Whether you believe it or not it takes more than just hard work to become a successful leader. The best leaders in the world are able to use their passion to drive the organisation.
Your passion should absolutely be a part of who you are as a leader but you should lead with your head as well as your heart.
People already know the more common leadership traits. Leaders have a guiding vision, are passionate, and possess integrity. There are also plenty of other leadership traits, including some traits that were once thought of as being weaknesses.
You can grow and develop these traits to become a better leader and further your career; whether at home, work, in your community, or in your overall life.
- Effective Leaders are Empathic
To put empathy simply it is the ability to understand how people are feeling and share in those feelings. Empathy is important in the workplace because it allows you to handle relationships and manage conflicts. Empathy is also important because it allows you to connect with your customers and understand them. People don’t like to be analysed; they want to be understood. Being empathic means that a leader functions better within the business and they can also use their empathy to drive business.
- Effective Leaders are Optimistic
When people think of optimism they think of hopefulness. Optimism is also the ability to have confidence that you will succeed. It’s not good to be blindly optimistic and believe everything will succeed with no basis, but optimism gives leaders the power to inspire employees and drive them forward.
- Effective Leaders Forgive
No one likes it when their boss refuses to let their mistakes go. You need to give your employees the chance to make risks and let them know that you won’t hold their mistakes against them. Not forgiving your employees when they make mistakes kills their creativity and motivation. It also stops them from presenting new ideas in case something goes wrong. You need to forgive mistakes and nurture the creativity of your team so that you can inspire them to come back with new ideas and stay motivated.
- Effective Leaders are Altruistic
Being altruistic means that you care about other people and their success. In business this means that you want people you work with to do better, feel better, and perform better. No man (or woman) is an island and you should avoid stealing all the credit. Altruistic people understand that everyone looks better when everyone looks good. Altruism is a vital leadership quality but not something that people would typically associate with success.
- Effective Leaders are Eloquent
Eloquence, or the ability to write and speak in a persuasive manner, has become more important than ever in the digital age. Leaders should be able to communicate effectively and make the kinds of speeches that close deals. Writing an eloquent memo can squash negative emotions such as fear and dissent and inspire people to go above and beyond their limits. Take time to practice your writing and speaking to improve your eloquence and be the kind of effective leader you know you are.
- Effective Leaders are Discerning
Being discerning means that you are able to better judge things; whether it be a person, a situation, or a business decision. Discerning people take the time to understand problems and come up with various solutions until they manage to put together one that works best for everyone. Discerning leaders take time to think about their options and avoid rushing headfirst into everything that comes their way.
- Effective Leaders are Modest
People get tired of hearing you talk about how great you are. Truly great people let their work do the talking for them. It’s fine to toot your own horn a little but don’t be the person who does it the loudest. It’s great to be confident but it’s better to be able to temper that confidence with modesty.
The above traits are important tools for entrepreneurs and leaders who have the dedication to learn and perfect them.
I tend to shy from leadership traits. These can be very intangible and hard to measure. I like sticking to things that are more visible, more objective, more easier to measure. The exception is that a leader must care for their followers.
Right on Chris.