{"id":3107,"date":"2021-05-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snapreads.com\/magazine\/?p=3107"},"modified":"2023-12-27T17:38:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T22:38:25","slug":"strong-leadership-qualities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snapreads.com\/magazine\/strong-leadership-qualities\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Strong Leadership Qualities that Define a True Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The difference between a true leader and someone who\u2019s just in it for the money and glory is vast. How can you spot a good leader? Or more importantly, what do you <\/em>need to work on to become a great leader yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"good<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Good to Great<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Jim Collins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u23f1 15 minutes reading time<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udfa7 Audio version available<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Get the key ideas on Snapreads<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Buy on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They Have Superb Communication Skills<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A true<\/em> leader– like the kind you follow past the boardroom and, like, into battle– is one that communicates<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes people stand out, even among leadership positions, is their superb communication skills. This is how you not only express your needs, but build empathy and strong relations within your team, eliminating confusion and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communication can be broken down into several parts, the first, and arguably most important, part is listening<\/em>. Effective leaders aren\u2019t all talk– they listen too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pay attention to what their teams, their followers, their employees, or whoever they\u2019re leading, are saying. Making people feel heard breeds loyalty and satisfaction. Wasn\u2019t it Dale Carnegie who said, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201ctalk to someone about themselves and they\u2019ll listen for hours?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is why some leaders seem to magnetically draw people to them. They make time to sit down and hear others\u2019 concerns. They make eye contact. They show genuine interest in the lives of their subordinates. The more the leader listens, the more passionate people will be about following them and their cause, the more they\u2019ll trust them, and the more dedicated they\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at it this way: if a person doesn\u2019t make eye contact consistently, this shows they\u2019re not interested. They don\u2019t even bother pretending<\/em> to care about people beyond their skills, employees will pull away. If you want to be a true leader, one whose followers genuinely want to follow and trust, then communication is an absolutely crucial skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And contrary to what many \u201cmanagers\u201d believe, employees can\u2019t read your mind. Good leaders don\u2019t take pleasure in withholding information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re Visionaries<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Steve Jobs once said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cManagement is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, it should come as no surprise that a unique leadership quality is the capability to be a visionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack Welch, who was the chairman and CEO of General Electric for over two decades, and who was known to have a powerful, enviable leadership style that was characterized by a peerless openness to new ideas, openness to change, quality, empowerment of employees, and constantly seeking for a competitive advantage, and who was also known to have received the largest severance payment in business history– which was a staggering $417 million, if you\u2019re curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, that <\/em>leader, he believed that <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cGood business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

John C. Maxwell, the millionaire author known for writing books about leadership, preaches that \u201cpeople buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do all these quotes and testimonies mean? It means that a company is only as good as a leader\u2019s vision for it. Good leaders are constantly motivated, and by extension, motivate others <\/em>by striving to achieve their visions. They inspire loyalty and enthusiasm. They\u2019re a constant reminder that there\u2019s an amazing \u201cbig picture,\u201d that they\u2019re not just clocking in from 9 to 5, and that there is always an opportunity to innovate and outdo yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re Not Afraid to Delegate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What else distinguishes a true leader from others? It\u2019s a quality you might not expect. While leaders are expected to be these almighty, all-knowing, talented individuals, one quality that proves they are genuine is their ability to delegate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They know it\u2019s physically and mentally impossible to do everything on their own– they don\u2019t even want to! Delegation isn\u2019t something they\u2019re irked by. In fact, they encourage it. See, that means they trust in their employees and believe that they will be more than capable of handling the task given to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know what results from that? An instant boost in morale in the workplace. There is nothing like your leader showing their confidence in your abilities that makes you not just loyal to them, but more confident in your skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the type of business, employees want to feel appreciated and rewarded. By being selected, they feel like their effort is valuable and important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is where a lot of leaders go wrong. You could have every one of the other qualities we mentioned– but lacking the ability to delegate? You may just be bumped down from a great leader to just a good one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, a lot of leaders, especially new ones, want perfection. So, they end up doing all the work themselves. A hallmark of a great leader is trusting their employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They trust in another quality to ensure their team is elevated properly! They focus on inspiring others, communicating their common goals, and giving their team the resources and space they need to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, the ability to delegate shows something that makes true leaders stand out. Some leaders genuinely want to see others succeed and aren\u2019t threatened by others\u2019 success. Others? They want all the glory for themselves. Obviously, true leaders fall into the former category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re Responsible<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leadership isn\u2019t all rainbows, sunshine, and glory. There are some ugly, albeit necessary, parts too, and among those less savoury bits is experiencing failure. A truly powerful leadership quality is the crucial ability to take responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When something goes wrong, they don\u2019t seek the nearest scapegoat. They insist on personal accountability for failure, setting the example in the workplace that it\u2019s okay to fail, and it\u2019s far more important to not <\/em>shift the blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that, you won\u2019t often find them making excuses. After taking the blame, they don\u2019t spend days wallowing. They trace back the root of the problem and then try to fix it as soon as they can. This is why being about to take responsibility is such a key leadership quality. It extends beyond owning up to things. It\u2019s about being able to solve problems better. About setting an inspiring, powerful example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous U.S. businessman Arnold Glasow famously said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cA good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By extension, that means that good leaders don\u2019t just take responsibility for their own performance, but for everyone else\u2019s too. Both the good and the bad. This ends up creating an unparalleled sense of community and responsibility among the team where giving credit where credit is due is the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Have Emotional Intelligence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Harvard Business Review sees emotional intelligence as <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201ca ground-breaking, paradigm-shattering idea that is one of the most influential business ideas of the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So that rounds up to the last strong leadership quality that defines a true leader: having emotional intelligence. What does that entail? It\u2019s beyond being aware of and understanding other people\u2019s feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one thing, being a true leader is an empathic one. Being empathic forges a powerful, deeply personal connection with those you are leading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it\u2019s not just about being a nice <\/em>person. It\u2019s about having conversations with your followers to understand their motivations, their problems, their dreams, and what matters to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may ask what the benefits are to this other than having good relationships<\/a> with your followers? As an empathic leader, you\u2019re able to increase morale in the workplace; you\u2019re able to improve on your work strategies; you\u2019re able to make better predictions; and finally, you\u2019re able to inspire flawless loyalty in your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, but the relevance of emotional intelligence to leadership is a fairly new idea. It wasn\u2019t popularized until 1995, when author and journalist Daniel Goleman came out with a ground-breaking book called \u201cEmotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this book, he discusses how emotional intelligence is responsible for 67% <\/em>of the qualities necessary for a powerful leadership performance. No matter how smart you are, you\u2019re not going to get far without it. Now you understand where people are coming from– their dreams, problems, etc., you\u2019re able to create an environment where your team is more productive and where leaders thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The difference between a true leader and someone who\u2019s just in it for the money…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[195],"class_list":{"post-3107":"post-3107","post":"post","type-post":"type-post","status-publish":"status-publish","format-standard":"format-standard","has-post-thumbnail":"has-post-thumbnail","hentry":"hentry","category-work-success":"category-work-success","tag-strong-leadership-qualities":"tag-strong-leadership-qualities"},"yoast_head":"\n5 Strong Leadership Qualities that Define a True Leader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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