The title, “What are good leadership qualities?” says it all. And even though the query may sound simple, it is anything but that. Since time immemorial, there have always been leaders ever since man clambered down from the trees and started walking around on two legs.
A mere look at your distant past should clarify that leaders have been around forever. And they come in all sizes and shapes, with some of the worst tyrants and dictators being categorized as a leader – the perfect examples would be Hitler, followed by Putin and Xi Jinping.
Even the simple query, “What are good leadership qualities?” is bound to puzzle you because you cannot come up with a single good quality. The reason that you cannot is that Leadership often consists of several good qualities. People utilize the same when they hope to lead a company/ organization or a political party – to accomplish a particular goal.
The challenge, though, as you would soon realize, is that Leadership comes in several types. These often range from dictatorship, autocratic Leadership, Laissez-faire, transactional, and even transformational leadership.
The point is that as a leader, you can influence the largest group of people to achieve your aims. You must review some of these “good” qualities required for effective Leadership!
- Effective communication:
The one core skill that most leaders have in common happens to be their skill to communicate with their followers. You can label this as an essential skill to being a leader. It is all about how well you can communicate with others and connect with them.
A closer look at some of the leaders of the recent past – Donald Trump, Hitler, and even Putin would underscore the fact that they managed to influence large sections of the public because of their ability to communicate. Most of the speeches they delivered were designed to reach out and enable them to connect to the masses.
Most management schools would ensure that all the enrolled students are taught the basics of good communication. These courses regurgitate that effective communication is pivotal in being a leader. With practical communication skills, you can inspire and motivate the other employees in your organization to follow your lead.
- Willing to self-analyze:
A leader must recognize his strengths and failures when leading a corporation or a nation. To that end, he must show a willingness to self-assess himself. He must be able to examine his overall performance and all the critical decisions he had made during his tenure. Notably, he needs to be able to do so rationally, without any emotional baggage. He must evaluate his performance so he can make the required changes.
- Empathy:
When it comes to Leadership, empathy is essential. With empathy, you will better understand your colleagues’ concerns, fears, and what they are feeling at the moment. Take Twitter; that’s a classic example of Leadership gone askew.
With Elon Musk purchasing Twitter outright, he set about firing over 3500 employees. He further compounded this by insisting all remaining employees sign a pledge that they would work under draconian measures. Twitter naturally went into convulsions, with nearly all the remaining Twitter employees resigning en masse.
That goes on to show you an effective leader listens to his counterparts. Better yet, he needs to have the required empathy. This empathy will enable you to communicate better and have better relationships with colleagues.
- Active listening:
You would be expected to listen ‘actively’ to others as a leader. Sounds unlike a leader, right? But you would be surprised. Hitler lost the second world war because he did not listen to his second in command.
And if that’s not enough, all you need to do is look at the current Russia – Ukraine war to realize the perils of lousy Leadership. That’s why you need to review the excellent leadership qualities listed here. Absolute power does corrupt absolutely. A mere look at history should make this apparent and the pivotal importance of these good qualities when it comes to Leadership.
That’s why ‘active listening’ takes center stage when it comes to any leadership aspirations on your part. You must develop the habit of listening actively to others since it can endear you to them. By listening actively, you can determine if there are any counters to your suggestions and even analyze the same. Better yet, ‘active listening’ can enable you to build a rapport with others.
These are a few good qualities of Leadership. A mere read should explain why they are essential to your leadership bid.
