Regardless of whatever myth you may have heard, Leaders are not born!
They are forged.
Life has a way of molding people and shaping their character. Leaders all share certain characteristics.
So what makes a great leader?
Leaders Should Be Humble
Does this surprise you? Pride is one of the most detrimental factors to effective leadership. A humble leader is a leader that will listen to the people who follow him or her and will continue to grow as a leader because of the feedback he or she receives.
Being humble is vital for learning from your mistakes. The only real mistakes made are the ones that you don’t learn from. Being too proud to admit there is a problem will cloud your vision and keep you from seeing teachable moments in mistakes.
Leaders Should Be Consistent
When you are consistent, people will be more willing to follow you. People like to know what to expect and even more than that they love it when what they expect is delivered.
Being consistent as a leader will allow people to know what to expect from you and believe that it will be delivered.
Leaders Should Be Others Oriented
As a leader, you have to realize that you will only be as successful as the people on the team around you so focusing on making the people around you better will ensure that you and your team will succeed at whatever you are trying to accomplish.
Leaders also have to learn a very important concept — share the credit and shoulder the blame.
Too often I see leaders who are all too ready to take credit when things go right but love to point fingers when they go bad.
When your team accomplishes a goal, give them credit. Everyone likes a pat on the back and the last thing a leader should do is to stand and take the credit when his team did most of the work.
When an issue arises, own up to it. As a leader, it is your responsibility to make sure that things go as planned. When they don’t, fix the problem and move on.
Leaders Should Be Goal Driven
You have to set goals for yourself, your team and your organization as a whole.
Setting goals lets you stay focused on the tasks at hand and gives you a measuring stick to keep track of progress.
When you have clear goals for your team to accomplish, it gives them a sense of purpose. With each goal your team achieves they will want to work harder to reach the next one.
True leaders know that setting goals, working to achieve those goals and constantly moving forward one goal at a time is crucial to ongoing success.
As you move forward, look at how you lead. What needs to change for you to be more effective as a leader?
Make whatever changes are needed and become a Humble, Consistent, Others Oriented, Goal Driven Leader and LIVE LIFE!