Some people follow, others just get in the way, but leaders lead. No mission is accomplished without good leaders and leadership. Being a good leader is not easy. It is not for the faint of heart. Good leaders are few and far between. Many people are referred to as leaders yet exhibit no qualities of a good leader.
The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Don’t follow the crowd. Let the crowd follow you.
~ Margaret Thatcher
Leadership is a choice, not a position.
~ Stephen Covey
Good Leader Qualities
You can be called a leader, but holding a title does not necessarily make you a good leader. A good leader is someone people will follow. They will perform above their abilities for that leader. Good leaders get subordinates to be better than their skill level. They build belief in people. If subordinates believe in their leader, they will begin to believe in their selves. Below are five qualities of a good leader.
- Humility
- Integrity
- Intelligence
- Innovation
- Decisive
The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.
~ Ronald Reagan
Good Leaders Are Humble
One of the first things I was taught, when I was training to be a military officer was to be humble. You have to take care of the troops. A good leader ensures that they take care of their subordinates. When addressing subordinates outside, the leader should always face the sun. A good leader is always first to arrive and the last to leave. They make sure all the subordinates’ needs are taken care of. Then they can take care of themselves.
Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader; you have to listen to the people who are on the front line.
~ Richard Branson
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing.
~ Peter F. Drucker
Honesty
Another quality of a good leader is honesty and integrity. Lead by example and always do the right thing. The good leader stands up for what they believe. Telling the truth, no matter how dire the situation is, is paramount. I had a great leader tell me once, “Bad news never gets better with age.”
Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or conclude you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
~ Colin Powell
Educate
All good leaders are intelligent. They continue to read and educate themselves. Leaders are readers, and readers are leaders. A good leader develops his/her subordinates. They make sure the subordinates are prepared for the job, mission, etc. Even though it might be easier to perform a task themselves, they will delegate parts of the task to others. The delegation of tasks will develop leadership in others.
If you want to improve the organization, you have to improve yourself, and the organization gets pulled up with you.
~ Indra Nooyi
Thinkers
Good leaders are innovative; they think outside the box. They keep an open mind and are always welcome to new ideas. The old ways of accomplishing the mission are not necessarily the best. They understand this concept. Leaders actively listen to everyone on their team.
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
~ Jack Welch
Never Waver
A good leader is always decisive. They never want to leave their team in limbo. They always make a decision even if it’s not a popular choice. Leaders listen to different ideas from their team and then make the final decision. The decision is always based on what is best for the group as a whole. Not all decisions are the right ones. If their decision was wrong and they take responsibility. They regroup, reevaluate, and make another decision. They always learn from their failures.
Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.
~ Roy T. Bennett
These are only five qualities of a good leader. There are many more qualities of true leadership. If you would like to add a quality you admire, please do so in the comments section. If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to like and follow my blog. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my articles.
This is an awesome post. You have captured the essence of leadership and put it across in such clear and succinct terms. No one has put it better than Peter Drucker re the differences between leadership and management. Once I understood this basic principle way back when, it helped me to move my then career ahead very quickly.
Thank you for your insightful comments. Take care.
My absolute pleasure 😊
What an insightful post, thank you. I love this quote, “Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.” What do you believe allows leaders to inspire people to become their fullest potential? Is it that the leaders believes in their strengths, which brings it out of them?
I do believe leaders see the potential in others. Great leaders can be like our parents. We don’t want to disappoint them so we perform above what we believe our abilities are. Then that becomes the standard and we strive to improve on the standard. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. Take care. Scott
Haha… high expectations lead us to reach greater heights. Love that. Thanks, Scott! Best, Linda. 🙂
Great succinct descriptions of these qualities which leaders espouse and encourage others to have. Thanks for taking the time to share them.
Thanks for your kind words. Take care, Hamish.