Who is a leader?
Are leaders born or made?
21 qualities of a successful leader
Who is a leader?
A leader is:
1- A person who influences a group of people towards achievement of a goal.
2- Someone who sets a good example for people in a group (a company, family, community, religious setting).
3- A person who does the right thing (which often determines success of a business or undertaking) as opposed to a manager who does things right.
4- A person who creates an inspiring vision of the future.
5- A person who motivates and inspires people to engage in his or her vision.
6- A person who coaches and builds a team towards achieving a vision.
Are leaders born or made?
Some people are naturally charismatic, influential, inspiring individuals and naturally predisposed to leadership. Are leaders born that way? Or is it possible to cultivate the skills necessary for leadership? Are leaders made? A legendary American football coach once made a statement that has stood the test of time “Leaders aren’t born, they are made, and they are made just like anything else, through hard work”.
So regardless of whether you are born “talented” or not, to be a leader you must work to develop and refine certain characteristics that make people great.
21 qualities of a successful leader
If you can become a leader first on the inside, you will become the person you want to be on the outside. Then you become an influencer and people will want to follow you. These are the next set of qualities of a successful leader:
8-You must have INITIATIVE: To have initiative means to be proactive. It means to preempt, to think ahead and plan ahead. There is a link between success and action. Successful people keep on moving, they make mistakes but do not quit. A good leader must know what he wants, push himself to act, be ready to take more risks and make more mistakes.
9- You must have PASSION: Passion is the driving force that pushes you to do what you do without external motivation. You must concentrate on what you do, do it well and do it better than everybody else. Why do ordinary people achieve extraordinary things? Studies show that more than 50% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies had C- or C-averages in college. Nearly 75% of all US Presidents were in the bottom half of the school classes. More than 50% of all millionaire entrepreneurs never finished college. How then did these men become outstanding? The answer is: Passion!
10- You must have a POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Attitude is a choice, it determines your actions and maintaining a good attitude is easier than regaining one. Attitude is simply your outlook on life. Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. If we did all the things we are capable of doing we would shock ourselves. Most failures in life never knew how close they were to success when they gave up.
11- You must have the attribute of PROBLEM SOLVING: 5 qualities every leader with good problem solving abilities has are: anticipating problems, accepting the truth, seeing the overall picture, handling one thing at a time and not giving up on major goals (even when down).
12- You must cultivate GOOD RELATIONSHIPS: Know how to get along with people. It is the single most important skill for success. People like to feel special so sincerely compliment them. People want a better tomorrow so show them hope. People desire direction so navigate for them. People are selfish so speak to their needs first. When people get low emotionally encourage them. People want success so help them win.
13- You must learn to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY: To succeed on a major scale you must accept responsibility. The one common quality all successful people have is the ability to take responsibility. Failure to hit the target is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim improve yourself.
14- You must eliminate INSECURITY: Competence can never compensate for insecurity because no one becomes a great leader by doing it all by himself and taking all the credit for it.
In conclusion, these are the second set of 7 qualities of a good leader. He or she must: take initiative, have passion, a positive attitude, problem solving skills, cultivate good relationships, take on responsibility and eliminate insecurity.