Idea 19: The seven qualities of leadership

A leader not only has knowledge and skills, he or she also has the right qualities to lead a group to achieve its ends willingly.

Personality and character cannot be left out of leadership. There are certain generic leadership traits. Seven of the most important ones are:

1. Enthusiasm – try naming a leader without it!
2. Integrity – meaning both personal wholeness and sticking to values outside yourself, primarily goodness and truth. Integrity makes people trust a leader.
3. Toughness – being demanding, with high standards, resilient, tenacious and with the aim of being respected (not necessarily popular).
4. Fairness – impartial, rewarding/penalizing performance without ‘favourites’, treating individuals differently but equally. Firm but fair.
5. Warmth – the heart as well as the mind being engaged, loving what is being done and caring for people. ‘Cold fish’ do not make good leaders.
6. Humility – the opposite of arrogance, being a listener and without an overpowering ego.
7. Confidence – not over-confident (which leads to arrogance), but with a calm self-confidence. People know whether you have confidence or not.