Great leaders are in great demand, whether it’s being a coach for a football team, a CEO for a corporation, or a general for the Army.
In many cases people are mistaken about what makes a good leader, thinking it’s about being able to establish resources and priorities to acquire worthwhile goals.
That’s a portion of being a leader, however, true leadership involves a lot more than that. Actual leadership deals more with inspiration than simple productivity.
A boss has the title. A leader has the people. ~Simon Sinek
For leaders to be truly inspirational, they must adapt and adopt different leadership styles at different stages in business.
If an individual in a leadership role is unable to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, the whole organization suffers. A key element to successful leadership is remembering that people want to follow someone who leads by example. Inspiring this reaction requires the leader to set the tone as well as the attitude for how to handle the challenges the team inevitably will face.
3 ways leaders set themselves apart
Three critical traits and attitudes are essential for leaders if they want to motivate their teams to perform at the highest levels:
- Self-belief.
Your success as a leader lies in your ability to believe in yourself. You must feel that you can handle whatever situation arises. Understand that effective leaders are aware of both their strengths and their limitations. While self-belief is a positive trait, it isn’t a license for narcissism or hubris.
Being positive in a negative situation is not naïve. It’s leadership. ~Ralph Marston
- Self-confidence that inspires others.
If you can convince yourself that you can do it, then the rest of the world will automatically be convinced. It makes a big difference in how people see you and react to you when you exude confidence. The saying, don’t let them see you sweat, certainly applies to leading.
Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are and who you have always been. And understanding it can change your life, because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way. ~Sheri L. Dew
- Supporting your team.
Having the opportunity to help others is also an opportunity to help yourself in disguise. When you provide employees what they need to reach and exceed their potential, the result will be high performance levels and loyalty, which is good for you and the organization.
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~Winston Churchill
Leadership is never about using the brute force of authority to force your ideas down other people’s throats. This is not the forte of the real leader. In fact, it’s quite the contrary.
True leaders set themselves apart by working to better the society around them and the world at large.
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Today’s guest contributor is Mayur Ramgir, author of Evolve Like a Butterfly: A Metamorphic Approach to Leadership and speaker, innovator, and entrepreneur. Educated at Georgia Tech, MIT, Oxford, and the University of Sussex, he currently serves as president and CEO of Boston-based Zonopact Inc.
Image credit (before quote added): Pixabay
