5 Signs of A Good Leader | Qualities of Successful Leaders

A good leader is different from being just a businessman. Having good leadership skills is a necessity if you want to succeed in your business. Being a good leader will allow you to coordinate with your team better, make decisions, set goals and achieve them faster. This will boost the productivity of not only you but also your employees. You will be able to motivate your co-workers and churn out more useful work. As a result, your business will boom and you will climb the ladder of success at a faster rate.

Whether you are the owner of a large enterprise or an entrepreneur who is just getting started with his or her company, being a good leader is mandatory. Without good leadership skills, you will not be able to make the most out of your own capabilities as well as your employees’. In this article, we will cover the important traits that differentiate an ordinary businessman and a business leader. We will also talk about how compassion is a great leadership trait to possess and how to develop a compassionate attitude towards others.

Qualities of A Good Leader

Adaptability

Adaptability is the quality that allows one to perceive changes and adapt to them accordingly. Adaptability lets a person foresee changes and start preparing in advance in order to adapt to them. For a business leader, adaptability allows seeing the changes in the market and in the competition. This, in turn, lets him or her change the company’s policies and tactics in an effective manner at an appropriate time.

If a businessperson does not possess the trait of adaptability, then he or she would not be able to read the market properly. He or she falls behind the competition and may incur some heavy blows. Thus, adaptability is an important quality for succeeding in business

Communicative skills

Effective communication is always necessary for any working professional and when it comes to a businessman or entrepreneur, its importance only increases. With efficient communicative skills, a businessperson would be able to connect with his or her employees better. He or she will be able to clearly convey their thoughts and present his or her point of view to them. Good communication has the potential to clear up any misunderstandings between the business leader and the employees.

Without proper communicative skills, a businessperson would not be able to clearly convey his or her messages to the employees. This will result in misunderstandings and confusion which in turn, will lead to improper work. Therefore, it is important for a businessperson to have excellent communicative skills.

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is a trait that is necessary to succeed in any sphere of life and not just professionally. A self-aware person will know his or her strengths and weaknesses. This will allow him or her to work on those weaknesses and improve. As a businessperson, one needs to be self-aware in order to realize his or her true potential. Self-awareness will let a businessperson know how his or her co-workers perceive him. This will allow him or her to work on himself/herself in order to improve their colleagues’ perceptiveness.

On the other hand, a businessperson who is not self-aware will not be able to view himself or herself as he/or she is. One may think of oneself to be more capable than he/she truly is or may look down upon oneself without truly recognizing one’s potential. This will result in either overconfidence or lack of motivation and will lead to mismanagement of tasks.

Decisiveness

It is always important for a business person to be decisive. A decisive businessperson is able to take important decisions quickly without too much hesitation. This saves time and results in a quicker workflow. An indecisive businessperson, on the other hand, will try to delay the task of making a decision. He or she may overthink a decision and leave it hanging. This will disrupt workflow and result in an important decision being taken when it is too late.

One may not be able to take the right decision every time. But it is better to take the wrong decision at the right time than to postpone it and decide when it does not matter anymore.

Sense of purpose

It is important for those business people who want to make it big, to have a sense of purpose. They must be aware of the work that they are doing and the reason behind it. This is what sets entrepreneurs apart from ordinary businessmen. An entrepreneur has a purpose and a fixed set of goals. He or she works for those goals and wants to make a change. This results in his or her employees following him/or her and having a sense of purpose.

A purposeful businessperson will motivate his or her employees and help them understand the true value of their work. This will motivate me to work in a better manner. A business person who has no purpose will fail to motivate his/her employees. They will be fatigued with their work as they will not be able to understand its worth.

Signs of A Good Leader

 There are certain prerequisites that define a leader. Though these traits can be developed over time, the greatest leaders exhibit these from the very beginning. These traits are as follows:

Passion

Passion is the most important quality of a true leader. Passion makes a person devoted to his or her work. A passionate person is dedicated to his or her work and does it with enthusiasm. Without being passionate a leader will not be able to inspire others to be dedicated to their work.

