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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

March - 2012 - issue > Leadership

The Traits of a Good Leader

Neeraj Dotel
Monday, March 5, 2012
Neeraj Dotel
There are thousands of literary materials describing what it takes to be a superior organizational leader. Some authors claim an exceptional leader possesses certain traits or skill sets; others say it's all about the personality. Still others maintain it's the daily behavior and not necessarily the intentions or thoughts, that are drives leadership.

In the traditional sense, leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. A leader with vision has a clear, vivid picture of the end point, as well as a firm handle on what success looks like and how to achieve it. But vision alone is not enough as leaders must also share the vision and act upon it to make vision into a reality. Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric Co., said, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion."

Certain character traits are inescapable when we talk about leadership. These include:

Integrity: Integrity is the culmination of outward actions and inner values. A person of integrity can be trusted because he or she never departs from their intrinsic values, even in times of difficulties. A leader must have the trust of followers and therefore must display integrity. Honest business dealings, stable reactions, well-controlled emotions, and an absence of unreasonable outbursts are signs of integrity.

Dedication: Dedication means spending the required time, energy and focus to accomplish the task at hand. A leader inspires dedication by example, doing whatever it takes to complete the next step toward the vision. By setting an example that the leader is willing to get the job done, he/she shows followers that the leader will not ask for a staff to complete a task which he/she is not willing to do.


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