What does leadership mean? I often have the privilege to work with incredible leaders, teams, business owners, CEO’s, managers, employees and many others about leadership and what it means, and I realize leadership is often misunderstood. What is leadership, and what makes a great leader?
The Meaning of Leadership, and Qualities of a Great Leader
We often have those people in our life that we remember. They influenced us, they encouraged us, they made us better, and they made a huge difference in our life. Why? Probably because they had the qualities of a great leader. Leadership is a term used often, but not often defined, so I thought I’d write some qualities of amazing leaders that I have witnessed, and these qualities exemplify what true leadership means.
- Leadership has no title – some people with titles are not leaders, and some people without titles are true leaders
- Leaders look up to the people they lead, not down on them
- Leaders build relationships
- Leaders are great communicators
- Leaders take ownership of their own actions
- Leaders are the first to volunteer to help
- Leaders are kind and respectful to everyone they work with, lead, or encounter
- Leaders speak positively
- Leaders encourage others to be their best
- Leaders do everything they do with integrity and honesty
- Leaders lead by example, and are the first to do “the dirty jobs” and help in the trenches
- Leaders have “Fanatic Discipline“
- Leaders are quick to praise
- Leaders are thankful and grateful to everyone who surrounds them to help or be a part of what they are working on
- Leaders are humble, and don’t think of themselves as leaders
- Leaders are quietly leading from afar
- Leaders listen to others first, seek to understand, then voice their own understanding after
- Leaders have a vision
- Leaders motivate and inspire and empower others
- Leaders have the ability to connect with others
- Good leaders get people to do what they may think is impossible, and suddenly it becomes possible –
- Leaders build future leaders, not more followers….
Want to know more?
Want to know how to be a better leader, or how to encourage others to be better leaders? Look at the qualities of a good leader above, and work on one of them. That’s a beginning. Leadership is one of the seminar/workshop/program topics I often have the honor to speak about and work on with owners and their teams. Here is the link to it on my website: https://www.thrivebusiness.ca/solutions/seminars-workshops/
If you’d like to be a better leader or grow future leaders within your company, let’s have a conversation.
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Cindy Piva is Founder and President of Thrive Business Strategies.