10 Characteristics of a Good Leader

What traits do you need to be a good leader? Do you have them? If you don't have them - how do you develop them? August 7, 2018

We’re all leaders. Believe it or not, all of our actions, mood and beliefs influence the people around us.

But we can’t all be great leaders. Some people want to be good managers, team leaders or bosses and take the needed steps. But most people don’t see leading as an important part of their lives and just go with the flow.

If you have decided to embark on the journey of becoming a better leader, there are certain traits that you’ll have to develop.

Adaptable

The business world changes rapidly. As entities are run by people, the leaders of these companies have to be adaptable and flexible, A great leader understands the importance of flexibility and how crucial it is for the success of the company and the employees.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of a “small” company known as Amazon understands the importance of flexibility. How a company with nearly 600,000 employees manages to adapt fast and stay on top of the market?

Well, thanks to Bezos’s smart method, namely “The two pizza rule”. So, an adaptive leader developed a method that will keep the whole company flexible.

The two pizza rule is to keep all teams small enough so a team can be fed with two pizzas.

All the leaders that made history were flexible and adaptable. The teams, and eventually the companies they build, we’re based on exactly these principles. Most of the large corporate world companies are slow to respond to the market.

This is something that has and will continue to kill companies. All new big players in the business world have spent their time in creating flexible and adaptive business structures. But an adaptive business structure can’t battle a leader that doesn’t change their vision and that doesn’t respond to changes quickly enough.

Aspiring

What is a business without a driving force? Leaders that take their position seriously know that motivation comes from within. As one, you have to be inspiring your employees on a daily basis.

Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur who’s shaking the world of marketing, understands this perfectly. As an owner of one of the most successful new marketing companies, VaynerMedia, he has mastered the art of motivation and driving his team.

Daily actions towards motivating your team can be anything from your mood to weekly gatherings with your team/employees and share your vision for the future, discussing your thoughts and mutually planning strategies and future goals for the company.

Balanced

Balance is something unique for each person.

For some people to be balanced means to be great at multitasking, while others associate it with calmness and tranquillity, needed to complete their tasks one by one. On whichever side you’re on, you’ll become a balanced leader only after you know yourself and understand your needs.

If you have trouble figuring this out, try out different things. Give yourself a week working in a tight schedule, handling multiple tasks, embracing the noise that comes with the line of work.

Switch things up the following week. Focus on just a handful of tasks per day and do your best to remain calm and without distracting yourself to finish them one by one.
Most importantly, analyze your work after each week and compare the results. What is your leading balance?

Confident

The world of business has seen its fair share of non-confident leaders. We can’t give examples because nobody remembers them.

Among the traits of all successful leaders, they are decisive, confident and focused. Taking decisions is never easy but all the choices a leader makes influence the company, the team and the livelihood of the employees.

With such stress falling upon the leader, confidence and focus are the things that can keep them motivated.

Confidence is a helpful attribute, especially in tough times. Overcoming business crisis requires quite a bit of self-belief in the face of the leaders. If you aren’t confident in yourself be sure that no one will believe in you or your agenda.

Efficient

As much as we’d all like, nobody has unlimited resources. Both budget and workforce are finite. That’s why you need to be efficient with what you have at your disposal and effectively use your resources.

While for some people this refrains them, great leaders get creative. Successful leaders know how to efficiently handle and use the resources they have.

Because of their ability to use limited resources, leaders are capable of staying organised in all scenarios. The starting stages of working with limited resources teach leaders to be capable in numerous fields and always be that hardest working in the team.

Being a successful leader requires you knowing the strengths of your colleagues to delegate tasks and responsibilities accordingly. This will help with efficiently distributing responsibilities and maximising productivity in your team.

Fair

Fairness is a quality adored by the strong and successful leaders. Outstanding leaders recognise where credit is due and are happy to give it.

On the contrary, the first in place to know how to deal with people and companies in a way that it’s fair for both sides.

Another quality that perfectly falls in this category is honesty. It takes courage to say what you think and believe. Staying genuine is hard. That’s why leaders that strive towards success have this common trait.

Being open to receive any type of criticism is important, as this is one of the best ways to improve yourself on the feedback of others.

Friendly

You’d be surprised where kindness and friendliness can take you. While leaders tend to have the most to lose, they also have to be above all things. You can’t allow a bad day to have its toll on your vision and motivation. This can be detrimental for your team and the company.

A bad impression can limit your reach to funds, and it can easily stagnate the growth of your company.

Prosperous leaders understand that a smile goes a long way. While everyone has their fair share of bad days, leaders shouldn’t show this trough. Remaining kind and compassionate is far more rewarding when you’re having a bad day. It can even improve your own mood.

Keeping a humorous setting in the office can lift the spirits of your employees and help them overcome both professional and personal troubles.

Selflessness and compassion are the biggest gifts a leader can possess. To be a successful leader most of the time you have to think “others first”. Keep your head straight and always remember that others depend on you both for their professional and personal growth.

Incisive

Fast thinkers are always ahead of the game. Bill Gates reads trough around 50 books every year. That’s roughly a book per week. This not only helps him vibe off after a hard day of work, but it also helps him understand the world better, train his brain to absorb and understand information faster as well.

Depending on the niche you’re working in there are numerous materials that can help you become more knowledgeable. Whether it be reading books on the topic of leadership, or attending seminars tightly connected with your line of work, being relevantly educated helps tremendously with your leadership.

Just as the second richest man in the world, Bill Gates, can afford to spend time every day reading a book, you can as well. Know your field inside and out in order to keep your position as a relevant and strong leader.

Passionate

Work with passion and you won’t have even one workday. Being the one on top often means long office hours, maximum dedication and loyalty to the vision.

Passion, loyalty and enthusiasm are what push the company and the employees going forward.

You as a leader have to have all of that and history proves it. Most successful people are so dedicated to what they do, they don’t quit until they make it. And their passion is what drives them through the hard times.

Responsible

You can’t be a successful leader without a team. To have a well-working team requires you to be accessible, cooperative and helpful. When you’re the one in charge you have to always be there for your team.

Leaders often have to help colleagues and team members overcome personal and work-related issues. As much as everyone would love to separate work and personal life, sometimes things become overwhelming.

Leaders should be there to help and cooperate whenever there is a problem like this. As a leader, you’re responsible to help your team and be accessible at all times when they need help.

Do you think you have leadership qualities? Do you want to partner with a company which will highly value your traits and help you grow professionally?

If the answer is yes, you should give us a call. We sell different kinds of businesses in Australia and are in need of good leaders to manage them.

Check out what we offer here. Or directly contact us.