Great leaders are not born overnight; they grow with time, experience, and awareness. From communication to accountability, every quality builds a foundation for trust and performance. Leadership is not about titles or positions; it is about influence and impact. According to a 2023 LinkedIn Workplace Report, more than 60% of employees say they would stay longer in an organisation if they had a good leader. Another study found that 70% of team performance depends directly on the manager’s leadership skills. These numbers clearly show that leadership qualities define not only success but also trust, motivation, and team growth
What Makes a Great Leader?
Top 10 best qualities for a great leader, regardless of how you define a leader, he or she can prove to be a difference-maker between success and failure. A good leader has an unconventional vision and knows how to convert his ideas into real-life success stories. In this editorial, we take a thorough look at some of the important leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a leader.
Want to become a great leader? Here are the top 10 best qualities for a great leader that can make you a good leader
A leader creates followers, but a good leader creates more good leaders.
Most entrepreneurs and executives have different experiences and perceptions of the approach and qualities essential for effective leadership. Different situations require different leadership styles. Good leaders adjust to their immediate surroundings and empower the team to succeed together.
The best leaders are passionate about developing the leaders around them; they continuously work to increase their emotional intelligence and know that a strong team culture is a foundation for completing the mission. They are in a continuous state of preparation for the inevitable changes their businesses will face.
1. They have faith in their Ideas & Beliefs
This is a mix of a lot of stuff, but first and most important is having faith in your own beliefs and ideas. You can’t expect someone else to consider you a leader unless you have firm faith in your own ideas. And once it’s there, you build on it by being a good speaker, listening to others, setting examples and putting your foot forward, and not giving up. Leadership is all about being passionate about what you do and having confidence in yourself and your team, whom you need to motivate and inspire.
2. They make tough Choices
Great leaders make tough choices and self-sacrifice in order to improve the lives of others around them. As a business owner, not only does your family trust on you, but so too do the families of those who work for you. Every employee has a family. Even if you’re a small business owner with five to six employees, you’re in principle potentially responsible for an additional fourteen or fifteen people.
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3. They know their Team
Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every team member to efficiently manage the outcome of a team is important for success. Great leaders have a great vision and use the resources at hand to provide solutions. They take calculated risks and make tough decisions. They know they could sometimes be wrong. These are the important abilities of a real leader, and this is true in our professional and personal lives.
4. Get the Admiration of the Team
They have the ability to show respect, empathy, and care to those who follow them, which are all credited to being a great leader. Receiving respect is critical to a successful association with someone, at the same time showing that you, too, care about their work and philosophies. Being empathetic permits a leader to tap into the feelings of that person in order to bond in a way that lets that individual know you realize what it means to be in their situation. Merging all three of these traits can certainly make someone a great leader.
5. Understand that the people are the key to success
A great leader knows the value of the team. He knows that it is the people they lead who finally decide the success or failure of any endeavour. They surround themselves with people who they can encourage into a team of competent, confident individuals who can work well as a team. They have the capability to direct the team to a well-defined goal by clearly communicating short-term and long-term goals, stimulating confidence and faith among associates, and inducing common efforts through character rather than by a position of power.
Finally, great leaders make and nurture other leaders.
6. Communicate a Clear Vision
A great leader has a clear vision, is brave, and has truthfulness, trustworthiness, modesty, and clear focus. They are an intentional planner and believe in teamwork. Great leaders help individuals reach their goals, are not scared to recruit people who might be superior to them, and take pride in the endeavours of those they help along the way.
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7. Thrust Persons to Be Their Best
Great leaders have clarity of determination and are great at articulating their beliefs. They push the people to become their best and deliver their optimum, but still make people feel safe because it starts with the heart.
8. Serve a Greater Cause
Great leadership is established by one’s personal humbleness and unparalleled will to lead others in the service of a cause larger than themselves. Great leaders are amazingly ambitious, but not for themselves. In fact, they are ambitious for the company and have the will to do whatever is needed in the service of this greater cause.
9. Focus on helping the Team
The person who leads by positive direction and forms a pact among their group members to the completion of a coordinated goal. Finally, leadership is not about who is in charge. It’s about ensuring your team remains focused on the goals, keeping them encouraged, and helping them be the best they can be to achieve those goals. This is particularly true when the risks are higher and the consequences matter.
10. Do Not Lead by Power
The great leaders do not lead by forcing individuals to follow. Instead, a great leader inspires people. They encourage others to follow them. They also lead by example.
Being a great leader requires continuous focus, perseverance, and building a team that is responsible and designed to get results. Devoid of the team, there is no real leadership.
Most of us in leadership or high corporate positions know what we need to do to be better leaders, but we just occasionally fail to perform. Being a great leader needs perpetual personal and professional expansion, regular see-through criticism from the team, self-reflection, and taking action on feedback acknowledged. Great leaders are seldom content with their show.
To be in the elite club of great leaders, you must have all these talents. If any quality is missing from the above qualities, then you will struggle to make a spot in the world of leadership. You need to set a great example for others to follow. That is where your commitment, craving for good, empathy, honesty, and integrity come into play. Clear communication skills and decision-making abilities play an important role in the success or failure of a leader. Finally, innovation and creative thinking, as the futuristic vision, are important to become a great leader.