Gurudev

Stop Following and Start Leading with these 10 Keys for Effective Leadership

Leadership is a manifestation of strong love and compassion for people. It represents a commitment to principles. In that sense, a certain degree of leadership is dormant in every individual. The challenge comes when one has to nurture it. The first step is the awareness of these qualities.

Here are ten invaluable leadership qualities that leaders should try to imbibe and encourage.

  1. Fair and Impartial -  A true leader —  whether political, religious or social  —  has many challenges to face. The capacity to express one’s commitment varies from individual to individual. It is often clogged by one’s likes and dislikes. Yet, a leader has to view everyone with the same outlook, appraise everyone with the same yardstick. To find discrimination as well as the much-needed wisdom to act at the right time without fear or favor is the mark of a leader.
  2. A leader takes care of everyone -  The society we live in and the groups we represent are not homogeneous and one cannot satisfy everybody. Yet, a leader has to carry everyone along and do justice to everybody.The more one can empathize with a diverse group and the more one can relate to others, helps one become a more effective leader.
  3. A leader has the strength to face criticism - A leader has to withstand criticism and not react emotionally to situations. Often leaders are surrounded by sycophants who try to boost their egos for their own personal agenda. Leaders need hands and feet and have to depend on people around them. At the same time, leaders should not find themselves in a position where they remain confined in a fortress of close aides or becomes a captive of admirers.
  4. A true leader learns from mistakes - One of the most desired qualities of a true leader is the courage to stretch a hand towards critics and have the patience to listen to them. A true leader takes failures with as much equanimity as successes. These days leaders are defensive all the time, explaining their shortcomings or justifying their wrong actions. A true leader will neither complain nor explain and is open to learning all the time. Admitting a past mistake and creating space for others with completely diverse viewpoints can make a leader more acceptable and universal. A leader does not pass the buck!
  5. A true leader is well balanced - A true leader balances ideology and practicality, long-term goals with short-term needs. Those who stick only to idealism cannot become leaders and those who think they are very practical and without any ideology also bite the dust.

6) A true leader works on both the micro level and the macro level - A leader cannot be either generic or specific. Effective leadership requires one to strike a balance between personal attention to people and the generic vision for the group, community or country he leads.

7) A true leader is honest - A leader should have the courage to accept one’s weak moments. With an understanding that people are magnanimous, it becomes easier to acknowledge mistakes and move forward. When a leader is open, people appreciate the straightforwardness and accept his / her shortcomings.

8) A true leader strikes a balance between diplomacy and straightforwardness - Some leaders are too diplomatic while others are too straightforward in their approach. While people do not trust those, who are very diplomatic, they do not want anything to do with those who are very blunt and justify their rudeness in the garb of straightforwardness. People who are very straightforward and blunt in their approach often don’t find followers. It is like tuning a guitar. If the strings are stretched too tight you cannot play it, and if the strings are too loose you cannot create music either. A leader has to strike the balance between diplomacy and straightforwardness.

9) A true leader gives due credit but keeps pride in check - While self-righteous people create distaste in others, those who take credit for every good action are equally distanced. A leader should acknowledge others’ contributions and at the same time see that these contributions don’t get to their heads.

10) A true leader creates a mindful movement - A leader can create a mob but soon enough will find that a mob is short lived. A short-sighted leader creates a mob; a leader with wisdom creates a movement. Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are examples of inspirational leaders who created movements.


This may sound utopian, but in reality, if you look keenly into the lives of the most successful leaders, you will find all these qualities naturally manifest at some time or the other. You don’t have to do much to inculcate these leadership qualities; just their awareness is good enough to make a good leader!

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