Top Ten Qualities that make a Great Leader

What would you add or remove from this list?

Top Ten Qualities that make a Great Leader:

1.   Honesty & Integrity
2.   Ability to Delegate
3.   Communication
4.   Sense of Humour
5.   Confidence
6.   Commitment
7.   Positive Attitude
8.   Creativity
9.   Intuition
10. Ability to Inspire

Highly agree Honesty is #1 on the list and added Integrity to top the list in making a great leader.  Personally, have been working on #2 for quite some time and happy to report doing very well after having a tough time embracing this (remember letting go?).

All issues/challenges seem to relate to some sort of communication, misunderstanding the communication or lack of any communication.  Many have defaulted to e-mail and text messages to replace better forms of communicating such as the phone or face-to-face discussions.   

While e-mail and text messages are good tools for convenience and non-intrusive communication, they lead to many challenges such as open to misinterpretation, no emotion and no pulse check on the other party how they are feeling.  One pet peeve is three to five e-mails back and forth just to schedule an appointment. 

Adding some sense of humour instead of being a stuffed shirt helps with most situations.  Everyone likes to laugh and making people smile means we are doing a good job leading.

#5 is powerful when you can be confident and actually deliver and back it up instead of just acting it - see #1 Integrity.  When you present yourself with over-confidence and not able to back it up you lose your Integrity.

#6 & #7 are qualities you must have as a great leader and without them it will be tough to lead any team.  It's too easy to quit and to be negative.   Being a great leader is be committed and to be positive.

#8 is a struggle for some of us.   Yes drawing "stick people" is what People Like Us without a lot of artistic creativity do.  However, when it's time to generate ideas, another kind of creativity kicks in making us great leaders.

Intuition is part of what surviving and adapting to rapid changing environments is all about.  Keeping composure and instilling confidence are key here.  It's required in our business as technology virtually changes hourly!

Having the ability to inspire your team is a special quality.   Motivating and invigorating the Team requires investment of effort and most of the other nine qualities listed.

There are many others that can be added to the list.  One of my favourites to add is passion.   Bring your passion to everything you do.  Your team and everyone around you will embrace it.

This blog was inspired by:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/2/