Leadership, something that John Quincy Adams sums up the best: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” In the corporate world, only a handful of people can really be considered great leaders. Yes, there are countless good businesspeople but not all of them can be placed under the category of good leaders and role models. Simply put, you can be a successful business practitioner but not an inspiring leader. As executive headhunters would like to say: It is quite easy to become a boss but it is never easy to become a legitimate leader.
Managing and leading a group composed of different people with different personalities, culture, upbringing, personal beliefs, philosophies, and attitudes can be very challenging. The diversity of the people you manage can be tricky and at times pose problems, which can easily dishearten people who don’t possess good leadership qualities. Hence, the question “how to become a good leader” always pops out.
How to become a good leader, anyway? This question may seem very basic but the answers can be very diverse. This article will try to discuss some of the qualities that good business leaders and executives share in order to shed light to said question. So, you want to lead your team or organization to full realization of your business goals? You may want to adapt the qualities and traits provided below.
- Don’t expect to be a perfect leader; if you’re not having any problems, you’re doing it wrong. A good leader is someone who is battle-tested, someone who failed so badly to the point of almost breaking down. A good leader is someone who faced defeat, endured it, learned from it, and improved from it. Many successful leaders in the business world from past and present did not have a carefree career but a bumpy and problematic one, but they were able to channel the failures they experienced to become better leaders.
- Yes, you may have a busy work schedule; maybe you are always busy thinking of ways to improve your team and organization’s sales, but this should not hinder you from getting a life. If you want to have a good career as a business leader, you must know how to properly handle your time. Focusing all of your time and energy to work is not healthy because stress will slowly get into your system. In order to be a more efficient leader, you also need to take a time-off from work as you need exposure to the “real world”.
- Don’t be a dead-boring leader. You cannot attract other individuals to follow your lead if you don’t make them laugh or smile even a bit. Leaders with good sense of humor tend to conveniently motivate other people to become more productive and satisfied at what they do. Laughter and smiles always bring light moment even in most trying times. Of course, you need to be serious in what you do, but if you want to take a break or see things and solve problems in a different mindset and perspective, sense of humor is always a go-to solution.
- Nobody said it was easy to lead a team or a company. As advised by executive headhunters, expect barrage of problems and issues in your career. You should ready yourself for problems larger than your organization. Whenever you experience problems, don’t be discouraged but take it as a challenge to become a better person. Don’t be weak because your employees look at you as their pillar of hope in solving issues; instead, become the bigger man and deal with things using your clear mind.
It is not easy to become a successful leader but you can if you have the right mindset. Changing the way you look into things will certainly help you become a better leader – a better person.