Lately, I’ve been thinking about why some leaders are more effective than others, in other words, what makes a leader great? I also wanted to learn how to become a great leader.
There are many books on leadership. Two of my favorites are Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani and Winning by Jack Welch.
So what makes a leader great? Here are my thoughts.
Character traits of a great leader
- A great leader needs to be full of positive energy. We all worked with people who are full of positive energy, these are the folks that are optimistic and realistic at the same time, they know if they apply themselves, they can achieve the goals that they set out to achieve. On the contrary, working with people who are negative all the time can be a real energy drain.
- A great leader needs to be able to energize and motivate. Just influencing others with his positive energy is not enough, he needs to be able to energize others, to drive the team to reach higher goals.
- A great leader needs to be authentic. No one wants to follow a phony, being genuine in his interactions, and practice what one preaches is very important for a leader.
- A great leader has humility. He is not arrogant or inflexible, he relies on the people who he chooses to give him honest feedback and recommendations. He respect other’s opinions and the differences in people, and seriously consider their opinions.
- A great leader is persistent. He will not be easily discouraged.
- A great leader needs to have the inner strength and self-confidence to make tough and/or unpopular decisions. He also need to make the right decisions to begin with, this is what Jack Welch calls having an “Edge”.
- A great leader needs to have emotional competencies (EQ). He needs know his own emotions, manages them well, empathize with others, understand others’ emotions and manages them well as well.
Skills and competencies of a great leader
- A great leader needs to be able to execute. Anyone can plan, however, what separate great leader from the rest is that a great leader delivers the result that continuously exceeds expectation.
- A great leader needs to have foresight. A leader needs to lead, and know intuitively what’s around the corner. To know where one’s going is utmost important for leaders at the top of an organization.
- A great leader does not expect his subordinates to work harder or work on things that he himself is not willing to take on. Leadership is not a privilege that allows one to delegate unpleasant tasks.
- A great leader is always prepared. Giuliani was so effective right after the tragic events of 9/11 because he and his office spent so much preparing for just this kind of catastrophy.
- A great leader holds his subordinate responsible yet gives them the creative freedom to come up with solutions on their own.
- A great leader is outward focused, instead of himself, he focuses on building and mentoring his people, he’s a clock-builder instead of a time-teller (these concepts are from the excellent book Built to Last ). The greatest legacy of a great leader is not himself but the great organization and the people he leaves behind.
Here is what a great leader is NOT
- A great leader does NOT have a big ego. Having a big ego can manifest itself in many different ways, and most of them will have a negative impact on the people he works with.
- A great leader does NOT need to come from outside the company. Another excellent book by Jim Collins Good to Great made the argument quite convincingly based on research.
- A great leader is NOT necessarily charismatic. It doesn’t mean a great leader can not be charismatic. There are quite a few great charismatic leaders like Jack Welch. However, there are just as many leaders who are not such as Abraham Lincoln. Built to Last contains many examples of leaders who are not charismatic.
Here are the steps I’ll take to become a better leader:
- Do a serious and realistic self accessment on all traits, skills and competencies I currently have.
- Set leadership goals for myself
- Identify paths to fill the gaps
- Identify mentors both from work and from life
- Continously improve and measure my own progress
- Explore opportunities from work and life to lead, to practice what I learned.
- Repeat until I reach my leadership goals.
As you can see, to be a great leader, one needs to become great in many areas. I myself have quite a long way to go, although the journey should be just as enjoyable as the end result.
More soft skills discussions to follow.
Any thoughts?