Being an effective leader requires constant focus, perseverance and building a team that is accountable and designed get results. Without the team there can be no real leadership. These ten unique perspectives provide great insight while also validating certain commonalities.
1 - Have Faith in Their Beliefs
"It's a mix of a lot of things, but first and foremost it's about having faith in your beliefs. You can't expect others to consider you a leader unless you have solid faith in your ideas. And once it's there, you build on it by being a good communicator, listening to others, setting examples and by putting your best foot forward and not giving up. Leadership is all about being passionate about what you do, and having confidence in yourself and your followers whom you have to motivate and inspire."
2 - Make the Hard Choice
“Great leaders make the hard choice, and self-sacrifice in order to enhance the lives of others around them. As a business owner, not only does your family rely on you - so too, do the families of those who work for you. Each employee has a family. Even if you're a small business owner with four employees, you're in essence potentially responsible for an additional ten or fifteen people.”
3 - Earn the Respect of the Team
“Having the ability to show respect, empathy, and care to those that follow you, are all attributed to being a great leader. Earning respect is crucial to a successful relationship with someone, while also showing that you care about their work or ideas. Being empathetic allows a leader to tap into the emotions of that individual in order to connect in a way that lets that person know you understand what it means to be in their situation. Combining all three of these traits can definitely make someone a great leader. These are things I work on constantly with my own staff and myself, all in order to become a better leader to those I care about.”4 - Know the Team
"Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every individual to effectively manage the outcome of a team is imperative for success. Leaders have a great vision and use the resources at hand to solve problems. They take risks and make hard decisions, knowing they could sometimes be wrong. Those are the most important qualities of a real leader that work similarly in our professional and personal lives."
5 - Know That the People are the Key to Success
“A great leader understands that it is the people they lead that ultimately determines the success or failure of any venture. They surround themselves with great people that they can cultivate into a team of competent, confident individuals who can work well as a team. They then have the ability to guide this team towards a well-defined vision by clearly communicating short and long terms goals, inspiring confidence and trust among colleagues, and influencing common efforts through character rather than by a position of authority. Ultimately, a great leader creates and nurtures other leaders.”
6 - Articulate a Clear Vision
“A great leader posses a clear vision, is courageous, has integrity, honesty, humility and clear focus. He or she is a strategic planner and believes in teamwork. Great leaders help people reach their goals, are not afraid to hire people that might be better than them and take pride in the accomplishments of those they help along the way.”
7 - Push People to Be Their Best
"Great leaders have clarity of purpose and are great at articulating their beliefs. I aspire to be the kind of leader that pushes people to be the very best they can be but still make people feel safe because it starts with the heart."
8 - Serve a Greater Cause
“Great leadership is determined by one’s periodical blend of personal humility and unparalleled will to lead others in service of a cause bigger than themselves. Great leaders are incredibly ambitious, but never for themselves. Rather, they are ambitious for the company and possess the will do do whatever is necessary in service of this greater cause.”
9 - Focus on Helping the Team
"Someone who leads by positive direction and builds agreement among its group members towards the accomplishment of a coordinated goal. Ultimately, leadership is not about who is in charge. It's about making sure your team stays focused on the goals, keeping them motivated and helping them be the best they can be to achieve those goals. This is especially true when the risks are high and the consequences matter."
10 - Do Not Lead by Force
“A great leader does not lead by forcing people to follow. Instead, a great leader motivates people. They encourage others to follow them. They also lead by example, which few leaders do today.”
Many of us in leadership or management positions know what we need to do to be better leaders, we just sometimes fail to act. Being a great leader requires constant personal and professional development, regular transparent feedback from the team, self-reflection and taking action on feedback received. Great leaders are rarely satisfied with their performance.