Leadership is HOT right now. We all strive to be better leaders, whether in our work, or in our business. If we are not leading, we are following and most people have negative connotations about being a “follower”. For instance, a manager could be described as a follower, because they just take orders from the leaders, right? Well, kind of right.
Leader vs Manager
- A leader is always at the helm, and the manager is at the helm of his/her own tribe, but ultimately guided by a leader
- A leader has a tribe and does not have their own leader. A manager has a tribe and also has a leader
- A leader empowers the right managers who in turn will empower their teams, who in turn will do a great job
- A manager knows how to do things right, a leader knows the right things to do
- A leader works towards a vision. A manager shares that vision and also works towards it
- A manager is great at efficiency; a leader knows the importance of effectiveness
Leadership Qualities & Traits
Leaders need an unlimited amount of traits and personality qualities to excel. Some are hard-wired ancestrally or since birth. There are thousands of webpages and blogs dedicated to listing those traits.
Leadership skills can be learned, mostly in the school of life, work and hard knocks. There is a great resource of blogs dedicated to leadership on Tweak Your Biz.
Leadership Quality No.1 – Self-Confidence
Self-Confidence as a leadership quality is rather broad. But to me, a leader exudes and emanates empowerment, empathy, passion and vision.
- It’s a combination of the ability to deliver vocally, be influential, possess a sense of presence, and deliver decisions with conviction
- A leader will confidently make a decision, follow it through, stand by their decision, and admit they are wrong, when they are wrong
- A leader will take a risk, confident that without mistakes, there is little growth potential
- A leader will be self-aware and surround themselves with people who are better than they are, because they know they are not there to do the thing, their top managers are
- The ability to make tough decisions provides authority, and instills confidence in the tribe
- A leader will have a mentor or peer they can sound ideas, fears and doubts with, because they know they don’t know it all, in fact they do not need to know it all
Self-confidence is at the crux of everything we do. Leaders evolve from every race, denomination, and corner of the world. There is a huge gender imbalance in leadership, and the business world is endeavouring to improve that imbalance.
- However, there have been statistics made, and quotas set. Is that really the way to rectify an imbalance in anything?
- Sometimes it takes a brave challenge to question this and perhaps categorically claim “empowering women doesn’t work”
- We had similar quotas imposed on South African organisations with the disbanding (due to democratic elections) of apartheid in 1994
Where does leadership and confidence come in here? It takes a leader like Nelson Mandela to see beyond discrimination, pain and personal experience to have vision, and the confidence to do something about it.
Leaders can be famous or be within your local community, driving a vision, and confidently making a difference.
Do you agree that self-confidence is an important quality of Leadership? Have you an experience of self-confidence in action that you would like to share with us? Tell us in a comment below.
Did you like this article? Sign up for our RSS and/or Follow us on Google+
Images: ”Flowchart of leadership/ Shutterstock.com“
