Leadership - 101 Qualities That Make A Great Leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

10/31/2016
Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe
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101 qualities that make a great leader
Leadership 101 qualities that

make a great leader
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TRUE leadership is cemented by special qualities. In these times of

make-believe television celebrities, its hard to separate between
leadership and fame. This has even crept into the clergy, where, instead
of seeing servant leadership, we, at times, see pulpit pop stars. True
leadership has to be trusted.
SUCCESS LIFE: JONAH NYONI

A great leader has a special aura about him. Its not only people that are
following, but special attributes. These attributes are subsequently
followed by specific results. Below are precise and profound points to
learn.
https://www.newsday.co.zw/2016/10/29/leadership-101-qualities-make-great-leader/
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Integrity and character

Good character is like glue that sticks together all pieces in the puzzle of
leadership. Talent, charisma and gifts can take a person up the ladder,
but its good character that keeps a leader at the top.
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Good leaders are trustworthy, reliable and ethical. Integrity means they
have self-knowledge of their strength and weaknesses. Because they
know their weakness, they seek right people to plug that.
A great leader has people at heart
Good leaders should care about the employees as to achieve common
goals. This is the difference between leadership and management.
People are led and equipment or systems are managed. A great leader
cares about the people he leads. This makes people buy into his vision
without being coerced.
The greatest resource in any institution is its people. I have seen some
leaders pushing or manhandling their subordinates. A great leader
grows other leaders. By so doing, results are multiplied. The leader has
to grow personally. Where there is no growth, there is no life.
Personal growth and people growth lead to institutional growth. At times
a leader does not have to force people to do a task, but people that are
led should feel obligated to produce even in the absence of a leader. A
great leader makes their vision clear to others and leads people to buy
into his vision.
A great leader sees into the future
Good leaders are forward-looking and focus on the bigger picture. For
example, in business, a leader should tell where they will be in five or 10
years.
I have always said, as a leader, go into the future, and capture those
great pictures, and then come back into the now and act to bring that
to fruition.
A leader has to have a prophetic insight and begins to work towards
that. This makes the leader be in a better position to adjust priorities and
plan for the future.
A leader should anticipate danger before his subordinates and should be
able to create capacity in others and himself to handle a great
opportunity when it comes along.
Openness and accepting criticism
As a leader, are you willing to listen? Are you approachable? Or even
accessible? Some leaders are too big to be told anything. I have had
the privilege of working with leaders from different backgrounds and
most of them confess that it is always hard to receive feedback from
employees.
In some instances, leaders have suppressed positive feedback by being
bossy. The International Business Driving Licence (IBDL) says: Great
leaders are approachable, accessible, and always willing to listen.
Often managers, and especially entrepreneurs, think that they arrived at
their position because of their talent, skills, and abilities. They believe
they have the answers, more than anyone else, which is a formula for
disaster.
The more leaders listen to others, are willing to accept constructive
criticism and act on it, and keep the communication lines open, the more
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effective she or he will be in accomplishing the firms goals.

A great leader works on relationships to produce more results
A good leader has personal achievements and a great leader has team
achievements. John C Maxwell in his book The Maxwell Daily Readers
(2007:38), says: Friendship is the foundation of influence: President
Abraham Lincoln said, If you would win a man to your cause, first
convince him that you are his sincere friend. Good relationships make
influence possible, and friendship is the most positive relationship you
can develop on the job with your co-workers.
As an employee, there is nothing so degrading and demoralising as
being reprimanded in public or in the presence of your colleagues. But
when you have built great relationships, even when people have done
wrong, they will understand.
In this case, you are not a boss, but a colleague, who seeks the good of
an organisation. Hearty genuine public praise is what all people want. It
lights my day! It sets my spirit on cloud nine!
A great leader does not stop with the current, but is ready for
change
Past achievements are at times the greatest enemy of future
achievements. Most people stop and bask in their previous victories
forgetting that the future has more to offer than we have seen.
As we rest on our laurels, we sometimes get too intoxicated by success
to forget that change is on its way. Its typical with humanity not to accept
change.
Its after you ask what happened to Motorola or Nokia, when you will
appreciate the power of change. These companies did nothing wrong,
but change caught them off-guard.
Leaders should always be making new adjustments, improvements and
look out for possible changes.
A great leader is measured by people following
A Chinese proverb says: He who sayeth hes leading yet hath no one
behind him is only taking a walk.
Thats the frank truth that most people, especially managers, fail to
acknowledge. Take stock of that and start to lead!
A great leader makes decisions
Leaders make crucial decisions for a company. A leader has to consult
and choose from alternatives. When a leader fails to make a decision,
an organisation might lose important opportunities. Warren Bennis, in his
book Why Leaders Cant Lead (1989:110), says: The world doesnt
need any more operators or mechanics, but it desperately needs
explorers and inventors people willing to take on the world and its
problems by living up to their own visions of excellence and using their
talents to the full.
Parting Point: A great leader is a person who acknowledges that
leadership is not a one-day event, but a daily process of learning and
unlearning. It is also the ability to influence people to work towards a
common goal.
Jonah Nyoni is an author, success coach and leadership trainer. He is
the author of Inspiration for Success and Success Within Reach.
Email: jonah@classicmail.co.za. Twitter @jonahnyoni
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10/31/2016

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

You are here: Home Opinion & Editorials Columnists Leadership

Leadership 101 qualities that

TRUE leadership is cemented by special qualities. In these times of

SUCCESS LIFE: JONAH NYONI

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

Integrity and character

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

effective she or he will be in accomplishing the firms goals.

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

Meet The Most

From the Past

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

Some of Zims best places to visit

Email (will not be published) (required)

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

Mujuru slams brakes on coalition

Too little 2 late for Dynamos

Leadership 101 qualities that make a great leader - NewsDay Zimbabwe

Braai fest records set in Zim?

Doves taken to court over $19 000 equipment

MDC-T in poll U-turn, again

Govt urged to synchronise old age cut-off point

Subscribe to NewsDay now

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