“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams

One of the rarest and the most valuable skills in this world is leadership. Someone with the skill of leadership is very hard to replace and most of the time actually impossible to replace. So what makes an effective leader? In this short blog, I will highlight major attributes of a leader that you can strengthen to become a great leader yourself.

Heart of a Lion

So what I mean by "Heart of a Lion" is massive courage. This is a basic fundamental of leadership because if you don't have the courage to do something daring then people will not acknowledge you and most likely will not follow you. No man or woman would respect somebody who doesn't have the guts to do something hard, and this is why leaders that lack courage will never have any real followers. The other aspect that I want to focus on is self-confidence. You have to remember one thing: if you don't believe in yourself, then nobody will believe in you and hence never follow you. If you desire to be a great leader, then you have to seem bolder than life and full of confidence. Most people themselves are pondering in life and want to follow someone who knows where he/she is going. So when people see that you are confident and know where you are going, then they will follow you with full consent.

Control of Mind and Actions

So the first thing that you have to understand is that people who can't control themselves, can't possibly control other people. Very few people can actually control themselves in the bad times, in emergency circumstances, and in a state of urgency. They start shivering and panicking because they don't have control over their mind. Create "self-control" if you want to become a great leader.

A Sense of Justice

If you can't point out what is right and wrong, you already lack a basic skill to be in business. There will be many times as a leader where you will have to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. You will have to give justice to your followers or people that work for you. If people that work for you can sense that you can't treat people fairly, they will instantly lose respect for you and will not want to work for you. So as a leader, you have to be fair and have a sense of justice.

Decision Maker

When I say "decision maker," I mean making definite decisions in harsh or uncertain times, where nobody is sure what to do or how to do it. This is where great leaders step in and show everybody the path. This may seem like an easy task, but very few people can make decisions in bad times. Most people can't remain calm under pressure. They panic and make faulty decisions which leads everybody to doom. So you have to make definite decisions to be followed by many and to become a great leader.

Clear Plan Maker

If you look through the history of leaders, you will see that many leaders that have met ruin failed to plan and hence didn't know where they wanted to go. As a leader, if you don't plan you obviously don't know where you are going and no matter how great your followers are, you wont lead them to anywhere. No leader can achieve success without proper planning. There will be times where you will have to make definite plans to reach the goal you want.

"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!" - Benjamin Franklin

Do more than Required

Now as a leader, if you only do what is required then you followers will only do what is required. Followers are more likely to follow your actions than your words. So if you do less, they will do less. And remember, to acquire great wealth and riches, you have to do the extraordinary work and go the extra mile. So if you do more than what is required, your followers will do more than what is required and only then you will acquire great wealth.

Take Responsibility

As a leader, you have to make your followers feel like you are a human too. This is because if you act like you are perfect and never make mistakes, people will not want to follow you because they will believe that they can't be like you. So you have to work along your followers and take responsibility. If you make a mistake, then admit it rather than blaming it on other people or blaming bad circumstances. So you have to take responsibility for your work and your mistakes, and if you do them right you will have the most loyal followers.

Hawk Eye

As a leader, you need to have an eye for detail. Leaders that don't pay attention to the details always suffer and meet great ruin because they fail to spot faults of the process and don't see the light details that produce huge results. So you have to be a master of details if you want to become a great leader.

So these are some characteristics that make an effective leader. Remember you will not be good at all of these characteristics at your first try which is completely fine because this requires practice and long years of experience. So you will have to practice these characteristics for a significant amount of time, and if you do them properly you will be a great leader and will be remembered for centuries.

So go out and take massive action.

Stay Strong!