Do you have it in you to be a Great Leader?
Date: Wednesday , October 31, 2012
With 18 years rich experience, Raj Reddy has been instrumental in conceptualization, design and implementation of Talent strategies, to build higher productivity people processes through Corporate & Regional leadership roles.
Basic ingredients of leadership include the ability to have a vision and drive the same passionately with trust and integrity. A leader must also be curious to learn new things and fearlessly implement the same. Excellence in implementation coupled with willingness to take new responsibilities, ability to motivate and win the trust of its workforce is of utmost importance. Personal traits such as Confidence, Adaptability and Flexibility along-with a spirited balanced life that aims towards continuous learning is also important. In a nutshell, a leader is an endless list of qualities. Having said that, some of the key traits according to me can be described as below :
Leaders do not Blame Circumstances:
A leader needs to take responsibility for his/her own behavior, without blaming circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for his behavior. One needs to choose the response to any situation and any person.
Leaders Visualize the Future:
A leader needs to visualize the future that he wants to achieve. A leader will have a clear vision of where he wants to go and what he wants to accomplish. This comes from vast experiential knowledge in dealing with uncertainty and ability to connect the dots of today to build a Context for future.
Leaders are led by Principles: A leader needs to live a disciplined life. He leads life according to deeply held beliefs, principles, or fundamental truths. He has to focus on highly important things such as building relationships, future oriented planning, exercising, and preparation – all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom do them, may be because they are not urgent.
Leaders believe in Abundance:
A leader should have an abundance mentality and belief that there is plenty for everybody. A leader does not believe that one person’s success requires another person’s failure. A leader looks for synergetic solutions to problems that benefit all parties. He listens with the strong intent to fully, deeply understand the other person both emotionally and intellectually. It is like diagnosing before prescription.
Leaders value differences in People:
A leader believes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He values differences between people and try to build upon those differences. Leaders look for third alternative: When presented with two conflicting alternatives, they seek third, more creative response. To sum up, a leader always looks for better than the best. A leader seeks continuous improvement, innovation, and refinement and believes in continuous learning.
In order to create a unidirectional collective momentum, it is very important for us to focus our thoughts towards the Mission (why do we exist), Values (what we believe in), Vision (what we want to be), strategy (what is the game plan to attain vision), Business Score Card (focus and implementation), Strategic actions (what we need to do), and Personal objectives (what I need to do). By systematically working through these fundamental concepts, we will be able to transform ourselves into great leaders of tomorrow.
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