“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way,” — John C. Maxwell.
Leadership is the act of motivating/inspiring a bunch of people to go beyond their comfort zone to achieve something extraordinary.
To be a great leader, the first and most important thing is that the leader should be loved and trusted by his/her people, hold them together despite their differences, see a dream and make everyone believe, and work towards fulfilling the vision.
A leader alone can achieve only some, but they can move mountains and ride many ladders of success with a great team.
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is a success,” — Henry Ford
To be a great leader, one must possess some essential traits like;
- Integrity/Honesty.
- Empathy.
- Risk Taker.
- Optimism/Positivity.
- Nurturing a learning culture.
- Integrity
“Look for this one trait if you want to hire someone; in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you,” — Warren Buffett.
Trust is the first and most essential as well as integral component for being a successful leader.
If leadership is something you are building up yourself for, then this is the first thing you need to build within yourself.
People can’t admire and respect a leader if they can’t trust him/her.
Be it good news or bad news; the leader needs to be open with the colleagues.
Leaders are often shy of sharing the bad news or a risk internally among the colleagues, in fear of their reaction and employees leaving the organization, but this is possibly more important than sharing the good news.
Employees look up to a leader who can handle good and bad equally well and have the courage to be open about it with all the stakeholders.
Integrity is displayed by the leaders primarily but not limited to with the following actions;
- Adherence to organization policy.
- Impartial decision-making.
- Sync in values, words, and actions.
- Standing by someone in their difficult times.
- Looking at the organization’s interest above individual interest.
- Not using one’s position and authority for personal benefit.
- Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand or feel what the other person is going through or in simple terms, put yourself into the other’s shoes.
A leader is as close to his/her people as good he/she understands them and their emotions and subsequently develops a stronger bond with them over time.
A leader is required to exhibit empathy during difficult times than being strategy smart. An empathetic leader wins people’s hearts in no time, and then people work for a leader putting their best effort and no more for a company or a brand.
- Risk-taking ability
Someone wise has once said,” A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for” similarly leaders are people who always believe in achieving extraordinary by stepping out of their comfort zone, dreaming beyond normal, going that extra mile to achieve it. Leaders are people with no extraordinary intelligence; instead, they are visionaries spot opportunities, take risks and chase it till it becomes a reality. They do reasonable due diligence and never shy away from taking that leap. While the ordinary person sees the chances of failure and fears it, the leader only sees its success and its magnitude.
- Optimism
“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change; the leader adjusts the sails,” — John Maxwell.
High positivity, morale, and enthusiasm, what drives teams to achieve the impossible, makes one go beyond their abilities
Optimism is not showcased when the going is good; it is tested when the going gets tough, the winds are stormy.
The optimism of the leader is the critical driver for the team to keep going during tough times.
The leader’s positivity keeps the team motivated and makes them see the sunny side among the dark clouds.
- Fostering a learning culture
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader,” — Margaret Fuller.
“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage,” — Jack Welch.
Investing in people and their capability has been proven to be the best investment an organization can make.
This is beneficial both to the organization and the workforce for the following reasons:
- Higher employee satisfaction.
- Better employee retention and enthusiastic/workforce.
- Improved productivity hence higher profitability and enhanced organization capability.
- Enhanced market reputation for the organization and hence ability to attract top talents.
- Upskilled employees = Happier employees with better work-life balance.
Winners create winners.
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We have implemented automation in all those areas that can be predicted, thereby drastically removing human intervention and improving the team’s productivity and capability. The learning and innovation culture has been a very core way of its working from the beginning.
We firmly believe that people will not grow in the system unless there is automation and improvement of processes.
Technology adoption is an essential factor for an organization to stay updated and be ahead of the competition.
It’s rightly said by Phil Jackson on leadership.
