Check out this guest post by industry expert Pinal Dave who provides 3 leadership tips to define success in any industry.Every individual has their own set of leaders they look up to in their daily life. I am sure each and every one reading this blog post has a number of leaders who have influenced the way s/he runs this/her business or life. Be it in Politics or in social circles – there are leaders who have made us proud and rallied people in doing the impossible and achieving the impossible. These public figures are all over the place and countries have their very own to rally around. In corporate circles, these are far and few. Be it from Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs and few others have made significant impact as leaders in their respective companies. They are synonymous to the companies they built.
This blog post is not about how each of these true leaders transformed the industry but an introspective look at how leaders emerge in these corporates. What are the traits that we are looking for when defining such leaders.
There are two kinds of leaders; transformational leaders and transactional leaders. Transformational leaders are the folks who find new paths for others to follow while the transactional are the folks who somehow make things happen for the organizations.
As we look into the corporate cultures of effective leaders, we find some remarkable visible traits that are not to be missed. These in our opinion are the non-negotiable as we look into possible leaders:
· Leaders have strong personalities yet are humble in nature.
· Leaders are kind and considerate, yet not weak in their ideologies. Leaders are assertive with an attitude to win.
· Leaders are bold in their approach and yet not bullish.
· Leaders create a sense of awe whenever you are around them.
· Leaders diffuse situations with humor, yet not hurt anyone in the process.
· Leaders are witty and purposeful with their remarks.
· Finally, ‘adaptive’ would constitute a leader’s middle name.
These are awesome and wonderful traits of an effective leader. Having said that, what are the 3 leadership traits we look at that defines success?
Self-Awareness
The best leaders have a sense of self-awareness that is undeniable. They know their strengths and are aware of their weaknesses. A confident leader is honest enough to recognize areas of improvement. As they play by their strengths, they make sure they get the right people in their teams to cover up for their areas of weaknesses. Finding your complementing people who can strengthen your abilities is a marked trait of an effective leader.
Listeners
The second important quality we want to call out is the ability to listen. In a world of competition, the person who first speaks and is the loudest is often heard. A marked leadership trait is untold and soliciting feedback.
The art of listening doesn’t come naturally, it requires a lot of focus. This is the same focus that helps you concentrate on what is best for your business and making it successful.
Flexible
Being flexible and making the course correction mid-way if need be is one of the important trait of a successful leader. More than large corporations, leaders in start-ups need to be flexible and ready to change course as the business moves forward. As they make these changes, they are undeterred with the situation in hand and show absolute patience, calmness and maturity as they move on. We have seen leaders get out of a business early before they are consumed by the situation in hand. That is also a great trait of a leader.
Conclusion
We think these core traits defines how an effective leader marches his organization towards the common goal. Moreover, many leaders create the sense of purpose that a whole organization feels committed to in delivering the same level of determination. There are many leaders in this current era that have transformed their thoughts into actions and the sense of purpose into the goals for the organization. These are the leaders who exercise what the core values companies are built on and create the same sense of ownership with customers, employees and everyone who works with them.
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