Creativity

Creativity allows a leader to find new and different ways of doing conventional tasks. Leaders who are creative are constantly looking for uniqueness. They are curious about their work and possess a learning attitude. This makes it fun to work with a creative leader.

Teamwork

A great leader is always effective in managing his or her team. He or she understands the individuality of team members well and works with them accordingly. He or she supports his/or her teammates and constantly motivates them to give their best. He/she always helps his/her teammates out whenever needed and works with them hand in hand.

Open-mindedness

To be a great leader, one needs to be open-minded. One needs to look at a situation from different perspectives and try to understand it in different ways. An open-minded leader is always open to suggestions and does not discriminate on the basis of who delivers the suggestion. He or she also does not follow any stereotypes and keeps searching for new ideas.

Persistence

Every great leader from around the world has one thing in common- they never give up. As a leader, it is important to be persistent and have a ‘never give up attitude. Passion gets one started and persistence carries him/her through. Without being persistent, a person will never be able to find out the true potential of his or her work. Persistence keeps a person moving forward while overcoming every hardship that comes his or her way.

How Compassion Can Win Everything

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”- Dalai Lama

Compassion is an important trait to have for any business leader. Being compassionate allows a person to connect with others and build relationships. It makes a person-friendly, kind and helpful to others. These are qualities that employees look for in their leaders. If a business leader is compassionate, he or she will portray these highly admired qualities.

A compassionate business leader is empathetic to his/her co-workers and employees. He/she takes care of their well-being and is mindful of their presence around them. He/she treats them with dignity and appreciates their good work. He or she also takes into account their likings and dis-likings and tries to provide them with a workplace that they would enjoy working in. He/she might also craft a schedule that would provide the employees with enough personal time.

These actions will cause the business leader to be looked up to by his or her employees. He/she will be treated with respect and honour. He/she will also serve as a source of inspiration for every other professional in the company. The employees and co-workers will trust him/her more and believe in their vision for the company.

All of these will lead to a better work culture for the company. A healthy workplace will be established where everyone is treated with respect. As a result, members of the company will portray an increased amount of diligence and conscientiousness. The overall productivity would be increased and the company would quickly rise through the stairs of success.

Hence, compassion is an admirable and indispensable trait to practice.

How to Develop A Compassionate Leadership

Compassion is not something that is pre-built within someone. It is a trait that is developed over time by constantly being conscious of one’s actions and demeanour around others. A compassionate leadership can also be developed by similar practices:

Being mindful

In order to be compassionate to others, one needs to be mindful of his or her attitude towards others. One needs to constantly remind oneself to be compassionate. Without being mindful, compassion can’t be developed as the person will again fall prey to his/her natural instincts and treat others as he or she normally does.

Being kind

Kindness is an indispensable part of compassion. Without being kind to others, one can’t be compassionate. Therefore, one must inculcate the habit of being kind in the simple gestures of everyday life. By being kind, one can develop the habit of treating others in a better way and helping those in need.

Being empathetic

Empathy and compassion go hand in hand. The first step to being compassionate is being able to understand others well. In order to be compassionate, one needs to try and comprehend the thought processes of the people around them. One must try to gain an insight into their minds. One must also strive to discern the thinking and reasoning of others behind their actions.

Conclusion

To sum up, there are several qualities that draw the line between a businessman and a business leader. Leadership is a crucial skill to learn in order to excel in business. Good leadership skills will ensure that the employees give their best. It will also take the company in the right direction and at a faster rate. Good leadership is decisive and often draws the line between successful businesses and failed ones.

By apprehending the leadership traits talked about in this article and inculcating them, one can gradually morph into a great business leader. I hope you found this article useful and understood the common traits that classify one as an ordinary businessman and a business leader.