The cover story of the April 2014 issue of Fortune magazine is “The 50 Greatest Leaders in the World”. Once again, I didn’t make the cut. I guess it’s possible that I’m number 51, but I think I’m further down the list.
But the story got me thinking: what makes a great leader? What are the skills that truly effective leaders possess?
There are many, to be sure. But in my experience, both as a leader and working with leaders across the country, there are four foundational skills that all great leaders have developed and continue to develop throughout their careers.
A great leader:
creates
Leadership is an act of creation. A great leader creates a team, creates a vision, creates a plan. I’m not saying I necessarily do this alone, but a great leader creates. Even if a leader inherits a team, he recreates it in a way that furthers the goal, the vision. More than one leadership guru has stated that creativity is the #1 skill leaders need today (and tomorrow). What many people don’t realize is that it is a skill that can be learned, nurtured and improved. Great leaders take the act of creation seriously and strive consciously Y continually to develop their creative abilities.
Communicate
A great leader is a great communicator. Whether they’re communicating with the team, stakeholders, or the public, great leaders have the ability to get their message across clearly and compellingly. And the Really the great ones understand, and use, the incomparable power of humor.
Inspire
Team members follow a great leader not because they have to, not because they are told to, but because they want to. Why? Because a great leader inspire to them. A great leader makes them they want to be better than they are now are. But let’s be clear: there is more than one style of inspiration. You don’t have to be the bombastic football coach or the fire and brimstone preacher to be an inspiring leader. Mother Teresa never ranted in a locker room at halftime (that I know of); Warren Buffett does not thunder from the pulpit. But both have achieved remarkable results through inspiration.
To decide
When, as a TV executive producer, I led my team, I thought of my leadership style as a “democratic dictatorship.” It was democratic in the sense that everyone had input, everyone had a vote. But ultimately, the call came down to just one person: me. I was the dictator. Sometimes my calls were not popular. Sometimes they may not even have been right. But sometimes (eg, when you can’t have all the information you need, when your options are just as good, or just as awful, or when you just don’t have time), you can’t know what the right decision is, or there are It is not right decision. At such times, it is more important for the leader to do has decision than the right decision. A leader who makes the wrong decision is just that: a leader who makes the wrong decision. But a leader who does not make decisions is No leader at all.