What makes a GREAT leader?

Leaders are not born but they are made. Great leaders develop their personal skills to lead the country or group or organsiations. What makes them the great leaders? The following are the qualities of a leader, which makes them to be the leaders.

Self-belief, communication, Emotional Intelligence, Desire, Focus, Passion, discipline and influencing,

Self-belief

Self-belief is not egoism or boastfulness but believing one’s knowledge and resources that he has within himself to overcome obstacles and to keep the momentum going until he achieves the target.

One of my bosses with whom I worked always say “If I am not convinced with the HR Policies or the Systems developed by me, it is always difficult for me to convince the Unions”. Hence, one has to believe himself. Salespeople, who don’t believe in their product, do make sales but not as successful as those who believe.

So much of the leader’s role – especially the leader of a business is to convince others that the course of action they are proposing is the right one. This is about going beyond decisions that are logical and goals that are SMART.

Winston Churchill was a man of incredible self-confidence. His self-belief was a key Churchill Leadership trait.

This was a belief not only in his abilities but also in his destiny. During his early days at school he would confidently tell other boys that one day he would come to London's aid when the capital was under attack. Later, on his way into battle for the first time in 1897 he wrote his mother "I have faith in my star - that I am intended to do something in this world". Great leaders rarely lack self-belief and Churchill was no exception.


Why Self-belief matters to leaders?

In competitive business environment, leaders need the confidence to make tough decisions and to keep the business survive in the business world. This sense of confidence supports them to lead the people in the business. It is the quality which makes him to deal with pressures and problems with courage and bold. It is also helps the business to develop.


How leaders build Self Belief and Self-Confidence?

The leaders who live with self-confidence are brave and role models to the rest of the world. They accept any challenges that are posed with and are able to overcome those challenges with ease. Leaders have self-confidence within themselves and it is discovered by them. Leaders tell themselves that they can accept and face any sort of opposition that stares them in the face.

Why are beliefs so important?

If we believe we are likely to fail, our subconscious mind will get to work to create actions which support this. When the going gets tough, we won't go the extra mile needed to succeed; an initial failure just supports our belief that we were going to fail all along and we give up.

Lewis R.Timberlake, in the book “Born to Win” says that the number one reason why marriages break up, business go under, students fail in school, etc., is anticipation of failure. People expect to fail. We are conditioned by the failure around us until we believe we can’t possibly be successful. The Author says “According to the U.S Camber of Commerce in 1971,48.3% of the people who borrowed money, took investors, withdrew their lif e savings, and /or opened businesses under within one year. The government gave Dr.Dorothy Stanton a grant to study those businesses and determine the cause of so much failure. After months of study, Stanton reported 85% of all business failed because of “anticipation failure”.

How to build Self-belief?

If anybody suffers from a lack of self-confidence, they should carefully evaluate their life and thoughts and try to figure out the reason for lack of self-confidence. Once the reason is known, approach the task of building self-confidence is much easier. To achieve any goal in life, one should believe that he is going to be successful. If they do not, they are likely to fail. On the other hand if they believe they are going to succeed, then they probably will.

There you have it! The secrets to self-confidence! Outlined and to the point. Once you are able to follow these secrets, you are a GREAT leader.

Communication Skills for Leaders will follow.................