Great leaders are self made not born

Whether running your own business or leading teams in an office setting, the best leaders require a strong set of leadership qualities to help positively interact with their employees, team members, and clients.

Behavioral theories suggest that good leaders are made not born, which means that people can obtain leadership qualities through teaching and learning these skills over time.

The most important qualities of a good leader include integrity, accountability, empathy, humility, resilience, vision, influence, and positivity.

“Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.”

— Steve Jobs

Irrespective of how you define the word leadership, you can’t deny that certain individuals can greatly impact the lives of others based on their experience and insights. While we’re all living different timelines on the journey of life, there are always people to look up to and gain inspiration from.

While many people seem like naturally-born leaders more than others, there are certain characteristics, traits, and skills that build the most effective leaders.

The good news is that each of this leadership attributes, characteristics, and traits can be learned through practice and repetition.

The characteristics of those in charge correlated to their ability to accomplish their goals. Just as importantly, those same traits determined how much or how little their followers looked up to them.

Great leaders find the balance between business foresight, performance, and character. They have vision, courage, integrity, humility and focus along with the ability to plan strategically and catalyze cooperation amongst their team.

Leaders have the ability to anticipate trends, well in advance of their competitors. They continually ask, “Based on what is happening today, where is the market going? Where is it likely to be in three months, six months, one year, and two years?” They do this through thoughtful strategic planning.

Fortunately, you can put history on your side and use the learning from others to develop admirable leadership strengths.