Being a leader requires a special set of skills that collectively help you to manage your team and lead them to success. These skills are gained through years of training, trial and error and on the job training where mistakes are a normal part of the process.
Leaders ultimately have to create an example for leading that others in the team can follow. In this way everyone pulls for the same thing and this unity catapults everyone to success. With this I mind, there needs to be a set of standards that the team can rally around and mimic. Here is a short list of some of those qualities:
They Help the Less Fortunate
Throughout history private enterprise has offered great support when disasters strike or when there is a glaring need by those who have little or none of the basics to live or to advance in their lives. Today there is always a situation when charity is needed and the need for corporate giving has increased accordingly.
Great CEOs have led the way in these troubling times by setting up programs that support the weakest and most vulnerable in their communities and the world. They do this because they understand their obligation to help is never allowed to be put aside. They also know that helping creates a better world and more able people which is helpful to their business.
Some business leaders like Meredith Iler go one step further and become CEOs of charitable organizations. In the case of Mrs. Iler, she is the chairwoman of Helping a Hero, a non-profit that builds custom homes for war veterans. To date they have helped dozens of veterans to live more comfortable lives. Her goals in building this charity was to both give back to those who have given so much to all of us and to create a business where others can participate via volunteering and giving. Her leadership is like a beacon in this area to those who come in contact with her efforts and results.
They are Persistent
Perseverance is a quality that is often underappreciated but always necessary when you look to lead. People will invariably not meet their expectations and need to be encouraged to keep trying in order to get the desired result. The best way to demonstrate this is to be an example of the persistence you want to see in your team. Nearly every story we hear of involving a great leader is about one where that leader demonstrated persistence toward their goal. It is definitely one of all great leaders most important qualities and is infectious in everyone who observes it.
They Find a Way to get it Done
We all imagine that success will be a straight line directly to our goals and that we will be standing at the beginning and able to see the goal line clearly and well defined and all we have to do is run fast and hard and we will get there. The truth is that in nearly every case of our going toward a worthy goal, there will be false starts, trials, setbacks misdirection, dead-ends each requiring us to challenge our thinking and modify our plans.
For those that can navigate this process effectively, success can be in reach, but without this ability, failure is a certainty. The best CEOs expect to have constant resistance and think through contingencies ahead of time and they know that some resistance will be unforeseen and require an “in the moment” set of solutions that get the team on track and heading toward the stated goal.