Leadership is earned over time. It has nothing to do with your job title or how long you have been at your company. Leadership boils down to having certain leadership traits.
“Earn your leadership every day.”
Michael Jordan, a former American basketball player, businessman, and actor
Leadership takes practice. It takes daily commitment to become a great leader. It requires removing your ego from the equation and thinking about others first.
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”
To become a good leader, you need to inspire your team to reach the mountaintop. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make sure everyone succeeds.
The best leaders are passionate, engaging, and enthusiastic. They focus on the team as a collective group and help each team member reach their goals.
What leadership traits do successful leaders have? How can you apply these leadership traits to becoming a better leader at your job and in life?
1. Vision
To be successful, leaders first need to sell their vision of the future. A leader’s job is to articulate the vision they have for the team.
For example, there are 15 different routes and route variations. Besides these routes, there are 5 camps to climb to the top of Mount Everest. A leader with vision needs to show how the team will climb the equivalent of Mount Everest. Then find the best route to get to the top.
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”
Great leaders set the direction and path to the top. Their guidance can take many forms like tools, resources, training, coaching, mentoring, and candid feedback.
2. Integrity
Integrity is about being honest. It involves sticking by your work and living by your core values. It means leading by example and following through on what you said you would do. Leaders with integrity practice what they preach and own up to their mistakes.
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
When you have integrity, you don’t hide behind your mistakes and blame others for them. You highlight the work of teammates and respect other people’s time. Integrity-driven leaders are trustworthy and reliable.
3. Accountability
A good leader is accountable for the team’s results, whether good or bad. They take responsibility for the team’s outcomes.
Effective leaders empower the team to take responsibility for their shortcomings. They give credit when it’s due and take the blame when things go bad.
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”
When negative things happen, a good leader will step up and take responsibility. They say the buck stops with them. They take full responsibility for what has happened. Being accountable is one of the best ways for a leader to build trust with the team.
4. Humility
Humility is about self-awareness, appreciating the strengths of every person on the team, and an openness of new ideas.
Great leaders focus on the well-being of the team rather than themselves.
They know they are only as strong as the team. The best leaders focus on problem solving. They also emphasize the effectiveness of the team.
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”
Be humble. Be vulnerable. A great leader knows that humility makes them relatable and effective. Great leaders check their ego at the door.
5. Resilience
A great leader pursues a vision despite setbacks and diminished resources.
Leaders create strong relationships before an emergency occurs. They roll up their sleeves. They stand shoulder to shoulder with their team when times get difficult.
“Resilience isn’t a single skill. It’s a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive.”
Resilient leaders handle challenges well. They are confident, self-aware, and cope well with a changing landscape. Great leaders have strong character, develop positive relationships, and have a purpose.
6. Positivity
Good leaders are positive. They inspire the team based on their positive outlook and attitude in every situation.
A team member usually exhibits the behavior of his or her leader.
“Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better.”
Positive energy is contagious, and great leaders have an enormous amount of positive enthusiasm. Their positive mindset gives the team daily motivation and inspiration to achieve greatness.
7. Curiosity
Leaders are on a quest to ask a simple question repeatedly: why? Leaders ask themselves why and their team why.
The best way leaders understand what drives them and what the team wants to do is to know the why.
“A relentless barrage of why’s is the best way to prepare your mind to pierce the clouded veil of thinking caused by the status quo.”
Leaders are curious people. They find new solutions to problems.
The best leaders discover new ways to motivate people and new ways to think about things. They think about how they can become better leaders and how the team can improve.
8. Empathy
The best leaders understand their team members’ feelings and emotions. They know when to praise and when to give firm feedback.
“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”
A leader understands their team’s hopes, dreams, and motivations. They form a deep personal connection with their team to inspire loyalty. Great leaders are empathetic with their teams.
9. Influence
Great leaders know nothing is handed to them because of their status. They know leadership and influence are not the same thing.
They know respect has to be earned every day, and it won’t be given to them.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”
To influence others, great leaders ask their team for suggestions, ideas, and feedback. Influential leaders make others feel important. Influence is about impacting the behaviors and attitudes of their team. Influence grows when there’s more trust.
10. Learner
Great leaders know that learning never ends. They need to stay fresh and update their skills and knowledge.
They know there is always something new to learn in their profession, industry, and leadership.
“What you do has far greater impact than what you say.”
Leadership and learning are two sides of the same coin. Great leaders are constant learners. They have a strong thirst for knowledge and wisdom.
Bringing it all together
It’s difficult to become a leader. Leadership is a journey that will take you to places you have never been before. Great leaders are masters at simplifying things.
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
Colin Powell, an American diplomat and 4-star general
Great leaders bring clarity to chaos. They take complex strategies and simplify them to the fundamentals. They have these leadership traits.
Now is a great time for you to build your skills and experience to become an effective leader. Don’t be discouraged with your leadership skills.
It takes time and practice to become a great leader. Understanding what leadership traits are needed for success is also important.
