avatarAnn Venkataraman

Summary

The website content outlines the top ten qualities that distinguish exceptional leaders, emphasizing vision, team success, gratitude, learning agility, presence, understanding of human psychology, communication skills, time management, integrity, and grit.

Abstract

The article "Qualities of a Great Leader" delineates the key attributes that set outstanding leaders apart from average managers. It underscores the importance of having a compelling vision that inspires others, like JFK's mission to land a man on the moon. Great leaders prioritize the success of their entire team over individual accolades, empowering team members and fostering an environment for growth. The article also highlights the role of gratitude in attracting abundance and the need for leaders to be adaptable and open to new ideas. Presence, or the ability to command attention and respect through charisma and confidence, is another essential trait, as is a deep understanding of human psychology to effectively appeal to emotions. Effective communication is crucial for leaders to convey their ideas and persuade others. Time management is also critical, as leaders must prioritize their tasks and allocate time for strategic thinking. Integrity is non-negotiable, with leaders making decisions based on what is right rather than what is expedient. Lastly, grit enables leaders to persevere through failures and setbacks, learning from them and moving forward.

Opinions

  • The author believes that a leader's vision is paramount and should be captivating enough to attract followers and resources.
  • Success as a leader is measured by the collective achievements of the team rather than individual performance.
  • Expressing gratitude is seen as a key to attracting more success and abundance.
  • Learning agility is vital for leaders to navigate through change and prepare for future challenges.
  • Presence, or executive presence, is a combination of charisma, confidence, and "confident humility" that leaders must cultivate.
  • Understanding human psychology is equated with having strong people skills and emotional intelligence, which are necessary for leadership.
  • Mastery of communication is essential for leaders to articulate their vision and negotiate effectively.
  • Effective time management is a skill that leaders must develop to prioritize important tasks and engage in high-level thinking.
  • Integrity in leadership means making ethical decisions, which is also beneficial for brand image and market appeal, especially with younger generations.
  • Grit, or the ability to embrace failure and learn from it, is a characteristic of resilient leaders who continue to strive for success despite setbacks.

Qualities of a Great Leader

Top 10 Traits and Values that Differentiate the Best Leaders.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

There are a core set of values that sets apart great leaders from mere managers and executives with fancy titles. This article lists those distinguishing traits.

1] Lofty Vision

Great leaders have a compelling vision for the future that persuades others to follow them through thick and thin. This comes from being an excellent storyteller and showing your passion for the idea. People will agree and work on realistic goals, but visionary plans of grandeur? That will get you followers in droves!

For example, JFK’s mission to put a man on the moon in a decade was an impossible deadline, but his vision was so captivating that the whole country (tax payer funding, brilliant scientists) were ready to do anything to bring it to fruition!

2] Success of the Whole Team

Photo by Muyuan Ma on Unsplash

Usually people are placed in leadership positions because they were fantastic at their previous roles as individual contributors and star team players. However, as a leader, your success comes from the success of the whole team. So great leaders are excellent at delegating and empowering their subordinates to achieve and exceed their goal milestones.

To become a great leader, you must care more for the team success than your own individual agenda. So, check what your team needs — better coaching, less meetings, encouragement, more resources, or something else. Try your best to remove the hindrances that are preventing them from being their best. Give them authority to make decisions and groom them for higher roles, so you can also rise on their shoulders.

To be more productive and to teach your teams look at this fabulous article by Bill Abbate, top leadership coach.

3] Gratitude

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Seems cliched, but when you appreciate everything you have NOW, it will open doors to receive even more abundance. Even Rockefeller tithed 10% of his vast income in “tithing” to express gratitude for his wealth and success. You may not have the luxury of giving away money, but you can use words of appreciation (written, verbal or mental) to give thanks for what you do have.

4] Learning Agility.

Celebrated leaders know that change is the only constant. So, they are always open to new ideas to improve their performance and constantly innovating to prepare for future disruptions. [The “Black Swan” events made popular by Nassem Taleb]. They are open-minded enough to seek novel ideas from any source no matter how humble or unlikely.

5] Presence

Photo by Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash

All impressive leaders have some “xing”, a charisma that makes people take notice. Call it style, “mojo” or confidence, but to be considered a leader you must work on your executive presence. In fact, it is easier if you start early in your career. If people rarely notice you, you will never get the important assignments, contacts and mentoring needed to get to a leadership position.

By presence, I do not mean arrogance, being dominant or aggressive behavior. On the contrary, true leaders’ practice “Confident Humility”. This means being self-confident and also accepting that you do not have all the answers.. You need folks better than you in relevant niches to create a synergistic team.

To learn how to use psychology to groom your leadership presence, please read this detailed guide.

6] Human Psychology.

Call it people skills, emotional intelligence, or any other fancy term, but eminent leaders know how people think. They recognize that people make decisions and opinions on emotions and THEN rationalize it with logic. Good leaders learn how to appeal to people’s emotions rather than logic.

This does not mean that a successful leader needs to be manipulative or adopt Machiavellian tactics, rather they have a keen understanding of what customers, employees and stakeholders funding the enterprise want to achieve and proceed to provide a solution that is a perfect fit!

7] Communication

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All amazing leaders have fabulous communication skills — both written and verbal, irrespective of whether they are introverted or not. Think of Warren Buffett’s letters to his shareholders, Steve Jobs’ product presentations and Martin Luther King’s famous speech “I have a dream”.

If there is one skill you should develop — it is communication. This will enable you to convey your ideas persuasively to your followers, fight for your ideas and negotiate to make your dream a reality!

8] Guard Your Time.

Leaders and senior managers have many demands on their time, but they know which ones to prioritize. They recognize that saying yes to one item has an “opportunity cost” that bars you from pursuing other agenda. Good leaders also carve out dedicated time for “high-level” thinking. For example, Bill Gates uses a “Think Week” at his hideaway cottage in a forest to separate from civilization and ponder the future of technology.

Some easy techniques for effective time management are listed in this article

9] Integrity

Great leaders have an extraordinarily strong work ethic and integrity. They make decisions based on what is right, not just what is popular or easy or perhaps profitable in the short term.

In today’s market, this is both ethical and good marketing. As more GenZ and “millennials” enter the workforce, this trait is crucial since they believe in value-based consumption and expect corporations to give back to communities.

10] Grit

Photo by Sam Owoyemi on Unsplash

Excellent leaders know that failure is a part of life and embrace it wholeheartedly. Instead of feeling bogged down by setbacks and feeling sorry for themselves, they dissect it to learn valuable lessons and move on to other triumphs. Their fear of failure, rejection or looking foolish does not prevent them from going for the gold!

That is it — leadership values in a nutshell. If you are a young professional or recent grad who wants to develop these skills, but unsure how to start, you may want to look at my other article below.

For a list of books on leadership, check out the list below:

Leadership
Personal Development
Leadership Development
Careers
Self Improvement
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