Leadership is one of those traits that most people find difficult to quantify. Everybody knows a great leader when they see one, but when you ask people to explain what specific qualities make a person a great leader, that’s when you get the “deer in the headlights” looks. It’s just hard to explain. This article will hopefully make it easier to explain, and help you become a better leader.
Conviction – Great leaders have a clearly defined plan in their minds, and the will to stick with it. It goes without saying that everyone who has ever put forth an idea has been met with resistance and detractors. Those are people who will go out of their way to tell you how flawed your plan is and how wrong you are. Great leaders have thought through all the angles and are more than capable of defending the reasons behind the decisions that drive their plans. However, they’re also smart and humble enough to recognize when someone presents them with a genuinely better alternative. They have great conviction, yes, and that can be inspiring, but they’re also in tune with who they lead, and they understand that there’s no way they can plan for every contingency. Conviction or no, they’re willing to let someone else demonstrate a better way. It just has to be proven definitively.
Empowerment – This was hinted at in the section above about conviction. If a leader is willing to allow others to show them alternatives that might prove superior, then he’s also got to give them the space to explore and experiment. That means no micromanaging. That means providing the vision, then giving their team the tools and the space to explore new ideas and stuff they haven’t thought of.
Presence – Great leaders have great presence. Always. That means being visible. That means being physically there, leading from the front. You don’t just delegate assignments and duck out. You roll up your sleeves and get in the mud with the rest of your team. This is what creates respect, and even if your team doesn’t adore you, when they see you wading into the thick of it with them, they’ll respect you, and they’ll follow you.
