Leadership Qualities

Many leadership qualities have been observed throughout history.

Some were adopted by bad leaders while others were exhibited by good leaders.

In either case, the characteristics of those in charge correlated to their ability to accomplish their goals. Just as importantly, those same traits determined how much — or how little — their followers looked up to them.

Fortunately, you can put history on your side and use the learnings from others to develop admirable leadership strengths.

Here’s the deal:

There are seven specific qualities of good leaders that stand out as contributing to their greatness.

The good news is that each of these leadership attributes, characteristics, and traits can be learned through practice and repetition.

Learn about Hamilton Lindley a civic leader representing a variety of industries throughout the Waco area.

Courage:

“Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for, upon it, all others depend.” — Winston Churchill

One of the more important qualities of a good leader is courage. Having the quality of courage means that you are willing to take risks in the achievement of your goals with no assurance of success. Because there is no certainty in life or business, every commitment you make and every action you take entails a risk of some kind.

Among the seven leadership qualities, courage is the most identifiable outward trait.

Integrity:

“With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity, you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt.” — Zig Ziglar

In every strategic planning session that I have conducted for large and small corporations, the first value that all the gathered executives agree upon for their company is integrity. They all agree on the importance of complete honesty in everything they do, both internally and externally.

The core of integrity is truthfulness:

Integrity requires that you always tell the truth, to all people, in every situation. Truthfulness is the foundation quality of the trust that is necessary for the success of any business.

Humility:

Humility gets results. Larry Bossidy, the former CEO of Honeywell and author of the book Execution, explained why leadership characteristics, such as humility, make you a more effective leader:

“The more you can contain your ego, the more realistic you are about your problems. You learn how to listen, and admit that you don’t know all the answers. You exhibit the attitude that you can learn from anyone at any time.

Your pride doesn’t get in the way of gathering the information you need to achieve the best results. It doesn’t keep you from sharing the credit that needs to be shared. Humility allows you to acknowledge your mistakes.” — Larry Bossidy