Characteristics of Great Leaders

Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention.

Deepak Chopra

While some folks argue whether great leaders are born or made (spoiler alert, they are made), there’s little doubt that great leaders share several characteristics. Leadership skills are among the most important to develop if you wish to advance your career and to play the lead role in your life. You’ll find that you already possess some of these qualities and likely need to create others.

Great leaders share these qualities:

1. Lead by example. Influential leaders know that they can get the best out of others by setting a good example. For example, demonstrate the characteristics you want to develop in your team each day if you want your followers to commit, be upbeat, passionate, and involved. What are you currently communicating to others by the example you set?
2. Take responsibility. Lousy leaders look to shift the blame when things start to go wrong. A great leader, however, knows that setbacks occur. They also know that poor planning, unclear vision, low effort, and inconsistency result in inferior products. Therefore, a great leader accepts responsibility for the outcome, both positive and negative.
3. Know the destination. After all, you have to lead to a specific goal. Do you have a vision for the future, and can you communicate that vision to others? Is your vision clear and easy to understand? Is your vision focused? Do you know where you’re going?
4. A plan. You might know where you’re going, but do you know how to get there? Can you effectively share that plan with the members of your team? Is your goal believable and achievable?
5. Great communication skills. The ability to share your vision and your plan is paramount to success. Influential leaders are excellent communicators and work to enhance their communication skills further.
6. Inflict pain on team members and get away with it. Okay, that came across rather dramatically. That said, you do need to be prepared to have hard conversations. Impressive future results require sacrifice and discomfort in the present. Are you able to inspire people enough that they’ll continue to follow you instead of revolting against you?
7. Know how to develop others. It’s essential to develop others to become better leaders. A great leader takes the time to develop the skills of their followers. The more capable your followers, the more impressive the results you’ll ultimately attain.
8. Inspire confidence in others. If people don’t believe you’ll be successful, you won’t receive their best efforts. Having faith in others’ abilities will help to foster confidence in themselves.

What is one thing that you can implement today, this week, and this month that you can do to get yourself on the right track? Have a fantastic idea or tip you want to share? Comment below!