Top 6 Qualities of Great Leaders
Image from Flickr's Creative Commons (Steve Depolo). This file is licensed under the Creative Commons, 2.0 Generic.
Consider some of the leaders you have admired, in the past and present, and you will likely see some common traits among them.
Here are some top traits that leaders have:
Integrity - Great leaders not only set the rules, but they live by them. People want to work with a leader they can trust, a leader with morals, values, and honesty. Ultimately, if a leader lacks integrity, they will not be respected, trusted or followed.
Compassion - Great leaders not only have great ambition but great humility. Instead of using their ambitions to inflate their ego, they use them for the greater good. These leaders, like the Dalai Lama, are very effective and inspiring.
Confidence - Having the confidence to make decisions is paramount. Confidence is also reassuring to the rest of the team and will help them feel confident in their leaders.
Creativity - Creative thinking allows leaders to think past the status quo. Also, creative leaders can potentially make the most of too little time, and too much to do with their out-of-the-box thinking.
Intuition - This trait requires a combination of great pattern recognition, wisdom, trend anticipation, personnel insight and confidence. These attributes ultimately lead to successful decision-making, a key skill for leaders.
Visionary - Inspiring the team to see the vision of the successes to come is vital. Visionary leaders are always charging ahead to where they want to be tomorrow.
Although some people just seem to be natural leaders, everyone can learn what it takes to be an effective leader. You can learn how to be a leader through the Library’s subscription to Lynda.com (available for free to TPL customers). Lynda.com offers over 3,500 video tutorial courses led by industry experts on topics including a leadership course. Log into Lynda.com through the library website with your library card to learn how to transform your leadership potential.
Also, check out your local Small Business Network. No two businesses and industries are alike, but successful leadership principles are largely universal. So, learn by emulating what successful business owners and leaders have done to succeed.
What are some other important leadership traits you think should have made this list?
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