What Makes a Great Leader?

I love this question, because there are seemingly infinite answers. And because there is no blueprint for great leadership, we all have the opportunity to learn from the leaders around us.

For me, there are a few specific qualities that I see in great leaders. I’d love to share a few of them with you, and see if you agree. Are these things you see in the leaders in your life?

So, without further ado:

Leaders make adjustments

Seems simple, doesn’t it? But it’s so easy to find ourselves sticking with tried and true strategies because they’ve worked for us in the past. Great leaders assess every situation, and they adjust their strategy to help their teams find success in different conditions.

Leaders know their teams

This one is so important. Great leaders aren’t just given a team to lead — they’re given a team of people with different strengths. A leader who knows where each of her team members are at their best can give meaningful opportunities to each team member and put them in positions to succeed as individuals while also giving the team the best chance to reach its goals. Think of a basketball coach who knows just who to put on the court for that last second shot.

Leaders communicate

Once again, this is something that sounds a lot easier than it is. Communication is such a beautiful thing. It helps us build connections. It helps us learn about each other and the world. But as leaders, it’s not just about communicating everything under the sun. Great leaders say what needs to be said, and that’s why we listen to them when they speak. It’s why we quote them years after the fact. Think of that person in your life for whom you’ll drop what you’re doing to hear what they have to say — it’s an incredible gift, and a powerful quality that helps great leaders drive the best results.

Leaders love change

For obvious reasons, this one might be my favourite! Change is an inevitability of life. By avoiding it — or worse, by pretending it doesn’t exist — we prevent ourselves, and our teams, from coming up with a strategy to manage it. I mentioned in my last blog that change often leads to great innovations — it’s a beautiful disruptor of the norm and it allows us to think differently about our challenges and our objectives. Great leaders love change, because they know that innovation follows.

While these are qualities that I tend to see again and again in great leaders, as I said before, they are by no means the only ingredients in the recipe. That’s what makes leaders so special — they encompass these qualities and so many more. Because each leader is unique in how they lead their teams to success. Once they’ve mastered certain common traits, like these ones, it’s their own character and personality that makes them memorable.

This brings up another question that I’d love to know the answer to.

How will you lead?