effective leaders

Great leaders are sensitive. They understand what drives their employees and demonstrate genuine concern for their welfare.

Planning requires thought. Great leaders organise and plan ahead. Although thinking through various scenarios and possible impacts requires analytical thinking skills, plan so that your passions align with your thinking.

Great leaders communicate persuasively. Strive to deliver messages that inspire, motivate and reassure, and when required, are direct.

Great leaders are self-assured and very confident. Your confidence conveys a sense of calm during turbulent times, and great leaders do not waver once they commit to a course of action.

Leaders develop a unique sense of professionalism about their image, their actions and their communications. They conduct themselves in a way that sets them apart from their employees. To distinguish yourself as a manager, lead by example.

Responsible

Leaders take responsibility for their people’s performance. When things are going well, they praise efforts publicly. When things require attention, they find ways to fix them quickly.

Great leaders see things through to completion. They simultaneously track what may appear to be insignificant details and keep the larger picture in mind. They monitor anything they believe will help them to achieve their goals. They don’t give up easily when things do not go their way.

Great leaders are honest leaders. They genuinely treat people like they would like to be treated, because they respect themselves and take others’ feelings into consideration.

Passionate leaders seem to stimulate and energise people and make work enjoyable for their team.

17 Words That Will Never Fail

Once there was a retirement dinner for a very successful business executive. There was a lot of good-hearted roasting of the guest of honour before he got up to give his speech. He started with a few zingers of his own and then he started to reminisce about some of his successes and failures.

The retiree became very nostalgic and said, 'Let me tell you why that’s been the case … Many years ago I had a great boss and mentor. One day he gave me one of his business cards. On the back of it my boss had written 17 words. He told me that whenever he had to make a tough decision or was in a challenging predicament he would read his list of 17 words Then he would close his eyes and try to be very quiet and something amazing would happen. One of these words would always jump out at him and steer him in the right direction.'

'My boss told me that for 40 years these 17 words had never failed him. And I’m here to tell you that this list has never failed me in the last 40 years.'

Then he passed out his business cards and here’s what he wrote on the back of each one: