5 Characteristics of a Leader

A leader is the most authoritative and important member of a group. Think about it as having a brain and the rest of the body, and the leader is the brain. What does the brain do? It makes decisions just like how a leader makes decision for his/her team. Thus, let us look at the 5 needed characteristics of a leader.(Ranked in order)

Number one, COMPETENCE. What is competence? It is the ability to do work properly, in short. A leader with competence is a leader that can do his/her work properly and this will make the team better. Unlike a leader that is not competent he will drag the team down, so there is no benefit in having an incompetent leader as part of the team and will only drag the team down.

Next, a leader must also be a person who listens to his teammates and try to understand all types of opinions thrown at him. This is to avoid a bias leadership which would make some team members feel uneasy about the way things are run in that group.

A leader must also have a positive attitude i.e being optimistic even when times are hard because without the optimism then it is very hard to look at the bright side of ideas and solutions. Rather than tearing everything down an optimistic leader will build things up.

Having initiative is also another key characteristic because initiative is what makes anyone ( leaders/ or not) to take that first step towards anything. Leaders lead and if they do not take that first step then they are not considered leaders.

Leaders also need plenty of self-discipline. What this is, is the willingness to do something whether he/she likes it or not. This will make a leader someone who does what needs to be done or it could even be something simple such as neat attire. Thus, other members of the group will consider this type of leader a role-model.