the more important leadership qualities and characteristics is courage. Having courage means that you are willing to take risks in order to achieve your goals. While many people can dream big, only leaders and risk-takers understand that taking a risk and failing is still more productive than not taking a risk at all.

While no risk can fully assure success due to the uncertainty of life, each risk you take can act as a learning opportunity to get you closer to your goals. Having courage means getting up and trying again when you fall. All great leaders will have more failures than they do successes. Among the seven leadership qualities, courage is the most identifiable outward trait. All great leaders can be defined by their courage and ability to take risks that others were too afraid to. In every strategic planning session that I have conducted for large and small corporations, the first value that all the gathered executives agree upon for their company is integrity.

Each one agrees on the importance of complete honesty and transparency in everything they do, both internally and externally. To dive even deeper though and to help you become a great leader, remember that the core of integrity is truthfulness.

Very helpful site on leadership. I feel now very excited. After reading this article because it enriches me with a lot more ideas and value. Thank you so much for publishing this article. Wow i feel very impressed after reading ………………. It might be a good idea to undergo leadership training during my summer vacation to improve my skills. Very helpful leadership qualities.

I am trying to assist my team and the leadership knowledge will help me. Although have read he contents brief I believe that the outlined statements and exposure of leadership qualities would greatly assist in my leadership duties in the church that I attend. Thank you and hope to know more on the subject. I attended my first leadership camp when I was It was organized by a local club, and we had a wonderful mentor who walked us through the qualities of leadership.

I vividly remember how he explained it with humour and made us act out little snippets to make the session extremely interesting and insightful. I appreciate! You have Wonderfully presented all the good leadership qualities…The content is really good. Very well written and explained. No doubt all the 11 qualities that you have elaborated are finely fitted in the role of becoming a great leader.

Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Learn these and you can change the lives of others. What is the best definition of leadership? Why is leadership an important skill? What should a leader do? What makes a good manager? What should a leader not do?

Adam Enfroy Adam Enfroy is a full-time blogger and affiliate marketing expert. Join Adam and , monthly readers on AdamEnfroy. Before starting this blog, Adam managed digital marketing teams for large SaaS startups and reviews the best software to run your online business. He has been featured in over publications, including Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur. Read more about Adam here. About Adam Enfroy With over , monthly readers , my mission is to teach the next generation of online entrepreneurs how to scale their influence at startup speed.

My business software reviews are based on real-world experience and not from a faceless brand. Learn More About Adam. Related Articles.